Can ABC Do Comedy Right?

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ABC tries its hand at racier programming with tonight's power block of Modern Family, Cougar Town and Eastwick. The new programs aren't any more risque than a particularly bawdy episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, but they do represent a more sophisticated sense of humor for the home of the accidentally funny Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelor.

Modern Family [9 PM, ABC]

ABC kicks off its new program line-up tonight by introducing its most anticipated sitcom first, Modern Family. After you've gotten your fill of the faux-mockumentary about a disfunctional family, ease into Bill Lawrence's foray into estrogen-centered comedy with Cougar Town. Next, turn down your brain activity from Low to Off to enjoy Eastwick, the breezy, witchcrafty show about three single gals exercising their powers in a small town

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit [9 PM, NBC]

After last night's NCIS: Los Angeles premiere crushed its competitors, it's clear that America wants more police procedural spin-offs. Cross your fingers for Law & Order: Detroit and Law & Order: Baton Rouge while enjoying one of the original spin-offs kick start its eleventh season with a good old-fashioned rape case. Officer Nate Kendall (Wentworth Miller) helps Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) track down a serial rapist. Executive ADA Sonya Paxton (Christine Lahti) links a rape to other cases.

The True Adventures of True Life: 200th Episode Special [10 PM, MTV]

It seems like only yesterday that we were watching True Life: I'm a Porn Star and True Life: I am Driving While Black. Most audience members assumed TL went off the air around the same TRL did but it has been chugging steadily towards it's 200th episode, airing tonight. To celebrate all of the bizarre stories the series has told, MTV takes viewers behind the scenes for its 200th anniversary edition.

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Pee-wee's Big Adventure [8 PM, WGN]

Recover from Pee-wee's strange, strange Jay Leno Show appearance last night by recalling a simpler time, when Mr. Herman didn't have age lines to cover and public masturbation arrests to work around. Directed by a young Tim Burton and co-written by Paul Reubens himself, this is the Pee-wee we fell in love with.



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