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Tuesday

Capsule reviews of new shows on Tuesday night.

THE BEST

Veronica Mars, 9 p.m. (preview Sept. 22, debuts Sept. 28 on UPN) Like a wild blend ofThe O.C. and Karen Sisco, this show centers on a 17-year-old aspiring private eye (Deadwood alum Kristen Bell) who helps her ex-cop dad run their P.I. agency while coping with a family scandal involving a murder and date rape. Buzz factor: High. With its unorthodox plot and subtle charms, this show is helping convince critics that the network that once aired a sitcom about Abraham Lincoln's black butler just may have found its groove. Will it survive? Not to go all broken record on you, but this show needs the same young viewers that American Idol funnels into spy drama 24 in this time slot every time it hits the schedule. Not a good sign.

Clubhouse, 9 p.m. (preview at 8 p.m. Sept. 26, debuts Sept. 28 on CBS) On paper, it's sweet enough to bring tooth decay: Peter Pan star Jeremy Sumpter is a wholesome 16-year-old who secretly scores a job as batboy for the New York Empires. But when he's pressured to keep silent about an egotistical star's steroid use, his single mom (Mare Winningham) forces him to leave the after-school job of a lifetime. Buzz factor: Though it sounds like a giant-sized Afterschool Special, Sumpter and co-stars Dean Cain and Christopher Lloyd (as a Derek Jeter-style star athlete and Joe Torre-style equipment manager, respectively) are charming enough to pull it off. Will it survive? As an option for legions of young American Idol fans who might not stick around for 24, it's got a shot. Question is, how many stories can you tell about lugging bats for the Yankees - I mean, Empires?

Father of the Pride, 9 p.m. (debuts Tuesday on NBC) Gifted with a crack voice cast (Roseanne alum John Goodman and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Cheryl Hines, to name two) and a juicy concept, you'd think NBC's Toy Story-style animated comedy about lions performing with Las Vegas icons Siegfried and Roy would be a knockout. But then Roy Horn was nearly killed by one of his cats and a concept that looked cute turned ghoulish. Buzz factor: Stone cold. Besides the Horn factor, the pilot is filled with lame sex jokes that are inappropriate for the young audience sure to tune in expecting a Finding Nemo-type computer animated comedy (Friends alum Lisa Kudrow voices a portly panda who fears she will remain a spinster virgin, for example). Will it survive? Every animated TV comedy in the last decade is compared with Fox's landmark pop culture satire The Simpsons, usually unfavorably. Including this one.

Rodney, 9:30 p.m. (debuts Sept. 21 on ABC) Politicians aren't the only ones trolling for NASCAR dads this year. Comic Rodney Carrington is a working man-turned-standup comic trapped in Tulsa, Okla., topping a too-Hollywood version of life in so-called "flyover country." Carrington walks through Wal-Mart nude on a bet and fends off a surprisingly grizzled Mac Davis as the father-in-law who thinks he's a loser. Judging by the lightweight pilot, Davis may have a point. Buzz factor: Low. Despite Carrington's everyman charisma, the jokes are too obvious and characters too cardboard to earn status as the new-school Roseanne it so desperately wants to be. Will it survive? Given Blue Collar TV's surprise success on the WB, more NASCAR comedy fans may be out there than anyone knows.

The Next Great Champ, 9 p.m. (debuts Sept. 7 on Fox) How can you tell this is a down-market ripoff of NBC's reality boxing show The Contender? Lack of star power (Fox has Oscar De La Hoya, NBC has Sly Stallone), the number of contestants (Fox has 12, NBC has 16) and prizes (Fox offers a World Boxing Association title fight, NBC offers $1-million). Fox advanced the show's premiere by three days hoping to debut before a judge could rule on NBC's request for an injunction to keep the program off the air. But the judge just moved up the hearing date to Sept. 7; so this show still may not see airtime.

The Contender, 9 p.m. (debuts in November on NBC) Featuring a guy who first quit boxing 13 years ago (former welterweight champ Sugar Ray Leonard) and a guy who once played a boxer in the movies (Rocky star Stallone), this show follows 16 aspiring fighters training and fighting for a $1-million prize. Didn't this used to, like, be a sport?