Tune In, Turn On: Fall Television's Top 10

When the ABC laugh riot Modern Family debuted last fall, creators Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd revived the family sitcom by making often pallid material—raising children, maintaining a marriage—new again. (Effeminately gay dad Cameron might just be the most hilarious homemaker archetype we've seen since Carol Brady.) This season, FOX's Raising Hope continues to push the genre forward with politically incorrect jokes and its expertly cast uncouth brood: Martha Plimpton is at her best as a chain-smoking, foul-mouthed mom, and Cloris Leachman amuses (and horrifies) as a semisenile grandma who can't keep her bra on.

Modern Family, September 22, 9 p.m. EST on ABC; Raising Hope, September 21, 9 p.m. EST on FOX

FOX phenom Glee returns for season two, giving lovable but lobotomized ditz Brittany (Heather Morris) her moment at the mic in a—what else?—Britney Spears–themed episode. Creator Ryan Murphy, who developed the Britney-Brittany story line after Gleeks launched a Twitter campaign championing the idea, has already dubbed it hallucinogenic. If that's not enough to make you want to go Gleek, John Stamos makes his debut this fall as Emma's dentist/love interest (Justin Timberlake, as rumored, will not), and the cast will pay tribute to the campiest musical comedy of them all, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Glee, September 21, 8 p.m. EST on FOX

Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz reunites with Will Arnett and David Cross for Running Wilde, a FOX series about a coddled playboy trying to win back the one who got away. But Arnett and Cross's shared gift for lampooning with cutting precision is put to better use in IFC's The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, an off-kilter comedy (think The Office meets Strangers With Candy) with more teeth than Wilde.

Running Wilde, September 21, 9:30 p.m. EST on FOX; The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, October 1, 10 p.m. EST on IFC

This month, Frank Darabont, the three-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, helms The Walking Dead on AMC. Based on the Robert Kirkman comics, the drama follows a group of survivors stranded after a mysterious zombie-breeding apocalypse. They cling to their humanity while the undead roam, and those humans left devolve with startling cruelty. It may sound like a knee-jerk answer to vampire mania, but it isn't. The Walking Dead is a gripping, dark character study of how we transform in the face of our greatest fears. Of course, it's viscerally terrifying, too. "The zombies are frightening," says Laurie Holden, who plays former lawyer Andrea. "I've had a lot of nightmares."

The Walking Dead, October 2010 on AMC

Is TBS really the place where America's funniest redhead will find redemption? We think so! For one, it's basic cable, meaning Conan will be allowed the comedic liberties that most networks discourage (curse words and dirty jokes). It's also widely reported that TBS gave Conan full creative control over the show, and who doesn't want to see what hatches from this comedic genius brain with no network noose to worry about? Besides his 1,066,359-and-counting Facebook acolytes, even the suits believe Conan will prevail; since he signed to TBS, ad sales have skyrocketed.

Conan O'Brien, November 8, 11 p.m. EST on TBS

The six-hour PBS miniseries God in America may sound like homework, but this compulsively watchable documentary manages to make our country's religious history as thrilling as any Dan Brown novel. Portrayed in vivid reenactments (the Franciscans landing on American soil, the spiritual struggles of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass), riveting archival footage, and fascinating interviews with theologians and religious experts, the complex relationship between democracy and faith is a story line that never gets old.

God in America, October 11, 9 p.m. EST on PBS

Not surprisingly, Steve Buscemi delivers in spades in HBO's prohibition drama, Boardwalk Empire, playing corrupt Atlantic City treasurer and bootleg booze boss "Nucky" Thompson with equal parts venom and vulnerability. But it's Michael Pitt's out-of-nowhere ace performance as Jimmy, Nucky's cocksure go-to guy, that gives tense emotional heft to this spellbinding mobster series executive-produced by Martin Scorsese and former Sopranos writer Terence Winter. Pitt's resourceful but unhinged protogangster makes for a fascinating primer on the proliferation of organized crime, at once relatable and morally menacing.

Boardwalk Empire, September 19, 9 p.m. EST on HBO

Jackie Chan–trained martial artist Maggie Q is startlingly hypnotic as an ex-assassin in the CW's Nikita, a La Femme Nikita redux so pulse-quickening that it makes Alias seem like an after-school special. Q's secret weapon? "Besides my manly voice? Honestly," she says, "it's all in the eyes."

Nikita, September 9, 9 p.m. EST on the CW

NBC's 30 Rock gets more meta than ever on October 14, when it will air a live episode (of a sitcom about a live show, semi-based on a real-life live show). The cast— including the notoriously unpredictable Tracy Morgan, who once told a local El Paso morning show, "Somebody gonna get pregnant while I'm in town!"—will perform twice, once for each coast.

30 Rock Live, October 14, 8:30 p.m. EST on NBC

America's favorite overprivileged New Yorkers decamp for Paris in Gossip Girl's fourth season, where the show's costume designer, Eric Daman, says the clothes alone are worth tuning in for. "I wanted Blair Waldorf to have an And God Created Woman Bardot feel," Daman says. "For Serena, I was kind of inspired by Jane Birkin. We went full force with the hats and even used flats. What is the world coming to when Serena van der Woodsen is wearing flats?"

Gossip Girl, September 13, 9 p.m. EST on the CW