everwood follows 7th heaven (this generation's eight is enough, so much so that we even got a special appearance by grant goodeve) and has the same kind of family appeal though it's not nearly as mawkish. its creator is greg berlanti, a former dawson's writer who claims everwood will "earn its sentimental moments." i'm not sure how to tally such things, but i'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. since two parents make for lousy drama, everwood earns its first sentimental moment by killing off the sainted mother, brenda strong (formerly of po5, 7th heaven, and seinfeld as sue ellen mishkie, the braless wonder, she has a hilarious site where you can play six degrees of brenda strong brendastrong.com/6degrees.htm). she appears in the first few episodes as a ghost a la providence and six feet under to help her husband, andrew brown m.d. (treat williams). thankfully the everwood scribes have realized only crazy people talk to dead relatives and subjected brown to public ridicule for doing so. he's moved their children from new york city to colorado in search of a better "quality of life." that means rustic living with a sub zero fridge and glorious views like south park backdrops come to life.

the kids are a 9-year-old tomboy daughter (vivien cardone, the walking keane painting from a beautiful mind) and 15-year-old ephram (gregory smith, the patriot). he's the most compelling character on the show, a tv version of the new holden caufields we were barraged by at the movies this summer (jake gyllenhaal in the good girl, that kid in tadpole, kieran culkan in igby). he's vaguely punk rock yet very angry: "the hamlet of the wb" according to berlanti and to amy abbott (played by the delightfully named emily vancamp), the daughter of the town's other doctor. she pontedly says to ephram, "I like your hair." hers is perfect, straight, and brown, framing a moonface similar to those in the manga comics that ephram likes. she's not quite katie holmes, but she's definitely superverbal: "you have that tragic lonely thing going on." he has a wet dream about her with al green playing in the background. in a gender reversal even morrissey would love, she also has a boyfriend in a coma. the rest of the show is filled out with quirky familiar characters, like northern exposure or gilmore girls. williams is caustic yet sympathetic and the kids are decent actors. alas, i guess every network needs a hamlet, and now the wb has everwood.

cop show: without a trace, cbs, thursday 10-11

boy, I suffered through some bad cop shows for you--a few of them twice. fastlane, made by sugar ray pal and charlie's angels director mcg, has tiffani theissen but gave me a headache: it's like a rap video with commercials and peter facinelli. john doe, a pretender pretender, is derivative but decent. robbery homicide division was unwatchable, despite the presence of loveable lug tom sizemore and the visual stylings of michael mann. boomtown is going for innovation by pulling something that falls between memento and mrs dalloway: shifting time frames and point of view in recounting crimes. jury is still out on that one, and I'm not interested in more csi or law & order though I like the originals well enough: just because you and I get along, it doesn't mean I want to have dinner with your cousins. I love monk on usa, which is just ending it's summer season, and not only because it was created by geniuses affiliated with the best radio station in the world, wfmu (wfmu.org) monk will get its own column soon.

the best new cop show of the season is without a trace, which focuses on an fbi missing persons team. missing persons appeals because it gets to one of the essential problems of contemporary life: how well do even the people closest to you really know you? if you disappeared, who would call? who would care? one of the members of the team accuses another of being a "hope junkie," a phrase that's resonated with me ever since. isn't modern life contingent on being a hope junkie, of thinking that things will someday be better?

the tone of the show is set by the leadership of unlikely aussie anthony lapaglia as jack malone, and is classed up considerably by tv and movie vets: eric close (now and again very easy on the eyes), marianne jeanne-baptiste secrets & lies, poppy montgomery the 187th person to play marilyn monroe in the tv movie of blonde by joyce carol oates. the guest stars have been of the same caliber--I was thrilled to see kyle secor of the late, great homicide on the second episode as a tortured husband whose wife has vanished from a mall parking lot. (here's a link to an obsessive homicide site: members.aol.com/hlots98/)

without a trace will probably never be as good as homicide, which struck the perfect balance between procedural and plain old-fashioned drama. I miss it a lot; though there are still reruns on court tv every so often, the idea that there will never be another new episode fills me with a kind of wistful longing. I've been looking for a show to fill the void ever since. so far, the scripts are good, acting is great, visuals are stylish but not overbearing, and it's set in new york city where I live. with its built in time-pressure system, as most missing persons who aren't found in the first 48 hours are never found (those of us who watch cop shows know this stuff), without is a little like 24 but not as gimmicky. I've invested my hopes in the large, capable cast; as more about the characters and their conflicts is revealed, I want to see more little touches that remind me of cop shows gone by. things that remind us that mysteries happen to people, not to ass-baring, donut-eating, club-wielding stereotypes chasing bad guys to bad soundtracks. call me a hope junkie, but I think with trace that I'm into something good.