With The WB and UPN consigned to the dust heap of TV history, The CW rises in their place, airing in Pittsburgh on Channel 19 (WPCW, formerly WNPA) and carrying hits from both of the networks it's replacing ("Gilmore Girls," "Veronica Mars," etc.). My Network TV, a new rival, launched earlier this month on Channel 22 (WPMY, formerly WCWB).

As for the trends: Potentially too many serials, several shows with anti-hero leads akin to "House" (a few closer to Tony Soprano) and an abundance of series about large groups of characters brought together by circumstance (a la "Lost").

There are only a few new procedurals, but both Fox's "Justice" and CBS's "Shark" are much better than typical close-ended fare. And ABC's "The Nine" is a slickly-produced serial that in any other year probably would have made the "best" list.

But competition is tougher than ever and we had to draw the line somewhere when creating a list of the best (and worst) pilot episodes for the 2006-2007 TV season.

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