What’s On

FX • Tuesday, July 24 (10 p.m. ET)

Much like The Shield’s tough police detective Vic Mackey and Rescue Me’s hot-shot fireman Tommy Gavin, Damages’ main character — high-stakes litigator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) — blurs moral and ethical lines in what ordinarily would be considered a good guy role.

Hewes is working a class-action suit against allegedly corrupt CEO Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), accused of bilking his employees out of millions in savings. Hewes retains the help of law school grad Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), who, in the premiere, soon realizes that there’s more than meets the eye with her new boss.

The series opens with Parsons running into the street from a swank digs dazed and half-dressed. After being picked up by the police, the series cleverly flashes back and forth between Parsons’ current predicament and her promising future with new fiancée David Connor (Noah Bean) in a life before Hewes.

But Hewes quickly alters Parsons’ and others’ fates, deceitfully using her charge to unearth a reluctant witness against Frobisher — her boyfriend’s sister Katie Connor (Anastasia Griffith).

Damages is well written and Close does a brilliant job of portraying a ruthless, win-by-all-means-necessary character with obvious vulnerabilities.

But one still has to wonder whether viewers will warm up to another show that has no clear heroes or villains.

— R. Thomas Umstead

Sci Fi Channel • Thursday, July 26 (10 p.m. ET/PT)

Viral and snackable, slick and yet subtle, British import Mind Control With Derren Brown has everything it takes to be at least a modest hit. It’d be perfect, for example, for downloading and watching on a plane, on an iPod. You’re sure to have the person next to you peeking in at the fun.

Host Derren Brown, who’s been doing shows like this in England since 2000, soft-talks Brits and New Yorkers into doing the most amazing things. It’s not hypnosis exactly; he calls it “psychological magic.”

One long prank — getting ad executives to come up with a brand and campaign for a chain of taxidermy shops that almost precisely mimics what Brown has already written on a piece of paper — used an incredible amount of subliminal suggestion. Other, simpler bits — getting people on the street to hand over watches, wallets and phones after about a minute of chitchat, or buying items from store clerks using blank paper as “money” — are enjoyable and repeated on several unsuspecters.

Brown insists “no actors or stooges” are used. Production values are high and Brown is neither braggart nor coward. He calms even the angriest victims in short order. Viewers who sample the first episode surely will find themselves compelled to watch again.

— Kent Gibbons

TNT • Monday, July 23 (10 p.m. ET)

With more dramatic series dealing with morally ambiguous characters, Saving Grace fits right in.

The show follows foul-mouthed, sexually charged alcoholic detective Grace Hanadarko (Holly Hunter) — a lost soul who receives guidance from tobacco-chewing angel Earl (Leon Rippy) as she attempts to protect and serve deep in the Bible Belt.

Grace is fueled by a hodgepodge of similarly flawed if not predictably played characters, including police partner/married love interest Ham Dewey (Kenneth Johnson), death-row inmate/partner in redemption Leon Cooley (Bokeem Woodbine), and spunky, crime-lab technician Rhetta Rodriguez (Laura San Giacomo).

Looking to capitalize on the success of another tough-girl cop series, lead out The Closer, Grace does break some new ground.

For one, Oklahoma City is a refreshing digression from most crime-series locales. With its small-town, blue-collar backdrop, church influence, and the resonating tragedy of the Timothy McVeigh bombing — a pivotal moment for Hanadarko — the city is a natural complement to the show’s narrative arc.

The pacing is also a boon. Generally fast and punchy, it pauses in spots to pose questions on faith, religion, morality and human nature.

Suspending judgment on the need for Earl’s gratuitous wings, one question remains after two episodes: Can Grace maintain its grit as its lost soul moves further into the faithful fold?

— Christian Lewis