Given that NBC isn’t going to get clobbered by The CW this season (The CW won’t clobber anyone but MyNetwork, but then, some cable-access channels could clobber MyNetwork), the network has nowhere to go but up. It’s improved its schedule a smidgen, albeit with traditionally tough-sell programming. It’s not going to catch up to CBS or Fox this year, but if ABC’s new shows falter, the network some people call “The Peacock� when they’re trying to sound in the know and/or just tired of saying “NBC� might make a run at third place.

(Admittedly, even that scenario’s a tough sell, given just how phenomenally popular ABC’s most successful shows are and how mediocre the reception tends to be toward NBC’s best current shows. On the other hand, more of ABC’s new shows appear to be more readily perched on the precipice of failure – and ABC has a lot more new shows.)

NBC’s new shows are a bit problematic, as we’ve pointed out a few times in the past: The network’s most promising new series are in genres routinely rejected, with a clockwork regularity, by viewers. The first one up comes tomorrow night, when Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,� the best new broadcast-network series, premieres; it and Tina Fey’s “30 Rock,� both offer behind-the-scenes glimpses into those hyper-neurotic souls who fuel the TV business. That may fascinate those of us who live on the coasts, who are within cat-throwing distance of such vermin, but as for the rest of the country: Not so much. As for “Friday Night Lights,� a slick yet soulful and, yes, pretty melodramatic look at small-town Texas high-school football (the book upon which the show is based, and the film which is likewise based upon the book but which more directly inspired the TV series, were both excellent; this, on the other hand, is merely very good) – viewers don’t tend to flock to sports-themed shows.

So, that leaves us with “Kidnapped,� a neatly constructed Sudoku puzzle only with a body count, which is more than serviceably absorbing and has a decent chance of succeeding (unless viewers retreat en masse from serialized dramas, at which point the entire season will be an unqualified and unexpected disaster of Old Testament proportions). And “20 Good Years,� which’ll succeed only if viewers really want to revisit TV’s worst impulses – namely, really, extraordinarily outsized performances that overwhelm anything the material might have to offer – of the past 40 years.

And “Heroes.� I’m of two minds about “Heroes,� about a group of disparate bunch of global citizens possessed of powers that – well, see below. My initial take was that the creators have kind of over-thought their premise. Of course, an initial scroll reading: “In recent days, a seemingly random group of individuals has emerged with what can only be described as ‘special’ abilities. … These individuals will not only save the world, but change it forever. … Volume One of their epic tale begins here…� coupled with blather like this: “Why are we here? What is the soul? Why do we dream?� would give anyone that impression.

But as the thing goes on, some of the stories of these disparate empowered characters – and the suburban dad who would destroy them (no, honest) – get pretty fascinating. The “Lost� crowd should take to this, and NBC has already pretty effectively marketed this show to click with the geek clique (there’s a reason it’s the new show that’s generated the most Internet searches). That narration – taken, I’m assuming, from a book written by one of the characters’ murdered father (another sample: “Suddenly, the change in your life that should’ve been wonderful comes instead as a betrayal, as disloyal as a blush� – it’s like “Desperate Housewives�’ narration written by a New Age self-help nitwit) – still needs to go, though.