This season, Thursdays could be the death of your average loco TV fan—or the lifeblood of the new season, depending on how you look at it. Ridiculously overcrowded with buzz-worthy shows that enjoy rabid followings, I count at least a dozen series (more if you factor in cable cult faves like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Project Runway) that bear regular scrutiny. Some of the bigger hits (Grey’s Anatomy, CSI, The Mentalist, and the promising FlashForward) don’t arrive until next week, but NBC and Fox enter the fray in a major way this week. Here are some capsule previews of tonight’s shows that were available for pre-screening (Survivor: Samoa was not, and neither was tonight’s Supernatural). Let’s divide it by network:

NBC

Community: One of the best new comedies of the season, and an instant bright light in NBC’s much-honored lineup. Here’s how I described it in our Fall Preview issue: “In classic Cheers tradition, losers make winning comedy. You couldn’t ask for more agreeably amusing company than this oddball group of misfits and miscreants, led by the likably snarky Joel McHale.” Community is a barbed but ultimately endearing ensemble sitcom that follows the fall (and possible rise) of Jeff Winger (McHale), a cocky jerk of a disgraced lawyer who enrolls in a hard-luck community college, assuming he can just coast through and regain his credentials the easy way. “That cannot be an inspiring journey,” says his professor pal (guest star John Oliver of The Daily Show), from whom Jeff hopes to cadge all the answers. Circumstance, and a crush on fellow Spanish student Britta (Gillian Jacobs), who isn’t buying his smarmy act, lead Jeff to form a wacky study group that includes Chevy Chase (wonderfully droll) as a needy senior who made a fortune from moist towelettes, and the hilarious Danny Pudi as the awkward chatterbox Abed, who sees everything in terms of movie/TV archetypes. (Next week, when Britta starts going on about the plight of murdered journalists in Guatemala, Abed blurts, “Spoilers!”) Silly, sweet and frequently hysterical in its fractious group dynamic, Community has the instant feel of a classic-in-the-making sitcom with a refreshingly diverse range of characters to play with. A good sign: Episode 2 is even funnier than the pilot.

Community premieres at 9:30/8:30, occupying 30 Rock’s time period until Oct. 15. It will move to 8/7c after a run of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update specials.

Returning shows:

The Office (9/8c) gets off to a good start with an episode about office gossip, much of it false and most of it perpetrated by, who else, Michael Scott, who’s so desperate to be in the loop he basically creates a noose for himself. The fallout is funny because, as in the best Office episodes, it involves the entire cast. The standout this week is poor lovelorn Andy (Ed Helms), caught in a sexual-identity crisis when it’s rumored he’s gay. “Off the record, I’m kind of confused,” he frets. “The evidence is sort of stacked against me.” And what about the latest Jim-Pam rumor? You’ll have to watch to see how that plays out. It’s a terrific payoff.

Another gay subplot is the most amusing thing about the premiere of Parks and Recreation (8:30/7:30c), the underwhelming comedy that slavishly apes The Office’s mockumentary style to much lesser effect. Amy Poehler (wasted here) is bumbling bureaucrat Leslie Knope, who finds herself an unwitting hero to the gay population of small-town Pawnee, IN (where the local gay bar is named, groan, The Bulge) when her stunt of marrying the zoo’s new penguins turns out to be a same-sex ceremony. When the uptight “Society of Family Stability Foundation” hounds her to “annul the marriage,” Leslie finds herself caught between two extremes—easily the most organically comic situation the show has yet contrived for this hopelessly dim character. Meanwhile, we discover another character is now living in the grubby pit that Leslie dreams can be transformed into a city park. While there is much talent associated with this show, Parks still feels pretty much like the pits, an uneasy and uneven clone that has yet to achieve a comedic purpose of its own.

Fox

How unfair to make cult fans choose at 9/8c between the CW’s apocalyptic Supernatural and Fox’s funky Fringe, which returns in fine form for its second season. When last we saw Olivia, she was in a parallel and bizarro dimension, and upon her return to what passes for our “normal” world—her entrance is a jaw-dropper—she is understandably disoriented and agitated. While she, Peter and the easily distracted mad scientist Walter (who’s obsessed with making custard for his son’s birthday) try to make sense of where she went and what it means, FBI boss Broyles goes before Congress to argue against the Fringe Division being shut down. (Any resemblance to a recurring X-Files scenario is very intentional.) The suspenseful and fast-paced season opener introduces a new FBI ally (Meghan Markle as Bible-quoting Agent Jessup) and a new threat in a shape-shifting soldier from the “other” Earth. As Peter discusses the new menace, he says to Olivia: “Do you think it’s a bad sign that I can say that out loud and neither one of us thinks it’s crazy?” Touches like that help get us through Fringe’s more ponderous moments, of which there are thankfully very few this week. It may be worth giving this slow-building show a second chance, if you can possibly find the time.

At 8/7c, Bones rebounds from last season’s unfortunate dream/coma finale with Booth wondering, “Am I the same guy?” as he declares himself fit for duty again—but his regulation socks tell a different story. Reunited with Bones, who's just back from Guatemala, they spend much of the episode sorting out their confused emotions, aided by a kooky psychic (guest star Cyndi Lauper) who feels the vibe of their unrequited but unquestionable chemistry. “The riddle you can’t solve is how somebody could love you,” she tells the stubbornly rational Bones. Frankly, I’ll be relieved when they move on. This week’s case, involving a mass grave discovered under a fountain, is too much of an afterthought to the ongoing puzzle of our heroes’ sublimated feelings. This dance is beginning to test my patience, but there’s still enough genuine charm afoot in the land of the “squints” to keep me coming back.

The CW

How long before the CW adds ghosts and goblins to Gossip Girl, now that the network sees what a powerful draw vampires are for its target audience. Instant cult hit The Vampire Diaries (8/7c), the CW’s most successful launch in its brief undistinguished history, improves in its second episode in direct proportion to the additional screen time given to the bad-bro vamp Damon, played by Ian Somerhalder. (The angsty human teens are still a colossal drag.) The centerpiece of the episode is an encounter between the mischievously frisky Damon and unsuspecting heroine Elena, which pleases her broody and secretly undead soulmate Stefan not one bit. The brothers are bonded on one mission, though: playing mind games on last week’s victim, Vicki, so she won’t remember just what—or who—attacked her in the woods. Diaries may always be too sappy for my taste, but if they can promise more devious Damon action, I’ll stick with it.

FX

If your taste runs toward the appallingly crass, then you’ll probably want to end the night with a new season of the incorrigibly amusing It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (10/9c). Tonight’s raucous if sloppy opener weaves Frank’s scheme to flip a house he bought in a foreclosure auction—although the family of “squatters” is still living there—with Dee’s plan to exploit a yuppie couple (including Two and a Half Men’s Melanie Lynskey) that hires her to be a surrogate mother. “Want to go for an octomom thing?” she says, trying to up the value of her womb-for-rent.

I got many more sustained belly laughs out of the show that follows Sunny in an under-the-radar sneak preview (10:30/9:30c): the twisted animated spy spoof Archer, which will return for a limited run sometime in 2010. From Adult Swim vet Adam Reed (Frisky Dingo, Sealab 2021), this incredibly rude and savagely absurd parody presents its chiseled spy hero Sterling Archer (Jon Benjamin) as an irresponsible, unrepentantly chauvinistic cad with serious mother issues—his emasculating mother (Jessica Walter) doubles as his fearsome boss, who has code-named him “Duchess.” Like everything else on FX, this is strictly for adults only. Adults desperate to laugh at something after a week in The Jay Leno Show’s company.

So what are you most interested in seeing tonight? Sound off below.