Mega fall TV rundown

Forget about "watching live." The fall TV season is under way, and almost everything on the major networks is available to watch at your convenience on Hulu and other online streaming services.

While it's hard to gauge the long-term quality of a series based on just a couple of episodes, the current sampling has already distinguished some hits and major misses.

We break it down as follows: Stream It, Skip It, and Wait for More Episodes.

Stream It: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Based on early episodes, this Andy Samberg cop comedy is easily the funniest new show of the season, with the wisecracking "Saturday Night Live" alum playing a promising-but-immature detective who can't stand his strict new captain (the excellent Andre Braugher, in a refreshing comedic turn). The supporting cast is strong, and the weekly cases are goofy but believable enough to sustain an entertaining, long-term premise. Available on Hulu and Fox.com

Skip It: Dads

This Seth Green-Giovanni Ribisi series received blistering reviews from critics for its offensive jokes. Cheap race jokes aside, the show just isn't funny, especially when it tries so desperately for raunchiness. Ugh. Hulu and Fox.com

Stream It: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The title is even more annoying to type than it is to say, but the Joss Whedon-helmed spinoff of "The Avengers" delivers enough snappy dialogue and superhero intrigue to tide us over until the next big screen spectacle. It helps to have Clark Gregg heading the series as back-from-the-dead Agent Coulson, even if his presence undermines the impact he had on the Marvel cinematic universe.

Small quibble: Two episodes in, and they've already resorted to big movie star cameos. I like the continuity, but it makes you wonder if the show is afraid to develop its own set of unique characters. Hulu and ABC.com

Skip It (and one Wait for More Episodes): New CBS shows

CBS has been the nation's top network for years, mostly because it continues to play things down the middle with its mix of procedural dramas and broad comedies. This year's new offerings seem bold by comparison, especially non laugh-track comedies "The Crazy Ones" with Robin Williams and "We Are Men" with Tony Shalhoub.

Still, the comedy with the most potential is "Mom" with the very funny Anna Faris playing a recovering alcoholic single mom who tries to mend her relationship with her own free-boozing mother, played by "West Wing" MVP Allison Janney. The pilot episode is busy with too many boyfriends, ex-husbands and crude co-workers, but the show works when Faris and Janney share scenes.

Meanwhile, the high concept drama "Hostages" begins as a serialized change of pace for the network, with Toni Collette playing a surgeon tasked to operate on the President of the United States... until Dylan McDermott kidnaps her family and asks her to kill POTUS in surgery.

It's a limited series, which means it will have a definitive end later this year, but it still plays like almost every other CBS show - slow and soft.

CBS is the only major network not contracted with Hulu, meaning you have to use CBS.com on a computer or download the CBS app for mobile devices. Too much work for limited quality content, with the exception of the final season of "How I Met Your Mother."

Wait for More Episodes: The Michael J. Fox Show

Fox plays a New York news anchor with Parkinson's disease who returns to work after a long hiatus. The pilot episode over-explains the mirrored-on-true-life premise and goes for cheap meta-jokes about NBC milking Fox's inspirational return. The second episode digs into a pretty typical sitcom plot, but at least there's an attempt to move beyond the obvious Parkinson's jokes. Hulu and NBC.com

Wait for More Episodes: Various attempts to be the next "Modern Family"

You know the model - Dysfunctional family members fight for almost the entire episode only to be reminded in the last two minutes of how much they care for each other. As "Modern Family" proves, it's not the premise that matters as long as the show brings the funny.

NBC's "Welcome to the Family," about two different families brought together by teenage pregnancy, is a premise without humor, at least in its pilot episode. ABC's "The Goldbergs," about a family living in the 1980s, has a premise spiced with cheap 80s jokes. The presence of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Jeff Garlin and narration by comedian Patton Oswalt at least offers some hope for better execution in the near future.

ABC's other new "non-traditional" family comedies at least show flashes of nuanced humor. Despite its horrendous title, "Trophy Wife" could develop into something substantial based on the interactions between father Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing"), new hot wife Malin Akerman and the kids from previous marriages.

"Back in the Game" is baseball themed (always a good thing), with a single mom (Maggie Lawson) running her son's abysmal little league team with the help of her crotchety father (James Caan). It's "Bad News Bears"-lite, and who knows what this show would be about beyond a single baseball season, but it was easily the funniest pilot of this batch.

"The Goldbergs," "Trophy Wife" and "Back in the Game" on ABC.com. "Welcome to the Family" on NBC.com. All available on Hulu.

Wait for More Episodes: "The Blacklist"

James Spader plays a criminal mastermind who turns himself in and offers authorities the Blacklist - a list of criminals so evil that the FBI doesn't even know about them. He will only speak to the rookie profiler played by Megan Boone, for reasons not fully revealed yet.

Spader is a charismatic actor, but his insufferable stint on post-Steve Carell "Office" sullied some of goodwill he earned on "Boston Legal." "The Blacklist" is completely ridiculous, but at least Spader seems to know it. His arch-wickedness provides a nice balance to the grim counter-terrorism scampering by the rest of the cast. Available on Hulu and NBC.com.

Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.