The show generating the most buzz at the Television Critics Association summer press tour was Alias, a fun fantasy-action series about a college coed (Jennifer Garner from Felicity, Pearl Harbor) working as a CIA double agent.

        Think of it as Buffy the Vampire Slayer with cool Mission: Impossible high-tech toys.

        Critics were blown away by the lavish pilot, one of two ABC retro action series featuring sexy young heroines. Australian soap star Melissa George and John Stamos (Full House) team up for Thieves, a Hart to Hart style light-hearted spy drama.

        Fox also surprised TV critics with the strongest slate of new fall shows. Four of my Top 10 series were from the Fox: an action thriller, a stylish soap opera, a family sitcom and a nutty farce.

        Here are 10 shows to look forward to in a fall season with more promise than problems:

        Alias (9 p.m. Sunday, ABC): From J.J. Abrams, whose credits range from Felicity to Armageddon, comes the coolest show of the year.

        Women and men alike will enjoy watching the buff Ms. Garner karate-kicking her way through this big-budget Felicity-meets-James Bond project that looks like a feature film. But can they keep up the slick spy stuff?

        24 (9 p.m. Tuesday, Fox): Definitely the most innovative show, 24 dramatizes in real time how a U.S. government anti-terrorist expert (Keifer Sutherland) tries to stop the assassination attempt on a presidential candidate (Dennis Haysbert, Now & Again).

        Each one-hour show will represent an hour in a 24-hour day for the 24-episode series, hence the title. But will viewers commit to 24 weeks? They didn't for ABC's Murder One serial about a single court case.

        The Tick (8:30 p.m. Thursday, Fox): If you updated Adam West's old Batman with a Seinfeld sensibility, you'd have The Tick. Patrick Warburton (“Puddy” from Seinfeld) puts a hilarious twist on The Tick, a dim-witted big blue crimefighter.

        The Tick keeps the City safe with help from his pals: Arthur the humble accountant-turned-moth (David Burke); beautiful Captain Liberty (Liz Vassey), and prime-time's first Hispanic superhero, Bat Manuel (Nestor Carbonell). They're “bonded together by the Crazy Glue of justice,” the Tick explains. If Fox put this after The Simpsons on Sunday, it would be a Top 20 hit.

        Scrubs (9:30 p.m. Tuesday, NBC): Newcomer Zack Braff plays a Noah Wyle-like medical intern fumbling his way through his first night on call in a hospital.

        John C. McGinley (Platoon, Wall Street) is terrific as the reluctant mentor who teaches students how to cut corners in this comedy from Bill Lawrence (Spin City). Truth be told, hospitals probably are more like Scrubs than ER.

        Pasadena (9 p.m. Friday, Fox): Leave it to Fox to re-invent the prime-time soap opera by telling a murder mystery through the eyes of a 15-year-old daughter (Alison Lohman) of a wealthy Los Angeles newspaper family.

        The suicide of a crazed intruder in their living room one night prompts Lily to look deeply into the past of her parents (Dana Delany, Martin Donovan), grandparents (Barbara Babcock, Philip Baker Hall), her uncles, and their business affairs.

        But will Fox wreck the show? Network executives want to cut Lily's narration and point of view, and twist this into a dark, surreal Twin Peaks.

        Thieves (9 p.m. Friday, ABC): Former bubble gum idol John Stamos will surprise you with his Pierce Brosnan-like performance as a charming safe-cracker who hooks up with a classy, brassy jewel thief (Melissa George).

        When they're caught in the act by the FBI, they're offered a second chance — if they'll steal everything from art treasures to nuclear war plans for the feds. It sounds crazy, but it works.

        The Bernie Mac Show (9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Fox): Bernie Mac lives up to his reputation as one of the “Kings of Comedy” with his new sitcom as a tough-love Bill Cosby.

        In a semi-autobiographical premise, Mr. Mac plays a married stand-up comedian whose quiet home life is disrupted when his sister goes into drug rehab and he takes in her three children (ages 5, 8, 13). He has a heart of gold, despite his strict rules like: “It's my house . . . and you are not to touch my stuff without my permission.” If it worked for Roseanne, why not for Bernie Mac?

        The Education of Max Bickford (8 p.m., Channels 12, 7): Think of Richard Dreyfuss' first TV series as Mr. Holland teaching college history instead of high school music. The Oscar-winning actor (Mr. Holland's Opus, The Goodbye Girl) plays a character close to his skin — a father of teen-agers going through a midlife crisis when passed over for a promotion at an all-women's college. Mr. Dreyfuss should be a perfect fit for CBS' older audience — but will Touched by an Angel fans watch the transsexual teacher, Max's best friend Steve, who returns after a personal leave as “Erica?”

        Maybe It's Me (8:30 p.m. Friday, WB): Now that we're past the controversial title — this once was called Maybe I'm Adopted — maybe viewers will see it for what it really is: a funny little show.

        After shedding her baby fat and braces, 15-year-old Molly (Reagan Dale Neis) feels totally embarrassed by her weird parents (Fred Willard, Julia Sweeney), bratty twin sisters, outcast older brothers and goofy grandparents. Fantasy sequences and humorous “Pop-up video” on-screen text add to the fun. It's an ideal companion for WB's Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.

        Bob Patterson (9 p.m. Tuesday, Channels 5, 22): Jason Alexander returns to TV as neurotic motivational speaker Bob Patterson, not that much of a stretch from his George Costanza from Seinfeld. Comedian Robert Klein fits well as the Jerry Seinfield-like sane pal, but producers are tinkering with the other characters. Granted, this isn't as funny as Seinfeld, but what is?

        TV critic John Kiesewetter is reporting from the Television Critics Association press tour.

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