“Do Not Disturb,” a new Fox sitcom about the wacky goings-on at a wacky New York City hotel, debuts tonight (8:30 p.m., Fox). Somewhat improbably, it stars Niecy Nash, who has been delightful for years on “Reno 911!” and Jerry O’Connell, always tolerable in doomed shows from “Camp Wilder” to “Carpoolers.” To give it some added sitcom street cred, the first episode was directed by Jason “Arrested Development” Bateman - but despite that, it still looks just like a lot of other broad, laugh track ensemble/workplace sitcoms that have come and gone on Fox in recent years like “Stacked” and “Life on a Stick.” Perhaps I’m wrong!

Before that is the return of “‘Til Death” (8 p.m., Fox) a show that I would never be interested in other than the fact that J.B. Smoove, so great as Leon on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is now part of the cast. So there’s that going for it. Given the episode descriptions, he even seems to be playing a similar role, as in this episode he’s moving in with Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher.

The much-hyped “Fringe” debuts tonight (7 p.m., Fox). I’m not that into the premise and nothing that’s been shown so far has really wowed me, especially since they’re like “FROM THE CREATOR OF ‘LOST’” and you’re all “yay!” and then “AND TWO OF THE WRITERS OF ‘TRANSFORMERS’” and you’re all, oh, lame, gross. But yeah, it is J.J. Abrams, who has an alright-ish track record (”Lost,” which he co-created with Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber, awesome. “Alias,” which he created solo, not always so awesome). And it’s also the return to network TV of “Dawson’s Creek” vet (and “Mighty Ducks” alum) Joshua Jackson, who was always my favorite dude on that show (admittedly, he didn’t have great competition). The premiere is 95 minutes with “limited commercials” (aren’t they all?) so hopefully that’ll be sitthroughable.

And there’s also the second episode of the new “90210″ (7 p.m., The CW), which I found to be fairly enjoyable last week. I was sort of bored by it by the second hour, but I don’t know if the latter half truly was worse or if two hours is just too much of nearly any show that’s not, say, “Lost.”

The idea of AnnaLynne McCord, who looks old enough to be a teacher, playing someone turning 16 is pretty funny, and perfectly keeping in with “90210″ tradition. The whole show actually felt very ’90s, with little modern edge (which I didn’t really mind, actually), down to the fake looking Mortal Kombat-esque fighting game those dudes were playing. It’s pretty tame and quaint given how stakes have been raised in recent teen dramas, but that might be OK. And obviously Jessica Walter is great, and the cameo from Tilly and the Wall warmed my soul.

After “90210″ is “Privileged” (8 p.m., The CW). Keeping with the CW mandate of 90% of their shows involving upscale snotty kids, where a normal lady gets a job tutoring two snotty kids.

We’ve also got the annual “Fashion Rocks” (8 p.m. CBS), which I thought was just a two hour advertisement but turns out to actually be a benefit for Stand Up To Cancer. Boy, do I feel like a jerk!

The second season of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” premieres tonight (7 p.m., Fox).  Last year (well, earlier this year) was like an inverted bell curve for me - really dug it at the beginning, lost interest in the middle, liked it again towards the end. We’ll see how it goes this time around, but they definitely win points with me for adding Shirley Manson, lead singer of my beloved ’90s band Garbage, to the cast, though clearly her actual abilities as an actor is somewhat of a question mark at this point. Also, Dean Winters guest stars tonight. Who doesn’t love Dean Winters?

Up against “Terminator” is “Gossip Girl” (7 p.m., The CW). The Blair dating a secret “Lord” storyline is pretty endearingly ridiculous, especially when he started randomly speaking in an English accent, plus any promise of scheming Chuck = awesome. But who could possibly care about Nate and the old lady?

Also on tonight: the season finale of “High School Musical: Get in the Picture” (7 p.m., ABC). I actually don’t know much about this show other than the clips they’ve shown on “The Soup,” but I figured the prize was a part in “High School Musical 3″ (which didn’t make a ton of sense to me since the movie comes out next month, but maybe this show has been in the can for a while).  Apparently what’s actually at stake is the lead role in a music video that will play over the end credits of the movie. Well, that’s…something. Good for them!

That’s right. Our long regional nightmare is over.

It went live in my house in central Tempe yesterday on test channel 666. This morning, it was up and running on channel 1 (though the “On Demand” button on the remote still doesn’t work). From reports, it’s now throughout Tempe and Chandler, and given that it’s already been rolling out in Scottsdale and Mesa, it seems that most of the East Valley has it, now - though let me know if you still don’t have it.

It’s actually better than I thought it’d be. Given reports like this, my expectations were low for Cox’s version of On Demand, but the “Free Zone” (specifically the “Cable Showcase” area) actually has some solid, but not great, choices. In “Free Zone” HD, for instance, you can currently watch all episodes so far of “Mad Men” in high def, which we wouldn’t have gotten a chance to otherwise, since Cox doesn’t carry AMC’s HD channel currently. Similarly, “The Hills” is on the MTV HD slot, another channel we don’t get in HD (plus, is there really a better way to expersions Spencer Pratt’s douchbaggery other than high definition? I think not). The HD offerings are slim, but there’s some worthwhile stuff there.

Under the “Election ‘08″ area, you can watch full versions of convention speeches from C-SPAN, in case you missed one or are having trouble sleeping. If you’re a subscriber, HBO On Demand has lots of stuff, and there’s the On Demand pay services like WWE 24/7 and Howard TV, which are obviously niche markets but something that’s still not available in much of the country (WWE 24/7, my friend reports, isn’t available on Time Warner cable in New York City) , so it’s cool that it’s here.

It still seems very much to be in the testing phase - it wasn’t really working at all on my parents’ non-HD cable box, and somewhat intermittent on mine, and the menus are slow to load and navigate. Plus, the main screen has constant commercials for movies available On Demand that are totally annoying and slow things down even further (and a commercial for “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns” is annoying enough already).

Anyone else poke around with it?

Bones
7 p.m., Fox
“Bones” is back, for a respectable fourth season, and with a two hour episode, to boot. The hook: the season premiere takes place in London! That’s right, imagine all the story possibilities. Brennan drinks tea. Booth gets confused when someone calls a truck a “lorry.” Something to do with murder and human remains. It practically writes itself! They also meet their “British counterparts,” played by Indira Varma and Andrew Buchan, actors that you would probably know if you were, in fact, British. All the sexual tension, less of the dental hygiene. Oh man, so many cliche British jokes!

America’s Next Top Model
7 p.m., The CW
This season (Cycle 11, if you’re keeping track), features a transgendered contest; to borrow a line from another fashion-based TV show, a literal hot tranny mess. But it’s a good thing “ANTM” isn’t exploiting this aspect. Let’s see The CW’s official word on tonight’s two hour premiere - “CYCLE 11 KICKS OFF IN LOS ANGELES WITH A TRANSGENDER CONTESTANT.” Hmm, OK. Let’s keep reading…”one of the models making waves causes a stir when she reveals that she’s transgendered.” Maybe all the contestants this year should be transgendered.

Top Design
10 p.m., Bravo
The second season premiere, with the “Bravo reality TV show” formula extended to the field of interior design. Just from looks alone, I think we should all cheer for Kerry.

Republic National Convention
7 p.m., a bunch of channels
On Cinematical today:

Two very different shows premiering tonight.

The new “90210″ debuts tonight at 7 on The CW. You can tell it’s new and hip since it dropped the always-unnecessary “Beverly Hills” from the title. The early buzz is…well, none, since it wasn’t screened for critics. I don’t think you can apply the same “that must mean it’s terrible!” logic to TV shows that aren’t screened that you can for movies, though, but it probably won’t be all that great. Just a hunch. On the bright side, though, Rob Estes. I’m there no matter what, even if Jennie Garth looked oddly mannish on this week’s EW cover. I still have fond memories of Emily Valentine tempting Brandon with Euphoria and Dylan’s dad blowing up. Can you top those emotions, girl who played the Evil Sexy Teenager on “Nip/Tuck”?

Shame they couldn’t fit more people into the frame.

Starting its seventh and final season tonight is “The Shield,” 10 p.m., FX. It’s a 13 episode season, and the operative question is “how will things end up for Vic Mackey.” My guess: trampled by elephants.

“Gossip Girl”! The first big premiere of the fall network season! Scandal! Fashion! The big city! Attractive young people with lives much more interesting than yours ever was or will be! Huge amounts of “buzz” coupled with incredibly low ratings!

Oh, what a feeling, to be looking forward to new episodes of a show I like (other than “Burn Notice”). Last season didn’t end on any cliffhangers, but did plant the seeds for plenty of interesting things to come. Here’s what The CW says about it:

GOSSIP GIRL INVADES THE HAMPTONS / GUEST STARS INCLUDE AUTHOR JAY MCINERNEY, SOCIALITE TINSLEY MORTIMER AND ACTRESS MADCHEN AMICK As the summer draws to a close in the Hamptons, Serena (Blake Lively) and Nate (Chace Crawford) have everyone fooled into thinking they are a couple to cover up the fact that Nate has been hooking up with a married older woman (guest star Amick) and Serena has been secretly mourning her break-up with Dan (Penn Badgley). Blair (Leighton Meester) returns from abroad with a hot guy on her arm (guest star Patrick Heusinger), making a very jealous Chuck (Ed Westwick) question his decision to leave Blair stranded at the heliport. Dan has spent the summer assisting a famous author (guest star McInerney), but decides to head to the Hamptons to see how things stand with Serena after a summer spent apart. While interning for Eleanor Waldorf’s company, Jenny (Taylor Momsen) sneaks an invite to a much-coveted Hamptons’ White Party at which Eric (Connor Paolo) introduces her to socialite Tinsley Mortimer. Matthew Settle also stars. J. Miller Tobin directed the episode written by Joshua Safran (#201).

A guest appearance from THE Tinsley Mortimer? I’m so there! And tomorrow: “90210.”

Another scintillating chapter in the ongoing saga of Cox OnDemand in the East Valley!

As I was leaving my central Tempe home for work this morning, my doorknob (and all the rest in the neighborhood) had a tag that proclaimed ON DEMAND NOW AVAILABLE IN MY AREA. I risked being late to work to go back inside and check it on two different TVs. It was not. Maybe they figure people will see it when they come home from work (I start work later than most people, it’s true) and it’ll be working then. I think most of Mesa has it now, but I’ve heard it’s not up in Chandler yet.

EDIT: Sure enough, the door hanger was hung in error. “Mid-September,” says Cox man.

“The Soup” has always been funny - well, since Joel McHale started hosting “The Soup” proper in 2004, at least. I was pretty lukewarm-to-negative on “Talk Soup” hosts John Henson, Hal Sparks and Aisha Tyler, though I was and remain a huge fan of O.G. host Greg Kinnear (sort of weird of at this point to remember that he actually did host “Talk Soup,” and that it wasn’t the kind of weird dream that I have where I’m starring in a sci-fi time travel epic with Dan Ackroyd and Marissa Tomei). But I’ve only recently been DVRing it each week; before it was at “catch it if I can” status, and since I’m usually weeping silently in a corner of a crowded bar at 10 p.m. Fridays, that wasn’t very often. Now it’s a priority, and I’ve been able to see gems like Spaghetti Cat.

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In even happier news, McHale is coming to the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix on Nov. 14, according to his official Web site.There’s no information up yet on Celebrity’s Web site at all, so no details on ticket prices and on-sale dates are available as of now. But, Smashmouth apparently will be there on Nov. 15. So there’s that.

FX’s excellent “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” the show that’s given the world wonderful moments like this -

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- is going on tour. No, not the actual stars of the show (that would be awesome, though), but a promotional tour of ten universities across the country, starting today in the Univeristy of Colorado, and coming our way 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2 at Arizona State University. It’s a game show-type thing where you answer trivia questions about the show and spin a wheel to win wacky, vaguely show-related prizes like a “dumpster baby trophy,” which, based on the picture, was inscripted by Charlie Kelly himself (”dumpster baey”?).

The official FX site says the ASU event will take place at “Vista del Sol.” My immediate thought was, “hey, I went to ASU for four years, I’ve never heard of Vista del Sol, they must have not known where it was taking place and strung together some random Spanish words.” Turns out, actually, Vista del Sol is some kind of super-dorm, with a “24-hour fitness center” and “huge resort-style swimming pool & sundeck with lounge cabanas,” a far cry from the prison-style residence halls that I spent five semesters in just a few short years ago. They’ve even got “large living rooms with leather-style furniture package.” The only living room I ever had was the six inch radius around my TV/VCR (not counting the wall), and there was certainly nothing leather-style about it.