Tuesday rookie round-up

Again, I pretty thoroughly covered the pilots of both "Reaper" and "Cane" in columns over the last few days, but I wanted to add a few thoughts and offer an easy space for people to comment afterwards. Spoilers coming up just as soon as I get my driver's license renewed...

Ahhh, "Reaper." So much goodness. So much rich, glazed goodness. The highlight is obviously Ray Wise as the Devil. Wise has been around forever, only occasionally getting the kind of role he deserves, and anyone who saw him as Leland Palmer on "Twin Peaks" knows that Satan is actually the second most-evil character he's ever played. Whenever I would mention that Wise was playing the Devil in this show to a Hollywood type who wanted to know what I liked this season, they would always smile and say, "Hey, that's perfect," and he lives up to billing, suave and happy and charming as, well, hell.

As I've written, I like the otherwise-identical "Chuck" a lot, but Wise gives "Reaper" the edge as my favorite new show. Beyond that, the differences between the two shows are matters of degree: Do you prefer the wild, Jack Black-esque theatrics of Tyler Labine as the sidekick here or the mumbled, Seth Green-esque neuroses of Joshua Gomez on "Chuck"? Bret Harrison getting hit in the face, repeatedly, or Zachary Levi being socially awkward? Are you a supernatural person or a spy person? Do you prefer your hottie love interests to accentuate the hotness or pretend like it's not that big a deal? Etc., etc.

Kevin Smith's never been known for his directing flair, but, like I said in the column, he did a vastly better job handing the tone shifts than he did with "Dogma," and there are a lot of lovely comic grace notes, with my favorite being Sam and Sock having to wait around for the Dirt Devil to recharge after their triumphant suiting-up montage. (I also liked the runner about their pal's eyebrows, paid off without mention at the very end.)

Really, my only concern is that I haven't seen a second episode. Can they do this every week? How crucial was Smith (who won't be around in the future) to what worked? And how can I get the number for Ray Wise's dentist?

I may give "Cane" another shot or two, both out of loyalty to Jimmy Smits and to a lack of interest in "SVU" and "Boston Legal," but man was that pilot dull. And there seems to be no good reason for Smits and Hector Elizondo to not pull Nestor Carbonell aside and say, "You know those people you're so eager to get into business with? We just found out they murdered your baby sister when she was three years old." Well, no good reason except for creating some lame brother against brother tension.

What did everybody else think?