For nearly three decades, NBC's Thursday-night comedy block has lived up to its "must-see" billing. Half of the shows that have captured the Emmy for best comedy since 1983 have come from its ranks, including "Cheers," "The Cosby Show," "Friends," "Seinfeld" and, most recently, "30 Rock" and "The Office."

One hard and fast rule in the television business is "Never utilize a plot device copied from 'One Tree Hill.'"

"The Ex List," a new CBS series debuting on Friday (9 p.m. EDT CBS), is one of those mixed-bag kind of offerings.

"Project Runway's" Tim Gunn wouldn't, I suspect, be caught dead in blue shoes, but there's no question he knows about dressing to catch (and not offend) the eye.

Finally! Something interesting is happening to "Project Runway." Sadly, it's not happening onscreen, where this snoozefest of a season continues to limp to the finish line. Despite a cavalcade of A-List guest judges, season five of "Runway" just didn't make it work. Even J-Lo knows it - she begged out of the season finale at the last minute claiming a foot injury. Interesting that she managed to complete a triathlon in Malibu the next day.

Come on, did you really think they killed off Horatio (David Caruso) on "CSI: Miami"? Yes, we left him at the end of last season lifeless on the tarmac, picked off by a sniper. But as we saw on this week's season premiere, the reports of his death were greatly exaggerated.

"Dexter" spent the spring on CBS, but with the writers strike now history, television's most sympathetic serial killer is back on premium cable Sunday (9 p.m., Showtime).