Neal Justin

LOS ANGELES -- Ask Teri Hatcher to select her favorite moment from eight seasons of "Desperate Housewives," and she'll most likely reminisce about the time she bared it all.

"There was a new wardrobe girl and at 6 in the morning she came over to me, introduced herself and said, 'Can we please take some gaffer's tape and cover your nipples and crotch?'" said Hatcher of the Season 1 episode in which her character, Susan, locked herself out of the house without a stitch of clothing.

LOS ANGELES -- At the start of this TV season, critics were drooling over Zooey Deschanel, but while her sitcom "New Girl" generates laughs, her "adorkable" act is getting old. There are only so many times a person can bat her eyes, growl a silly song and still get our heart racing.

Time to spread our affections elsewhere, on an actress not gracing magazine covers, not hosting "Saturday Night Live," not getting a Golden Globe nomination.

It's time to fall in love with Jane Levy.

As the sarcastic, sassy and often sullen Tessa Altman on ABC's "Suburgatory," Levy is giving teen angst a new heroine, one who's been forced by her overprotective father to live in a New York City suburb populated with the kind of people who end up as "Real Housewives" on reality TV.

I spent an unhealthy portion of last season feeling glum about "Glee." I wasn't the only one. Viewership for this season's premiere was down 29 percent from last year's opener. About 2 million fans abandoned the show during summer break.

Those who bailed may want to consider climbing back on board. We're just three episodes into the new season, but it appears that executive producer Ryan Murphy and his creative team have righted the ship. Here's how they did it:

--Giving their regards to Broadway. Season two was all about being trendy, with the kids

LOS ANGELES -- Forgive us, Gloria, for we have sinned. It has been 20 hours since our last confession. In that time, we have visited the Playboy Mansion with dozens of local "party girls," wrapped in tight attire and shuttled in as eye candy for a group of TV critics. What is our penance?

Nothing, at least according to pioneering feminist Gloria Steinem.

What I know about the financial world could fit on the back of a check, which is why I was so eager to get my hands on Andrew Ross Sorkin's "Too Big to Fail," a book that promised to explain the 2008 financial crisis in a way that even dummies could comprehend.

The publishers overestimated my intelligence. Sorkin wrote a terrific thriller, but for those of us who squeaked out a C-minus in economics, there's an overwhelming number of references to short sellers, downgrades and subprime mortgages.

As expected, the new miniseries "The Kennedys" trashes a beloved American icon, presenting him as a bumbling blowhard who withered under the mighty glare of Papa Joe.

But enough about Frank Sinatra.