A little goes a very long when it comes to promos for new fall shows. If they're funny, great! I won't DVR past all of them. If they're terrible, well, consider the show boycotted by me even before the first frame airs in primetime.

As the days of summer whittle down, the nets are pulling out all the stops to get us interested in the (sparse) lineup of new shows for Fall 2008. To say the very least, they are doing this with varying degrees of success.

The Ex List

I have a feeling that CBS didn't intend to fill me with utter sadness with its wince-inducing promo for this new chick-flick-ish romp. An entire show centered on a single woman who may have already met her mate is bad enough, but the trailer, which is being aired to death during the day (apparently lots of single women are home watching soaps), is a real stinker. Looking like a skinny shell of her former self, actress Elizabeth Reaser (Grey's Anatomy) can deliver a punchline about as well as she can conceal her disgust that her agent has locked her into this awful gig. Sorry lady, but I liked you better as disfigured and bi-polar on Grey's.

My Own Worst Enemy

I'm happy to see Christian Slater in his first starring role on TV, but there's something oddly and annoyingly familiar about this trailer, which has been playing ad nauseum during Olympics coverage. Let's see ... he's a family man who is also a hit man. He kisses his wife in the kitchen and then goes about living his double life ... ah ha! I remember now. This trailer was way better when it starred Ray Liotta and the show was called Smith. Let's hope for Slater's sake the similarities end there as the CBS drama from 2006 was axed after just three episodes.

Kath and Kim

It's clear NBC is pinning all its new-comedy hopes on this remake of the Aussie hit, and for good reason. The deliciously goofy outing stars Molly Shannon and the unlikely but surprisingly funny Selma Blair as an Ab-Fab-ish mom and daughter, and it's the one and only trailer that made me laugh out loud (on purpose). Sample: "Mom, my marriage is over! O-V-U-R!" With The Office folks in charge, I can only imagine Kath and Kim will actually make good on its chuckle potential and get NBC back in the sitcom game.

The Mentalist

Wow, Simon Baker is hot! Did you know? OMG, he's totally good-looking. And that is pretty much all I get from the ads CBS has been shoving down my throat over the last month for this new "cop drama." Oh, I think there is something about him being a mind reader maybe? Or a detective with special, um, mental skills? All I know is that Baker's ability to identify an unknown corpse as "gay" because "he has a pedicure" is so tasteless, this show is already dead to me.

Worst Week

This trailer begs an answer to the age-old question: Is there anything funnier than a grown man wearing a diaper made from a garbage bag? Perhaps, but as far as the extended promo for this new CBS show goes, I say "no." Based on yet another British sitcom, The Worst Week of My Life, the show is about a hapless dude named Sam who turns into a bumbling idiot anytime he's around his girlfriend's parents. This concept wouldn't be nearly as sell-able a premise if the girlfriend's dad weren't being played by my favorite cranky pops, That 70's Show's Kurtwood Smith. I'm sold! Well, at least until I see the first episode.

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