Starz has made some fitful attempts to get into the scripted series business, without much luck to this point. But its latest effort should get it some notice: Crash (Friday, 10 p.m.), which uses the Oscar-winning film as its jumping off point. Like the film, the series explores the ways that disparate lives intersect in Los Angeles, not always in a friendly way. The premiere introduces viewers to a shrewd police lieutenant (Nick E. Tarabay), a disaffected wife and mother (Clare Carey) and a young would-be doctor (Eddie Choi). By far the biggest name in the cast is Dennis Hopper, who plays a music producer who is having trouble dealing with aging.

Also this week:

Monday: Samantha Who? (ABC, 9:30 p.m.): With Dancing With the Stars no longer needing a full two hours, it's time for the return of this second-season sitcom, following an Emmy win for Jean Smart and a summer from hell for star Christina Applegate. The season premiere pays tribute to its lead-in, with Samantha and her mother entering a dance competition.

Tuesday: Eli Stone (ABC, 10 p.m.): None of the marginal series that avoided cancellation last spring are off to encouraging starts, but perhaps things will be different for this uneven series, basically a David E. Kelley show without the Kelley annoyances. The season opens six months after Eli has had his aneurysm removed, but it appears that someone else in Eli's life is now receiving the visions he used to get.

Wednesday: Project Runway (Bravo, 9 p.m.): Sure, Bravo just loooooooves Project Runway still, which is why they put its fifth-season finale up against the final presidential debate! Uh ... go Leanne, I guess.

Wednesday: Chocolate News (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.): David Alan Grier, who has rarely had material equal to his talent, is the host of this satirical news show, which sounds a lot like a black version of The Colbert Report.

Thursday: Life on Mars (ABC, 10 p.m.): Ratings for the debut of this series were fairly promising, good news for a network that has been looking for a companion for Grey's Anatomy for three years. Sam and the squad investigate fatal shootings that took place during robberies, while Sam continues to wrap himself around the facts that 1) he's in 1973, and 2) Tony Orlando is inexplicably popular.

Saturday: America's Toughest Jobs (NBC, 8 p.m.): The good news is that there's now new network programming on Saturday nights! The bad news is that this series, which actually isn't that bad, got dumped here to finish off its run due to horrific ratings. This week's job: working in search-and-rescue on Mount McKinley.

Sunday: Easy Money (CW, 9 p.m.): One of the new shows that's part of the Sunday block that Media Rights Capital is producing for the CW, this series has attracted some positive reviews, although it clearly has its work cut out getting attention (and it's also all wrong for the CW). This week, Morgan (Jeff Hephner), who heads up a family-run short-term loan business, tries to get more details about his childhood from his appalling mother Bobette (Laurie Metcalf).

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