Seven new primetime television series premiere the week of Monday, Sept. 17 (all times Eastern):

‘K-Ville’

What: A pair of New Orleans cops try to restore order to a city and their own lives.

Where: Fox

When: Mondays at 9 p.m.

Who: Anthony Anderson, Cole Hauser, Tawny Cypress, John Carroll Lynch, Blake Shields.

Why: This town had loads of stories to tell before Katrina hit, and it’s got plenty more now.

How: The best thing about this drama is the three stars. As Det. Marlin Boulet, Anderson is cuddly, cocky and often ferocious in his devotion to his troubled town (even when the wife and daughter he loves have left him to live in Atlanta). As Boulet’s new partner, Trevor Cobb, Hauser is a steely straight shooter with a tangled, questionable past. The third star? New Orleans, of course, where the series is shot on location, vividly conveying the Ninth Ward’s pain and defiance. Beyond those selling points, the pilot episode is too much like standard-issue cop fare. But that doesn’t mean future episodes won’t rise to the level of everything “K-Ville” already has going for it. Nor does it mean that “K-Ville” isn’t worth rooting for. Arriving at what seems like just the right moment, it’s a crime show that not only deals with criminal justice, but has plenty of room for raging against even larger injustices inflicted on its city for two years and counting. There could be a lot of drama brewing.

‘Kid Nation’

What: Kids aren’t put in charge, just put on display by exploitative grown-ups.

Where: CBS

When: Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

Who: 40 kids who are bucking for TV stardom, or at least a few bucks, all under the pretense of building a dandy new society.

Why: Because, sooner or later, every squalid idea for a reality show will have its turn on the air.

How: You’ll just have to see once it premieres. No preview has been made available to critics. But the series’ concept wallows somewhere between unsavory and scandalous. In other words, par for the course for much of reality TV. Except this time, the participants are kids. ages 8 to 15, who were deposited at a New Mexico ghost town for 40 days while the cameras rolled. Production has now wrapped, but allegations persist that the youngsters worked long hours and even were put in danger. Nonsense, says CBS, which insists the kids were closely supervised by adults – thus giving lie to the series’ big pitch: “40 Kids for 40 days with no grown-ups.” Create a better society? Not with a TV network run by grown-ups cashing in. Those kids never had a chance.

‘Back to You’

What: An old-fashioned sitcom with snap, smarts and blue-chip talent that will keep you in stitches.

Where: Fox

When: Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

Who: Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Fred Willard, Ty Burrell, Ayda Field, Josh Gad, Laura Marano.

Why: Nearly four decades after Ted Baxter anchored “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” the world of local TV news is even riper for ridicule.

How: Splendidly! C’mon, it’s no news that Grammer and Heaton are sitcom heavyweights. But after so many seasons igniting “Cheers,” “Frasier” and “Everybody Loves Raymond,” these stars spark instant chemistry here that could make you forget either one them ever butted heads on-screen with any other character. (Diane? Lilith? Ray? They’re yesterday’s news.) Now Grammer plays Chuck Darling, a big-time Los Angeles anchorman who inadvertently blurts out some bad words on the air, which sends his career into a swoon and him straight back to the Pittsburgh station he had graduated from a decade earlier. His co-anchor, Kelly Carr (Heaton) is still there, and less than overjoyed to share her WURG anchor desk again with this “preening gasbag.” Meanwhile, Chuck chortles to the sports anchor, Marsh McGinley, that Kelly is a camera hog. “She would wade through a pool of piranhas to get in front of a camera,” he says, to which Marsh appreciatively nods: “Remember when she did that? Helluva sweeps week!” As fresh as tomorrow’s headlines, “Back to You” takes the sitcom genre back to the future. Viewers will be laughing all the way.

‘Kitchen Nightmares’

What: A restaurant version of Rescue 911, with hot-tempered Chef Ramsay on high alert.

Where: Fox

When: Wednesdays at 9 p.m.

Who: Gordon Ramsay, famously excitable chef and current star of Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen.”

Why: Fox clearly hopes the public is hungry for more of Ramsay’s restaurant rehab.

How: Your cafe’s in crisis? Who you gonna call? Chef Ramsay, of course! And on this, his latest series, his first stop is Peter’s, a family-run Italian restaurant on Long Island, N.Y., that needs fixing – fast. One big problem is Peter, whose swaggering boss-act quickly rubs Gordon the wrong way, especially since the food Peter serves his shrinking clientele is lousy. You can see where this is headed: conflict, more bleeped words than “The Jerry Springer Show,” then – glorioski – a restaurant rebirth, with Peter mending his ways. Sound good? If you’ve got a taste for Gordon Ramsay’s overheated bill of fare, you’ll eat this up.

‘Gossip Girl’

What: Yesteryear’s “Beverly Hills 90120” bounces back as a sort of “New York 10021,” but even richer and sexier – and cyber-savvy to boot.

Where: The CW

When: Wednesdays at 9 p.m.

Who: Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Taylor Momsen, Kelly Rutherford, Matthew Settle.

Why: You love ’em, hate ’em, envy ’em, identify with ’em – these Upper East Side teens are a natural to seize the viewer’s attention.

How: Based on the popular young-adult novels of the same title, this youth-skewing soap dwells on a privileged culture of prep-school students and their stinking-rich elders. The title character, an anonymous rumor-mongering blogger, serves as the offscreen narrator. She reports on the characters’ excesses, entanglements and competing social standings. It’s full of fun, and promises to offer more than stereotypes. That is, notorious party girl Serena van der Woodsen (Lively) seems poised to start behaving (let’s hope she fails, but her struggle should be entertaining). Meanwhile, her best friend and social rival, Blair Waldorf (Meester), is manipulative and selfish – yet at times comes across as (omigosh!) sympathetic. Filmed in New York, the show is as pretty to look at for its locations as for its actors (well, almost). Here’s luxury the viewer can afford.

‘CW Now’

What: Something for viewers too cool for ABC’s rival “Funniest Home Videos” and too young for CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

Where: The CW

When: Sundays at 7 p.m.

Who: Tanika Ray (host), J. Boogie (correspondent).

Why: Maybe, uh, because nature abhors a vacuum?

How: Hard to say, since the putatively topical “CW Now” wasn’t ready for review. But the network bills this show as the “ultimate” news-and-entertainment resource “for anyone who needs to know what everyone is buzzing about today and what they’ll be talking about in the week to come.” Sounds like it might leave you with a buzzing in your head.

‘Online Nation’

What: Call this a broadband twist on “Funniest Home Videos.”

Where: The CW

When: Sundays at 7:30 p.m.

Who: Presenters including Joy Leslie, Rhett McLaughlin, Lincoln Neal, Stevie Ryan.

Why: Web sites have been ripping off TV for too long. Why not return the favor?

How: No preview was available, but The CW promises this show will be a search engine for coolness, and serve up “the best, the hottest, the funniest and sometimes the flat-out bizarre” from the near-infinitude of user-generated content jamming cyberspace.