K Ville Television Program

Anthony Anderson was bent on bringing funny back this TV season. ? A scene-stealer extraordinaire, Anderson -- big of voice, size and brash comic bravado -- had scored steady work for more than a decade in films such as "Kangaroo Jack," "Barbershop," "Me, Myself & Irene," "Scary Movie 3" and numerous other films and TV series. ? Lately, he has largely put the jokes aside for more serious turns, winning raves for supporting roles in "The Shield" and "Hustle & Flow."

Nowhere is it written that you cannot take a national tragedy and use it as a backdrop for a TV series. And that's a good thing -- what would television be without "MASH"? But if you do, it would be wise to pause and quietly reflect, to consider whether your characters, subject matter, perhaps even genre, are up to the task.

Would "K-Ville" be indulgent in capitalizing on post-Katrina tragedy? Initially, that fear didn't seem legitimate. At the outset, the Fox police drama (Mondays, 9 p.m.), filmed in New Orleans, had a sobriety of purpose that always outstripped its cop-show mechanics. At times, it felt like an exercise in charity more than a shot at small-screen glory. It remains perhaps the only show on network TV that operates from an assumption of discontent, even rage.