Critic's corner

By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff  |  July 10, 2008

10 p.m., USA
The quintessential summer action series is back for its second season tonight. Starring Jeffrey Donovan (above), the Miami-set show is light, wry, and filled with plot twists and explosions. The spy vs. spy trickery is fun, and so is Sharon Gless, who plays Donovan’s passive-aggressive mother with tongue in cheek and cigarette in mouth. He beats any bad guy who comes his way, but his mother? She’s the boss of him.

10 p.m., Sundance Channel
Show some emotion, people. It's Joan Armatrading.

10 p.m., Bravo
Blabbermouth uber alles.

9 p.m., National Geographic
Two years building Queen Mary 2? Never easy to hide an Adam's apple.

9 p.m., TBS
Cynthia Watros is probably best known for her turn as Libby on "Lost." She broke Hurley's heart. But Watros has done a lot of sitcom work, in "Titus" and "The Drew Carey Show." Tonight she begins a three-episode stint as a "quirky pal" on this tiresome show, which is probably the only reason to watch.

9 p.m., History Channel
How to make beer. Hop to it.

8:15 p.m., Cinemax
"American Graffiti" with carburetor holes.

1/2 Comcast, Free Movies
Stockard Channing's brittle businesswoman and Julia Stiles's (above) arrogant newcomer do a job on an oily male corporate headhunter in this examination of what happens to women when they buy into the sterile, aggressive values of the male-dominated corporate world. The writing thins out pretty quickly, but the acting sizzles. (R; runs through July 24)