"Curb Your Enthusiasm" kicked off its sixth season tonight with an episode that, for a show that has always treaded a thin line between annoying and uproarious, leaned a bit too much toward the former -- if only because so much of the episode was predictable.  There was one gambit involving repeated references to a certain dessert that paid off, but for the most part the premiere was underwhelming. This was no picking up a prostitute to get access to the carpool lane.

During the episode, I wondered if "Curb," which was groundbreaking in just how far it was willing to stretch the annoyance envelope, has now seen its moment pass. Other shows from "The Office" to "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" risk antagonizing their audience, yet seem fresher in doing so.  In particular, "The Office," which wears its heart on its sleeve right after sticking a knife in it, seems to shine a light on the limitations of "Curb."

But maybe tonight simply wasn't the best "Curb" will have to offer this season - certainly, Larry David and Co. have generated utter masterpieces in the not-too-distant past.  And of course, it only gets harder as a show gets older, and we'll have to see whether something like "It's Always Sunny" can keep the pace.

— Jon Weisman

Welcome to Season Pass, Variety.com’s blog for dishing about fall’s new scripted TV shows.
We wanted to give readers a wide range of opinions on the fall fare so eight of us spent a good chunk of our summer watching all of it. We like to complain, but it was really kind of fun.

Each of us has rated all the shows using four categories:

Love it, setting a season pass now

Worth another try

OK, but not for me

Won't watch again

"Reaper" (below) was one show that took us all by surprise. I did not expect to like it and it ended up being one of my favorites

The shows that rated the highest (one or two thumbs up) among our group of TV junkies were: ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” (seven season passes), NBC’s “Chuck” (four season passes), the CW’s “Reaper” (six season passes), CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” (three season passes), the CW’s “Gossip Girl,” (one season pass), Fox’s “Back To You” (one season pass) and CBS’ midseason entry “Swingtown” (one season pass).

See the chart for more details.

Our opinions are meant as a guide only. We encourage you to give all the shows a try and see for yourself what shows speak to you.

We’ll be blogging after each episode to track the shows’ progress. And we’ll weigh in on topics related to the season.

Have fun and happy channel surfing!