Today was the day of reckoning for several faltering television shows.

“Dollhouse,” “Hank” and “Brothers” all got the proverbial pink slip. “Dollhouse” through no fault of its own was set in no man’s land Friday night and seemed destined for failure from the start of the second season. “Hank” and “Brothers” never got off the ground.

Elsewhere, The CW will things fresh through at least May with new episodes of “One Tree Hill,” “Gossip Girl” and the new “Life UneXpected” all revolving around each others. “One Tree Hill” premieres with back-to-back episodes at 8 p.m. on January 18, followed by the start of “Life UneXpected” at 9 p.m.

The at-times controversial news anchor Lou Dobbs announced live on the air and unexpectedly that he was resigning from CNN immediately. Dobbs was under contract until the end of 2011, but CNN apparently released him. He was by some measure the voice of the right for CNN, though his views on immigration made him a lightning rod at times.

Tonight is another big cable night. “DeGrassi: The Next Generation” wil fulfill all your melodrama fantasies on TeenNick at 8 p.m.

SyFy jumps in at 10 with the season premiere of “Sanctuary,” the Amanda Tapping post-Stargate project. DIY Network premieres “Kitchen Impossible” at 10, and we can’t forget “Dog Whisperer” at 9 p.m. on NatGeo.

The only big finale this weekend is MTV’s “Making His Band” at 9 p.m.

On Monday, you can expect premieres of “Little People, Big World,” on TLC at 8 p.m., “100 Mile Challenge” on Planet Green at 9 p.m., and “Gone Too Far” on MTV at 10.

Southland is D E D dead, even though it never was officially alive. NBC pulled the plug on the drama before its anticipated season debut on October 23. No reason has been given, and six episodes were already finished and ready to air.

Southland was going to be aired on Fridays at 9 p.m., which has been a dead zone for television lately, with Dollhouse dying there.

ABC has ordered the full seasons of “Modern Family,” “Cougar Town” and “The Middle.”

The three shows have done well in the ratings, but no news has been announced on the Kelsey Grammer comeback “Hank” or the new show “Eastwick.”

Showtime announced a new webisode about Dexter called “Dexter: Early Cuts.” The series will premiere on October 25 on sho.com.

CBS may be bringing back “Hawaii Five-O” with a plot commitment for a revival of the series, written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and CSI: New York executive producer Peter Lenkov. The original ran from 1968-1990.

Finally, Ellen Page is working with HBO to both write and produce a new comedy series called “Stich N’ Bitch” about two cool girls who move from New York to Los Angeles to try and become artists — and kind of artists. Page is working with actresses Alia Shawkat and Sean Tillmann, both of whom stared with her in “Whip It.”

One of the things I’ve constantly be given a hard time from my friends about is my penchant for good television writing. A lot of people take writing for granted in TV, but I stress its importance when referring to quality shows.

“Really it’s the writing? It’s got good writing you say” someone will ask me sarcastically, as if I’m pulling this trait out of my ass.

Yes, it’s the writing. It’s what makes good shows great, mediocre shows bad and bad shows unbearable. Take for instance, “Hank.” The new ABC sitcom, which debuted last Wednesday at 8 p.m., features one of my favorite actors of all time, Kelsey Grammer. Unfortunately, Kelsey’s latest foray into the world of sitcoms is not nearly as promising as his first two (“Frasier” and “Cheers” “" not “Back to You”).

Kelsey plays Hank Pryor, a former well to do CEO whose family is down on its luck and has to move from its ritzy New York City existence to the simple town of River Bend, VA, the hometown of his wife, Tilly (Melinda McGraw). With his past life behind him, he now must reconnect with Tilly and their two kids, Maddie (Jordan Hinson) and Henry (Nathan Gamble) while building himself back up.

Pryor is a snotty, arrogant, driven man that’s returning to familiar roots. Sound like someone you’ve watched before? It doesn’t take a genius to recognize it is a lot like Frasier, with the themes of adaptation and forming lost familial bonds playing a vital role in the show. However, there is one slight difference between Hank and Frasier.

“Hank” sucks and “Frasier” was one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. The difference? Writing. Well that and the supporting cast in Hank is not nearly as strong as Frasier. But it’s mostly writing that is “Hank’s” downfall.

For starters, the jokes were cringe worthy. Someone needs to tell ABC, the 1980s styled sitcom is as dead as the 1980s style hair. The storyline has been done many times before. And the for the most part, there were no sympathetic characters (a big difference between Frasier and Hank). Frasier may have been arrogant and pompous, but he was somehow lovable. You find none of that on Hank.

Unless the show changes dramatically, I have a hard time seeing it get picked up for a second season. People nowadays don’t like recycled crap. That’s unfortunate because Grammer is a talented comedic actor. But like many before him, even he cannot overcome terrible writing.

Three Quick Hits of the Week:

The Office: “The Promotion” “" The Promotion focuses on Jim and Michael trying to co-exist as leaders of the office. Unfortunately Michael is having a hard time letting go of responsibility, while Jim is having a hard time taking control. This episode was decent, but not great. Jim’s problem with leadership is a subject that’s been covered before. Still, in typical Office fashion, they made it seem relatively fresh.

The Big Bang Theory: “The Gothowitz Devotion” “" In this episode, Sheldon uses positive reinforcement in the form of chocolate to change Penny’s unacceptable behavior in his apartment. At it begins to work, Leonard finds offense with Sheldon for using his girlfriend as some kind of “lab rat.” In the side story, Raj and Howard go a Goth club to pick up ladies. Nothing stood out about this episode, but it wasn’t terrible. Any Sheldon-Penny episode is usually pretty solid.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: “The Reunion” “" The Reunion was probably the most anticipated episode in the history of Curb, and it didn’t disappoint. Larry decides, against previous inclinations, to stage a Seinfeld reunion show in order to win back Cheryl. The Seinfeld four return and Larry does his best convince them to do the reunion show. I won’t spoil anything but needless to say, in typical Curb fashion, not everything goes as planned. Perhaps it’s out of sheer fandom, but I really loved this episode. If you’re a fan of Curb or Seinfeld, it’s a must-see.

BURBANK, Calif. — In another new comedy series on ABC, Kelsey Grammer returns to primetime in the series “Hank” the story of self-made millionaire and entrepreneur Hank Pryor, and his unfortunate descent from New York’s elite to the blue-collar suburbs of River Bend, Virginia. At his side is the charismatic, and funny Melinda McGraw, whose portrayal of his wife, Tilly, stirs up the comedy early on. Their children, Maddie (Jordan Hinson) and Henry (Nathan Gamble) add to the chaos.

Finally, there is the issue of Tilly’s brother, Grady Funk, portrayed by David Koechner, who some fans may recognize from NBC’s “The Office” and most recently the film “Extract”

As one of the final sets Blast visited in Burbank recently, we caught glimpses of a few scenes being shot before we sat down with Grammer, McGraw and Koechner to discuss the show.

The first question we had to ask the cast was: What brought them all together for this project?

“For the last year or so I was thinking about returning to television again, and trying another shot after ‘Back to You,’” said Grammer. “I looked at television and thought to myself, the only thing missing in television these days is the traditional family show that has everyone living together, mother, father, and the kids, you know? Then I met Tucker (Cawley) and he had this loosely phrased idea about a guy who had fallen down from a big perch and was moving down to Virginia.”

Blast was able to see the final pilot episode shortly before our meeting, and we wondered if the physical comedy aside from the witty dialogue would be part of its style.

“Melinda’s stuff is high farce. This week we shot some things in the woods” Grammer laughed.

“I think a lot of the behavior just ends up physical” McGraw added. “So, a lot of times if it’s not written in, if it becomes physical because of how we are covering for ourselves and each other. I think there’s a lot fun stuff, and there’s some things that are a little broad.”

We may just see a bit more into Tilly’s side of the family, whose southern roots brought them to Virginia in the first place.

“Well we get (Grady’s wife) and a couple of kids. I don’t know how many.” Grammer said. He also explained more about the relationship Hank has with his brother-in-law, Grady, a man who has no problem reminding Hank of the reasons he’s in Virigina.

“This relationship will be to always antagonize one another,” Grammer said. “And she secretly is a party to it all because he and she are brother and sister. But the key relationships are here (in the pilot).”

“So far we’re exploring the world of the family, the extended family” said Koechner, “and then probably the town, and the state, and the nation.”

And what of the kids on the show? In the pilot, Maddie clearly has her issues with daddy, and a boyfriend of sorts. “Oh we’ll be dealing with the boyfriends, I mean she’s only 17″ said Grammer emphasizing the plural.

“What’s great is that it’s a modern father daughter relationship. It’s not one of the corny ones that doesn’t exist” Koechner added, saying that, these days, teenagers go through things much faster than a decade ago.

“There are real moments, and hopefully in the end everyone is going to grow up a little,” said Grammer. “They’ve had one life they thought was pretty well set, and it changed. That throws everyone into a tailspin.”

“And it was a rare existence that you don’t really have,” McGraw chimed in, “and I do think an interesting dynamic in the triangle (between Hank, Grady, and Tilly) is that in-between them, I might come back to her old ways. Throw back a couple of beers with Grady. Or I’ll push against them. Hank has that American (perspective) of starting from nothing and making something new, kind of pulling up by your bootstraps. And the realities of how those ‘bootstraps’ are different than twenty years ago.”

We closed by asking the trio to tell viewers why they should watch “Hank” this fall.

“I think the show has an identifiable character that everyone can relate to, that’s just like so and so,” said Koechner. “And it’ll definitely get people to laugh. It comes from a place of honesty and truth. It’s not just manufactured. The writing is good, and makes me laugh out loud. And finally, well, I just love Kelsey Grammer!”

“Oh, I can’t fight with that!” Grammer replied.

“I think it’s a relief to watch a show where you see people going through such changes because it makes you feel like you’re not the only ones” McGraw added.

“And this is a show, the whole family can watch it, and it’s not a kid’s kind of show.” said Koechner.

“For years, I’ve heard people tell me that Hollywood doesn’t make shows for (the family) anymore,” Grammer said, “and this year, Hollywood does.”

Catch Grammer, McGraw, Koechner and all of “Hank” every Wednesday at 8 p.m. on ABC.