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TV (well, all entertainment) is, as we know, a derivative beast. With millions, if not billions, of dollars at stake, risks are few and far between, and it's better to go with what works. Often, a new show is merely an old idea with a fresh twist, if we even get the new twist at all.

ABC's first scripted fall premiere, Men in Trees, feels more derivative than most; judging from the "special preview" that will air Tuesday, the pitch for this was "Northern Exposure from the woman's point of view." (The series will settle into its regular weekly time slot this Friday.) Anne Heche, in her first lead TV role, plays Marin Frist, a relationship coach who thinks she has it all until she accidentally grabs her fiance's laptop and finds evidence that he has someone else. Headed to an Alaskan backwater to conduct a seminar and plug her latest book -- because, y'know, book tours tend to stop in Alaskan backwaters -- Marin finds herself adrift. She might know about relationships, but she doesn't know much about being alone.

Marin quickly runs up against characters who seem semi-borrowed from Northern Exposure. There's a bush pilot (John Amos), but he's a crusty man instead of a feisty woman. There's a bartender (Abraham Benrubi -- guess his ER character didn't survive that cliffhanger, huh?), but he's a gruff albeit sophisticated guy rather than a folksy older man with a hot young girlfriend. There's a DJ (Derek Richardson), but he's less a dime-store philosopher than a friendly goof (in Northern Exposure terms, he's more Ed than Chris). And there's a good-looking individualist (James Tupper) on hand for a little bit of Joel-and-Maggie-style romantic sparring.

If you're keeping score, that's a lot of men in them thar trees, and after stumbling through the usual city-girl-out-of-her-element stuff (creator Jenny Bicks is an alum of Sex and the City, which dealt memorably with this cliche), Marin realizes that she's stumbled on a gold mine: She is, after all, an expert at helping women understand men, and where better to do research than a place where men seem to hang from every branch?

If it weren't so hung up on obvious jokes about obsessive fans, skeptical agents, mischievous wildlife and uncooperative cellphones, Men in Trees might be something -- the cast is likable, and Heche gives Marin an awkward but lovable energy. A big drawback is its familiarity, which goes way deeper than just resembling a former hit TV show. It may have trees, but all their leaves feel borrowed.

As far as old TV shows goes, the folks involved in another new Tuesday series, Fox's Standoff, readily acknowledge that Moonlighting is one of its influences -- not that you could tell from last week's premiere: Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt play Matt and Emily, FBI hostage negotiators who, as was revealed in the series' first five minutes, have been sleeping together even though that's a no-no for agency partners.

So, yes, we have the romantic element, but if the Standoff people are going to compare the show to Moonlighting, they're going to have to back up the boast with more banter. What we got instead was fairly obvious stuff: the stern boss (Gina Torres), the trigger-happy head of a SWAT-style unit (Michael Cudlitz, who worked with Livingston on Band of Brothers), the people who second-guess Matt and Emily's every decision even though they're among the FBI's top five negotiators.

The premiere included not one but two hostage situations -- it's not called Standoff for nothing -- and too much of this will get real old, real fast (nevertheless, its premiere reportedly earned strong ratings for a non-American Idol Fox show). Livingston is one of the most appealing actors working today, and DeWitt sparks well with him, but the writers will need to find a better balance between the hostage tension and the romantic tension to keep Standoff standing.

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