zero hour

With ABC's new drama Zero Hour, not only are we getting a new mystery to unravel, but we also get to do it with a beloved TV veteran. Anthony Edwards stars as a man who gets tangled up in a web of conspiracies that span years and continents, and he sets out to get to the bottom of it all because his own wife is at stake. I've checked out the pilot for Zero Hour, so I can break it down for you — and let you know whether it might be one of your new TV favorites.

• What it's about: Hank (Edwards) is the editor of a magazine that disproves conspiracy theories and paranormal activity, but he starts to change his mind when his wife, Laila (Jacinda Barrett), is kidnapped. When he starts to connect the dots and finds a link between Laila's clock shop and a decades-old conspiracy, he takes off on his own quest to find her, and he unearths some disturbing truths along the way.
• Where it works: It feels so right to have Edwards back on TV, leading his own show as the charismatic everyman. I was also excited to see Scott Michael Foster (Greek's Cappie!), who brings a little youthful humor as one of the reporters at Hank's magazine.
• Where it doesn't: Zero Hour is very complicated, and sometimes it feels like it's for the sake of being complicated. Nazis, clocks, and attempted murders all come up in the first episode, making the show feel stuffed with way too much. It's often hard to follow.
• You might like this show if: You feel like watching The Da Vinci Code every week.
• When it's on: Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC

Watch a preview and see some pictures from Zero Hour after the jump.

Anthony Edwards is coming back to the small screen next month in Zero Hour, where he plays a man who works for a magazine that disproves conspiracies — until his wife (Jacinda Barrett) is kidnapped and he's swept into a tangled web of real conspiracies. Edwards came to TCA today along with his castmates and showrunners to talk about how complicated the story is and why he chose this project to make his TV return.

• Edwards shared his reason for coming back to TV with Zero Hour, saying that when "ER was done I felt like I had really accomplished something . . . it took a while to recover from that." He asserted that if he was going to come back to TV, "it would have to be something as exciting to me as that," and when his longtime friend and Zero Hour executive producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura sent him the script, he couldn't put it down.
• There are a lot of mysteries introduced in the pilot, and show creator Paul T. Scheuring said we won't have to wait around for answers. He said Zero Hour's format will follow "the 24 model, where you reset every year." Scheuring added that the Nazi conspiracy introduced in the pilot will be resolved after 13 episodes, but Edwards's character and his colleagues at the magazine "will apply that to the next thing." Edwards added that the story is complicated ("good complicated," Scheuring interjected), and "will challenge people because they're not laying it out simply."
• Even though she's kidnapped in the pilot, Barrett wants you to know that she's not just the show's damsel in distress. After the first episode, her clock shop owner character Laila "gets to do more than you would expect based on the pilot," Barrett promised, adding that Laila is a "very surprising, very exciting character" and we'll get to see a lot of her, like in an episode that's devoted to her origin story.

Upfronts are in full swing, and it's time to get acquainted with the new series that'll be hitting the small screen in Fall 2012. ABC has revealed the shows it's ordered after announcing which shows it's canceling, and we've got the info on the pilots right here.

COMEDIES

• Malibu Country: Reba McEntire plays a woman who moves with her kids from Nashville to Malibu to live with her mother (Lily Tomlin) after her husband cheats on her.
• How to Live With Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life: Sarah Chalke stars as a recently divorced woman who has to move in with her eccentric parents, played by Brad Garrett and Elizabeth Perkins.
• Family Tools: A man (Kyle Bornheimer) puts his life on hold to take over the family handyman business from his father, played by J.K. Simmons.
• Neighbors: A family, which includes Jami Gertz, moves into a gated community and discovers that it's full of aliens disguised as humans.

DRAMAS

• 666 Park Ave.: Dave Annable and Rachael Taylor play a couple who notice supernatural occurrences in the New York City apartment building they've been hired to manage.
• Last Resort: The crew of a nuclear submarine (played by the likes of Scott Speedman and Andre Braugher) has to escape to a NATO outpost after they ignore an order to fire nuclear missiles.
• Zero Hour: Anthony Edwards stars as a longtime editor of a magazine that disproves conspiracies when he's pulled into one.
• Red Widow: The widow (Radha Mitchell) of a murdered criminal has to take over his place to save her family.
• Nashville: This family soap follows two country stars, played by Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere, one who's at the top of her career and another whose star is just rising.
• Mistresses: Alyssa Milano stars in this drama about the love lives of four women, which also costars Lost's Yunjin Kim.