The television season kicks off in earnest, with the arrival of a new network drama, a new network news anchor and a whole new network.

¢ Ron Livingston stars in “Standoff” (8 p.m., Fox) as Matt Flannery, a top hostage negotiator for the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit. He’s first seen trying to talk a troubled man out of his car, where he’s been holding his two kids hostage with a pistol and blocking traffic to boot. For reasons that make no sense except to explain the new show’s plot, Flannery spills his guts to the dangerous subject and confesses on megaphone that he has problems, too, and that’s he’s in over his head in a three-month-long affair with his partner and fellow negotiator, Emily Lehman (Rosemarie DeWitt). Suffice it to say, they get their man and catch holy heck from their superior (make that their gorgeous superior), Cheryl Cabrera (Gina Torres). This being television, the CNU looks like it was staffed by a modeling agency.

Thus “Standoff” begins its pattern of awkward dialogue between Matt and Emily about their relationship, followed by white-knuckle hostage crises. For the record, both standoffs in the “Standoff” pilot involve semi-celebrities. The guy in the car was a minor actor tired of his on-air persona and the second is the son of a famous politician. We’ve reached the point in TV dramas where even the crooks have to be bold-faced names. “Standoff” would work better if Matt and Emily shared more palpable romantic or physical chemistry. They talk a good game, but it seems like a ploy.

¢ Last spring, when the CW network was formed by combining affiliates from the WB and UPN networks, quite a few local stations were left unattached to any network. Many of these have been corralled into the new MyNetwork that launches today. In a major programming move, MY will not offer nightly slates of different shows, but will air only two. These two soap-opera-style dramas, “Desire” (7 p.m., MyNetwork) and “Fashion House” (8 p.m., MyNetwork), will air six nights per week for 13 weeks. At the end of their run, new shows will be launched. “Fashion House” features Morgan Fairchild and Bo Derek, two stars from prime-time soaps past.

The My Network affiliate in the Kansas City market will be KSMO, Sunflower Broadband Channel 3. The new CW network will air on KCWE, Sunflower Broadband Channel 17.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ Katie Couric takes the helm as the anchor of the “CBS Evening News” (5:30 p.m., CBS).

¢ After recovering from his gunshot wounds, House takes on a new perspective and a difficult workload on the third-season opener of “House” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ “Metal of Iron” (8 p.m., Spike) recalls the heroism of the ironworkers at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9-11.

¢ Mike rescues an Army Humvee lost at the bottom of a swamp on the 100th episode of “Dirty Jobs” (8 p.m., Discovery).

¢ Scheduled on “Primetime” (9 p.m., ABC): people outside the mainstream.

¢ “Nip/Tuck” (9 p.m., FX) enters its fourth season.