USA’s series outshine NBC’s

Has cable surpassed network? In a recent interview, NBC president Jeff Zucker argued that his performance should not be judged solely on the ratings-deprived NBC but on the total picture, including NBC Universal’s cable operations Bravo, USA, Sci Fi and others.

If I were Zucker, I’d emphasize cable, too. NBC debuts “The Listener” (8 p.m. and 9 p.m., NBC), a fairly uninspired Canadian import, while USA launches the far more entertaining series “Royal Pains” (9 p.m., USA).

On “The Listener,” paramedic Toby Logan (Craig Olejnik) can read minds. As a kid, this sensory overload thrust him into the care of Dr. Ray Mercer (Colm Feore, “24”), who remains a confidant and mentor.

Few other people know about his special power, so he uses it with annoying selectivity to solve crimes in fits and starts. But if he didn’t try so hard to keep it under wraps, “The Listener” would be over in 10 minutes, and that would leave too much time for commercials.

Toby spends most of his off hours joking with his pal and fellow paramedic Oz (Ennis Esmer), and conducting awkward conversations with his off-and-on girlfriend, Olivia (Mylene Dinh-Robic). You don’t have to be a psychic to see they’re going nowhere.

The pilot of “Royal Pains” covers a lot of ground in its extended 75 minutes. Brash emergency-room doctor Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein) saves two patients on what should be his day off. But when one of them — the hospital’s benefactor and namesake — dies, he loses his job, his reputation and his transparently shallow girlfriend.

After a month of brooding and mounting bills, fate and his goofy brother, Evan (Paulo Costanzo), arrive to whisk Hank away to the Hamptons for a debauched weekend. But when Hank saves a gorgeous woman’s life at an exclusive gathering, word spreads all over the posh beach community, and Hank quickly becomes the go-to doctor for the fantastically wealthy and secretive.

“Pains” does a very good job of balancing gilded-age excess with Hank’s down-to-earth concern for medicine and his skill at saving lives using whatever tools just happen to be handy. As one patient describes him, he’s more of a MacGyver than an MD.

This approach makes “Pains” a perfect companion to “Burn Notice” (8 p.m., USA), the spy-on-the-lam series entering its third season. And like “Burn,” this doctor dramedy takes its life-and-death subject matter with an entertaining breeziness. And it’s also set against a sunny locale, with beautiful scenery and gorgeous women to match.

USA may be a mere cable outlet, but its series, including these two, “Monk,” “Psych” and to a lesser extent “In Plain Sight,” reflect far more thematic coherence than those on NBC, where we lurch tonight from “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” (7 p.m., NBC) to “The Listener” without much enthusiasm or consistency.

Tonight’s other highlights

• “Jimmy Kimmel Live: Gamenight” (7 p.m., ABC) leads into the NBA finals, game 1 (8 p.m., ABC).

• The competition continues on “So You Think You Can Dance” (8 p.m., Fox).

• “World’s Toughest Fixes” (9 p.m., National Geographic) looks at a repair job on a Mississippi River barge.