Very little catches my eye on TV, and very little caught my eye in Salon’s preview of the fall TV lineup. These items did, for different reasons. On ABC,

People Who Fear People “stars David Krumholtz as a paranoid guy

who thinks everybody is spying on him. Jon Cryer plays

his neighbor, who’s spying on him.” Sorry to be a stick-in-the-mud, but as a mental health professional I’m worried this will be another insensitive attempt to make a joke of mental illness. And it’s an old joke, a one-liner really: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.” And, also on ABC, Gideon’s Crossing, ‘starring Andre Braugher of Homicide: Life on the Street and executive produced by

Homicide creator Paul Attanasio. The ABC

announcement describes Braugher’s character, Dr. Ben

Gideon, thusly: “The voice of reason, empathy and

wisdom in a world of medical chaos, bureaucracy and

hypocrisy … he is Disease’s mortal enemy.” ‘ As over-the-top as that is, this one makes me worry that Braugher, an estimable and charismatic actor, will repeat David Caruso’s mistake in leaving NYPD Blue and flounder in a star vehicle without strong ensemble support. And speaking of Caruso: David Duchovny, in reluctantly signing on for another season of The X-Files, praised Caruso’s courage for walking out on a lucrative TV contract. (To self-destruct on the large screen, and then crawl back to the TV world with his tail between his legs and complete the act?)