HUMAN TARGET
Action thriller
Premieres Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. on Fox

What it's about: Based on the DC Comic — not to mention a 1992 ABC series featuring Rick Springfield — about a bodyguard/private detective who injects himself into his clients' lives to draw out a threat and eliminate it, Target stars Fringe's Mark Valley as Christopher Chance, a man who doesn't exactly put safety first. ''I don't think he necessarily has a death wish,'' explains Valley. ''There's just a certain high he gets out of saving people.'' Fortunately, he has a behind-the-scenes support team (Pushing Daisies' Chi McBride and Watchmen's Jackie Earle Haley) to keep him on the right side of death's door.

What to expect: Whether trying to prevent a plane from crashing or knowing precisely when to jump from a speeding train that's about to slam into a wall, Valley's character has to use his brain as well as his fists to battle baddies. Explains exec producer Jonathan Steinberg (Jericho), ''For any bodyguard, as soon as someone takes a shot at a client, that's a failure. Here, Chance is not just protecting them, he's solving a problem—though sometimes, those things are at odds.'' —Lynette Rice