Tonight in HD: November 15

SoHo Highlight: Dexter (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) Season six opens with Dexter avenging the murder of a good samaritan from his school days and Miami’s finest investigating the disembowelment of a fruiterer. Although each season of Dexter is renowned for starting slow, the premiere nonetheless feels unusually cut-and-paste and may be an omen of what’s to come. As Variety suggested: “It’s just that creatively speaking, the current season looks like it’s going to require a major late-act rescue.” That may come in the form of  two serial killers with a religious bent, played by Edward James Olmos and Colin Hanks (who was a priest in Mad Men). Pondered Slant magazine: “Maybe this season’s apparent theme of spiritual enlightenment (promos for the show reveal Dexter with blood spatter behind him in the pattern of angel wings) will allow the writers to continue to explore the show’s central question: Is Dexter a force for good or evil?” ✭✭✭

NCIS (TV3, 8.30)

Friends (TV2, 6.30, R) Chandler gives David advice that culminates in a proposal to Phoebe; sparks fly between Ross and Charlie; Rachel struggles with telling Joey she’s crazy about him. ✫✫✫

Shortland Street (TV2, 7.00) Luke protects a friend; Lana fears Gabrielle can’t handle the truth; Sarah is confronted with her pride. ✫✫✫

The Celebrity Apprentice (TV2, 8.30) The teams learn the art of the deal or, in this case, how to create their own works of art – complete with artistic temperaments. Observed New York magazine: “We get our first taste of the Meat Loaf meltdown the show has been hyping for the last week. Gary Busey asks Loaf if he’s buying canvases for everybody. Meat Loaf somehow interprets that as Busey saying “You’re buying my stuff!” and rolls his shopping cart off in a rage. I don’t like where this is going at all.” ✫

NCIS (TV3, 8.30, 5.1) A navy officer is murdered and the team searches for the killer, a petty officer caught in the crime on a Pentagon security camera. The TV Obsessed described it as “a case with Mission: Impossible masks which sets up the background for everything else going on. With EJ’s team coming in, the port to port killer still on the loose, and some thorny relationship issues to work out, there’s quite a bit left before the end of the season.” ✫✫

NCIS: Los Angeles (TV3, 9.30, 5.1) A reporter’s murder leads the agents to a Libyan resistance movement; Hetty reveals to Callen details of his past; and the team gets a new ‘member’. “Sure, he may be a little smelly,” Daemon’s TV acknowledged, “he’s got very picky tastes when it comes to radio stations, and he has some psychological problems to overcome, but I think Monty is going to be a great addition.” Otherwise, TV Fanatic thought the episode “notable for its long-awaited, surprisingly substantive reveals on the Callen front”. ✫✫

Cold Case (TV One, 12.00, R) ✫✫