'Jordan' rules, 'Ellen' flops

'Crossing Jordan' Airs: 9 p.m. Mondays, NBC (Channel 41) Stars: Jill Hennessy, Miguel Ferrer, Ken Howard, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Ravi Kapoor Most closely resembles: "CSI" with a dash of "Providence" Aaron's advice: Try it. Hennessy, the former "Law & Order" enforcer, returns as a tough-talking female medical examiner who wears sexy, skin-tight outfits to work. At home, she re-creates crimes with her dad (Howard), a retired cop, in an eerie but compelling game of "killer and victim." These scenes are juxtaposed with touchy-feely moments from their lives and that of her boss (Ferrer), who seems to be teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. In the first episode he talks to (I kid you not) a sock puppet not unlike the kind once used to hock pet supplies on the Internet. It's a combo destined to evoke strong responses among viewers. "Crossing Jordan" will either find a devoted audience or else die a quick death. 'The Ellen Show' Airs: 8:30 tonight, CBS (Channel 5); regular time is 7 p.m. Fridays. Stars: Ellen DeGeneres, Jim Gaffigan, Cloris Leachman, Martin Mull, Emily Rutherfurd Most closely resembles: That other "Ellen" show Aaron's advice: Forget it. Conventional sitcom about a dot-com executive who decides to return to the small town where she grew up and live around a bunch of really quirky people. There are only two reasons to watch "The Ellen Show": to see how genuinely funny folks like Leachman, Mull and Gaffigan can be roped into doing something this bad; or because you enjoy listening to DeGeneres prattle on in her distinctive (and to me, annoying) free-associating way, a technique aptly summed up by the title of her book, My Point - And I Do Have One. Aaron Barnhart's fall TV preview is online at www.kansascity.com. @ART CAPTION:Jill Hennessy stars in NBC's "Crossing Jordan." @ART:Photo (color)