As my vocabulary is lacking in this department, I am open to adjectives describing types of TV dramas. For instance I find NCIS kind of silly in some ways but the new NCIS Los Angeles more intriguing with a sort of inscrutable tack; contrasted with Law and Order seeming more serious and realistic (admitted however that some of its dramatic flourishes are a trifle unlikely).

And how would you describe the new Raising the Bar, given its most absorbing interplay amongst characters and the rare insight it affords into the workings of appointed legal defense

Then there's the show with inconsistencies, seeming to have different writers for each episode, like Monk. In this adjectival vein, how would The Daily Show, for instance, compare with The Colbert Report

How for instance might you characterize Desperate Housewives so as to differentiate it from the typical soap

it would seem to be virtually impossible to help you find adjectival language to describe *your feelings about television shows that *I don't watch. however, it might help you (lazy as you profess to be, and no doubt are) to do a little research into the background of these shows, and intent of the writers. for instance, "[NCIS] is described by the actors and producers as being distinguished by its comedy elements, ensemble acting and character-driven plots." [according to Wikipedia]
-ron o.

I didn't get much response on FRDB either, except maybe "procedural" (adj? noun?)

http://www.freeratio.org/showthread.php?t=276313

Maybe because there just aren't a whole lot of common applicable adjectives

Though a sort of obscure term tsu's "ensemble acting" was a new one for me

http://onelook.com/?w=ensemble+acting&ls=a

You can take it off stage and call it 'working together'.