Playing sleazy's just so easy Bad but good: James Spader's "Red" Reddington has smarts but no moral compass. Some big shows came back this week. Homeland, Modern Family, even Dancing with the Stars reliably deliver the kind of experience that is at once comfort and entertainment. These are the gold standard products that nobody questions, the shows that tell us we've made the right choice. We are in good company. Homeland is a Nespresso machine. Modern Family is an iPhone and Dancing With The Stars is probably that Weber barbecue that guarantees pork crackling without any skill or intervention on the part of the cook. We wouldn't watch Blacklist at all if Spader didn't do so much heavy lifting. Nothing wrong with that, but there are other ... phones. Homeland appeals for its star power. There's nothing like pouring a glass of wine on a Monday night and watching Claire Danes go crazy. But the show that puts the terror back in terrorism is the lesser-known Prisoners of War (SBS One,Wednesday, 9.30pm). The original show upon which Homeland was based is more startling for its lack of obvious star power. In fact, the casting provides more intrigue. All century Hollywood has cast scary swarthy guys we can instantly identify. How the scary Slavic guys must still mourn the passing of the Cold War. When the Israelis cast bad guys, they are almost tattooed in evil. The terror of a schoolroom shooting on the first day of kindergarten is universally heartbreaking. The issues that initially drew us into Homeland, before it became so far-fetched, remain true. Under the right circumstances, would a prisoner of war switch sides, and even switch back? Nobody returns from such an extreme experience unchanged, and everybody's marriages, careers, hopes and dreams are destroyed. But audience satisfaction does not ride or fall on a romance between a prisoner and a spy, or does it? There were also plenty of new gadgets launched onto the market this week. The Blacklist (Seven, Monday, 8.30pm) fancies itself as one of those impressive Dyson fans. Unfortunately, the supposedly invisible spinning blades are all too obvious from the opening moments. We are taken into a world of terrorists and FBI agents, again, by the wonderful James Spader. But the elements stolen from Silence of The Lambs and all those other evil genius vehicles are not well disguised by superior scripts or nuanced supporting cast. We wouldn't watch Blacklist at all if Spader, the most apparently devious brat packer working today, didn't do so much heavy lifting. His ability to play characters who appear to be capable of almost anything has kept him eating regularly. He beats out the much more dubious Andrew McCarthy and Judd Nelson to play a sleaze with ease. It might be his very proclivity for eating regularly that loses him the sleeker, slicker parts, snapped up by Rob Lowe and Robert Downey jnr. Spader's "Red" Reddington appears to have a private agenda, no moral compass and enough smarts to humiliate everybody in the Middle East and Washington. All he's missing is the girl. His decision to pick a pretty FBI newbie on her first day at work, which also coincides with the day she's supposed to audition to adopt a baby, brings us all the way back to "Hello Clarice" and a super-sized popcorn bucket full of "We've seen it all before." If Spader wants to shock, he should turn up as Claire Dunphy's high-school sweetheart in Modern Family or Liz Lemon's twin brother on 30 Rock. While Modern Family made an underwhelming iPhone 5C return this week, 30 Rock (Seven, Monday 11.30pm) snuck in an election double episode that was gold. Unfortunately, we know Florida's electoral importance more than we understand Eden-Monaro's. So an election episode, where the rednecks of North Florida are in position to decide the presidency by following Jenna's (Jane Krakowski) advice is simultaneously brilliant and scary. When Jack (Alec Baldwin) includes Liz (Tina Fey) at a Republican fund-raiser, so that she will unload her half-baked heartfelt Democratic rantings, this viewer experienced 50 kinds of deja vu. This is a crackling, intelligent comedy, that pushes the boundaries, whereas Modern Family, while still charming, resorts to surprise proposals and prac-teaching gone wrong. Dancing with the Stars is not a flashy barbecue. It's just a crowd pleaser that gathers the whole family together, complete with auto-crackling. Don't miss . . . Orange is the New Black Showcase, Wednesday, 8.30pm Middle-class white girl has lapse of judgment and finds herself locked up with a bunch of crazy women in jail. The Bachelor Ten, Wednesday, 7.30pm A bunch of middle-class white girls have lapse of judgment and find themselves locked up together in a mansion. Masters of Sex SBS One, Thursday, 9.30pm Sexy drama about Masters and Johnson. Research has since proven that orgasms get middle-class white girls locked up in mansions and/or jails.