The entertainment world (or at least that portion of interest to TV writers), as it relates to the fortunes of the NBC TV network, has been greatly affected during the month of January by major events.

First of all, there was the endurance run of the biannual TV critics press tour, where lowly scribes get the lowdown on upcoming programs from network and cable brass.

On the larger stage, TV writers and the general public have seen the nation’s largest cable operator, Comcast, moving forward with acquiring a majority stake in the broadcasting company NBC Universal.

Though the Comcast-NBC merger has now been approved by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice, the matter was still pending when TV critics had their day with the NBC TV network earlier in January.

For the first time in memory, the NBC Universal press tour day did not include a session with the network’s top executives.

Last summer, we had the give-and-take conversation with Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment.

This month, you were lucky to talk to one of the ubiquitous NBC pages who wear blazers sporting at least multiple NBC lapel pins – kind of like that guy on the “30 Rock” show.

I guess no one wanted to talk about the then-pending final approval of the Comcast-NBC merger. Or maybe they just wanted to avoid unpleasant chatter about former president and CEO of NBC Universal, Jeff Zucker, who was probably one of the least popular TV executives of all time and was unceremoniously dumped last fall.

Another reason not to talk to executives is that apparently all of the NBC midseason shows have been launched.

First, there’s “The Cape,” which should excite fanboys of the superhero genre in a big way. The show has a unique combination of campy, cheesy fun and dark superhero drama.

In the premiere episode of “The Cape,” Vince Faraday (David Lyons) is a cop framed for crimes he did not commit, forcing him to team up with a group of carnival misfits to take a new identity, fight crime and win his family back.

Fueled by a desire to reunite with his wife Dana (Jennifer Ferrin) and son Trip (Ryan Wynott), Faraday becomes “The Cape” – his son’s favorite comic book superhero – taking the law into his own hands and battling the criminal forces that have overtaken the fictional Palm City.

Evil billionaire Peter Fleming (James Frain) is The Cape’s nemesis, who moonlights at a twisted killer named Chess. Political intrigue also comes into the picture when Fleming’s corporation seeks to privatize Palm City’s prisons.

Now that “Boston Legal” had ended its run, writer and producer David E. Kelley returns with “Harry’s Law,” a show that is billed as a legal “dramedy,” a term that implies the combination of drama and comedy.

From what I can tell, this new series, starring the talented Kathy Bates, is more unintentionally ludicrous than it is either a comedy or drama.

The premise is that Harriet “Harry” Korn (Bates) is a curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer abruptly fired from her blue-chip law firm, forcing her to search for a fresh start.

This leads her to team up with a young legal hotshot (Nate Corddry) that she meets in a car accident and a ditzy assistant (Brittany Snow).

They set up shop in a former shoe store located in a ghetto neighborhood of Cincinnati. It’s a bit lame that they are selling shoes and providing legal services in the same storefront.

One little known fact is that David E. Kelley wrote the part of Harry for a cantankerous grumpy old man. To her credit, Kathy Bates does a good job of turning the grouchy Harry into a crabby Harriet.

“Perfect Couples” is a romantic comedy that is new only in the sense that it stars a bunch of people who did not appear in “Friends.” Otherwise, the story about three flawed couples sounds an awful lot like “Traffic Light,” which will get its start in early February on the FOX network.

At least in the FOX series, one of the three guys has trouble maintaining a relationship any longer than three weeks.

“Perfect Couples” involves three couples struggling through various stages of commitment, whether ideal or not.

Olivia Munn’s Leigh is a self-appointed relationship guru who makes it her duty to mold her jock husband Rex (Hayes MacArthur) and the other couples into her ideal of marriage.

For his part, Rex is a reformed party guy channeling his athletic energy into a competitive drive to be the ideal mate.

Kyle Bornheimer’s Dave and his wife Julia (Christine Woods) appear to be the fun couple worth watching.

The good news for NBC Universal, or should I say Comcast-NBC Universal, is that this media conglomerate also has cable outfits Syfy, USA, Oxygen and Bravo in its orbit. Some of the best series, to my mind, are on USA.

“White Collar,” recently returned for its second season on USA, is a fun crime caper show starring the charismatic Matt Bomer as an ex-con who now assists the FBI.

USA has also just launched “Fairly Legal,” a legal drama that works off the premise that San Francisco mediator Kate Reed (Sarah Shahi), formerly an attorney, returns to the practice of law upon the sudden death of her father, whose law firm is now being run by the evil stepmother (Virginia Williams).

The tension is palpable as Kate must now report to her deceased father’s spouse, a person relatively the same age.

It will be interesting to see how Comcast-NBC rolls out its fall programming during this summer’s press tour.

I am comforted by the fact that Jeff Zucker won’t be one of the network executives on a panel discussion.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.