On CW tonight, devil’s workshop makes great TV

Let’s start with something completely different: “Reaper,” debuting at 9 p.m. on The CW.

In this action-comedy, Sam (played by Bret Harrison) has coasted through his slacker life, and now has a dead-end job at the big-box store Work Bench.

Then Sam turned 21 and found out why his parents had been so easy on him through the years. It turns out that, years before he was born, they sold the soul of their first-born (Sam) to the Devil to save his dying father.

Now satan (played by Ray Wise) has come to collect. He wants Sam to be his personal bounty hunter, to collect up souls that escape from hell and return them there. He even gives Sam the tools for the job.

So armed, and with the assistance of his wacky buddy Sock (Tyler Labine), Sam reluctantly takes on this new role, with only on-the-fly training.

Much like NBC’s “Chuck,” “Reaper” is a hoot about a slacker in over his head and feeling his way along. It’s something lighter opposite the action drama “The Unit” and the one-man tour de force “House” that maybe enough viewers will find desirable.

Tonight’s other new show is a traditional multigenerational drama. “Cane” at 10 on CBS would like to be “The Sopranos,” but it’s more like the sprawling dramas of the 1980s, such as “Dallas” or “Dynasty.”

In “Cane,” the Duque family, immigrants from Cuba, have made their wealth in sugar and rum. The family is facing a turning point, as patriarch Pancho (Hector Elizondo) is aging, and needs to pass on control of the family business. That new head ends up being son-in-law Alejandro (Jimmy Smits), which breeds dissent among the other siblings.

Also the Duques must decide whether to sell the sugar portion of their business to their rivals, the Samuels, to concentrate on spirits.

“Cane” has a strong, likeable cast, which also includes Rita Moreno, Nestor Carbonell and Polly Walker. Yet the drama isn’t providing anything particularly new. And up against the critically acclaimed “Boston Legal” and the ratings winner “Law & Order: SVU,” “Cane” could end up getting chopped down quickly.