"Kyle XY" (ABC Family)

As with practically every TV series that has a prominent "X" stamped in the title, there's a hint of "X-Files" in this sci-fi-inflected coming-of-age family drama by way of young adult conspiracy thriller. Teenage pinup fodder Matt Dallas is the enigmatic Kyle, who enters the show as a blank slate (almost literally -- he doesn't even have a belly button) with a genius IQ and superhuman abilities. Imagine a younger brother to Clark Kent from "Smallville" who just landed on the planet and has to learn everything from scratch in the womb of suburbia. All the while a mysterious operative keeps him under surveillance for reasons that aren't clear until the first season draws to a close. The show is made for the ABC Family network, so its frank exploration of adolescent life and teen sexuality may come as a surprise, no matter how sensitively it's done. But echoing through Kyle's life lessons is his realization that he's different from everyone else; he aches to know who he is and where he came from. That secret forms the conspiratorial dimension of the series, and the second season promises to share those mysteries and give Kyle a sibling. I'm guessing we're in for a decidedly Cain-and-Abel kind of family dynamic.

"Doctor Who" (Sci-Fi)

After a 26-year run and seven different actors in the titular role (eight, if you include Paul McGann), plus a 15-year break from the air (not counting the 1996 TV movie), the BBC revived and rebooted the British cult sci-fi series with a hip, dynamic new Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), a live wire of a "companion" (Billie Piper) and an energetic new approach that is far more stylish and visually dynamic than the old low-fi series. This incarnation -- made over by Russell T. Davies -- isn't your father's "Doctor Who." Davies has jettisoned the serial format for a more traditional structure, instead weaving story elements throughout the seasons and slowly winding them together in climactic episodes, but it's no less clever or fun-loving. And don't worry, he's retained some iconic elements of the original series: the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Police Public Call Box that hides the Doctor's TARDIS (that's his combination spaceship and time-travel device, for those of you making your first appointment with the Doctor). David Tennant took over the role of the rogue Time Lord for its second season, manning the TARDIS with almost childish glee (the man could use some Ritalin), and the third season brings a new companion for the Doctor, med student Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman).

"Eureka" (Sci-Fi)

Federal marshal and divorced dad Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) gets a different kind of culture shock when he's appointed sheriff of an offbeat Pacific Northwest burg that isn't found on any map. Eureka is a secret government think-tank town populated by maverick inventors and budding Einsteins. It's a place where the local mechanic (Joe Morton) is, in fact, a rocket scientist. Think "Picket Fences" by way of "Misfits of Science," a madcap Mayberry of impulsive prodigies, with Carter as a sardonic Sheriff Andy whose sassy, trigger-happy deputy could eat Barney Fife for breakfast. More than just a frustrated authority figure, Carter plays straight man to an entire community of eccentric geniuses and the voice of common sense in a place where everyone dreams big but doesn't always think the consequences through. This Sci-Fi Channel original series is more whimsical than the usual fare, which is part of its charm, but there is also a conspiratorial undercurrent thanks to a seductive psychotherapist (Debrah Farentino) with her own agenda. The second season should reveal a few more of her secrets.

If that doesn't sate your craving, here are five more:

"John From Cincinnati" (HBO)

It's still hard to tell whether HBO's new metaphysical surfing drama from David Milch ("Deadwood") is sci-fi, fantasy or something entirely different, but when surfer dad Bruce Greenwood started to levitate, I knew I'd have to keep watching to find out.

"Hex" (BBC America)

Private-school teenage soap opera collides with supernatural coming-of-age thriller in the sexy British dark fantasy series, launching its second and final season on BBC America.

"Stargate: Atlantis" (Sci-Fi)

"Stargate SG-1" is gone, but this spin-off is set to jump into its fourth season.

"Painkiller Jane" (Sci-Fi)

Kristanna Loken (of "Terminator 3" fame and "BloodRayne" infamy) is a secret agent with a secret weapon -- her body heals with unnerving speed -- in the Sci-Fi series based on the indie comic book series.

"Flash Gordon" (Sci-Fi)

The old pulp hero-turned-camp figure gets a modern makeover in the new series debuting on the Sci-Fi Channel this August.

One last comment: Note that seven of the ten shows listed above are shot in Vancouver, British Columbia. I guess that makes Canada's Pacific metropolis officially the city of the future.