The Middleman (Monday, 7 p.m., ABC Family) is the most delightful popculture product since Juno. Heroine Wendy Watson (Natalie Morales) is Juno's equal as a deadpan hipster smart aleck. But she has one talent Juno doesn't: a knack for saving the world from machine-gun-toting apes.

Wendy and the Middleman are an instant odd-couple classic. Where she's wised-up and sarcastic, he's a square-jawed square in the Clark Kent mode. He says things like "dog diggity" and "dag-nabit," often while chugging a glass of milk. Creator Javier GrilloMarxuach, who adapted the series from his graphic novels, has a ball spoofing spy movies, superhero comics, Planet of the Apes, The Godfather, Andy Warhol, The Avengers and animal-rights groups - and that's just in the first episode.

The new season fixes those problems. [Kathy Griffin] eliminates most of the bragging. And she sprays wisecracks like machine-gun fire, with most of them hitting their marks. The debut episode is centered on two of Griffin's TV appearances: hosting CNN's New Year's Eve countdown with Anderson Cooper and presenting at the Producers Guild Awards. She goes gleefully over the top at each event.

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