There's a moment in the pilot for the new FX drama "Terriers" when you know everything is going to be all right with this show. And it only gets better as the weeks go by (Wednesdays, 10-11 p.m. ET).

For some, watching will take a little leap of faith. Stripped to its basics, "Terriers" doesn't sound all that unusual. A duo of private investigators, one sort of dejected, one very energetic, try to please clients and make a few bucks while bantering with skeptical policemen whose paths they cross because dinky cases have a way of turning into something dangerous. Both P.I.s are classic Peter Pans, too, which is a cutesy way of describing the ugly phenomenon of men who have chosen to be more or less useless to women.

Michael Raymond-James, left, and Donal Logue in 'Terriers.' FX

But just as I was grinding my teeth at the prospect of another series that glorifies (and encourages?) the dysfunctionality of infantile men, "Terriers" broke out of the pack of arrested-development-buddy-story clichés. It would be great to say that this happened because of good acting and interesting plots. Sure, it did. But a lot of it is plain old chemistry, too.

Take Michael Raymond-James, who plays a thief-turned-P.I. named Britt Pollack and who will have certain viewers at hello—as in "where have you been since Rene Lenier, the oh-so-seductive character you played in 'True Blood,' got killed off in season one?" Our other P.I. is portrayed by Donal Logue, who slides into his role as divorced ex-cop and recovering alcoholic Hank Dolworth as though he's been in it forever.

Although their characters are as vivid as they are distinctive, these two interact so effortlessly, in conversation and body language, it's easy to forget they are just acting. And inside these "lost boys" are real men struggling to get out. They look shabby, and dwell on the edge of slobdom. But they are trying to live like adults and their instincts are reassuringly sound, especially when it comes to protecting members of the opposite sex.

We learn some of what makes their characters tick early on. Hank, for instance, keeps in touch with his ex-wife (Kimberly Quinn) because he still loves her and hopes that she will return to him instead of marrying her fiancé. It is impossible to tell whether this is a standard plot device, so common is it on TV shows—or does it reflect a fact: that many men in real life do secretly fantasize that the woman who left them will change her mind?

Britt, on the other hand, has found a good-looking and good- natured woman (Laura Allen) who wants to have his baby, but will settle, for now, for a dog. Despite the show's title, by the way, the only canines in the first five episodes are a bulldog and a dachshund.

Some minor pet humor and wacky situations aside, "Terriers" spends much of its time in dramatic territory, and sometimes dark, scary places. Although the show is set in the sunny seaside town of Ocean Beach in California, the parts we see are not all that cheerful or clean. It's more like that sunny, and tattered, Florida town in "Body Heat," only the P.I.s are even lower down on the food chain than William Hurt's lawyer was. The difference is that while these two will break the law to work a case, both of them obey unspoken laws of morality.

Most weeks involve a new client and a new mystery, usually with some light angle that soon turns serious or seriously adult. What elevates "Terriers," though, is a complex crime-and-scandal story that reverberates through the series. Every time the main thread of the story seems to get severed, we pick up another thread that continues everything but in an unexpected new direction.

In the Sept. 8 pilot, Hank and Britt were hired by a big-shot land developer to retrieve a sex tape that turned out to hold a lethal secret. In coming episodes, the true crimes in all this will keep coming to the surface, and new ones—some involving our detectives—will be committed. As if the dead bodies and death threats arising out of their work weren't bad enough, their past bad deeds keep threatening Hank and Britt, too.

"Your checks always bounce," Hank's ex says to him at one point. "Your life bounces." And so it does. As the series unfolds, though, you get a strong feeling that when things go wrong, there's no one you'd rather have on your side than these two. They are the "Terriers" of the show's name.

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Fashionistas take note: The new season of "The Day Before" is already under way on the Sundance channel (every night from 10-11 p.m. through Monday). The series takes us behind the scenes as six famous fashion designers prepare to show their latest collections. Earlier this week, we had Diane von Furstenberg and Donatella Versace dashing about (the former initially seen suspended upside down on a wall, the latter impressively calm), amid supermodels in various states of wardrobe malfunction and fatigued ateliers stitching away into the wee hours.

Among coming attractions are Alexander Wang, Narciso Rodriguez and Nina Ricci. The wildly different sense of style and clothes of each of these designers or houses is part of the fun. And the voice-over narration is no less entertaining. Of America's "most subversive designer" it is respectfully said: "Jeremy Scott has artistic credibility, which got him consultations with celebrities like Madonna and Miss Piggy."