It will be unconventional “Big Love” versus dangerous Spy Love on “Chuck,” as two heavily promoted series make their long-awaited season premieres at 9 p.m. Sunday.

BIG LOVE

Three and a half stars (Out of four)

9 p. m. Sunday, HBO

Entering its fourth season, HBO’s Emmy nominated “Big Love” has found a new, intriguing way to deal with the polygamist Henrickson family. Starting with Sunday’s opener, the season’s first two episodes are heavy on plot developments as Salt Lake City businessman Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) opens the Mormon-friendly casino that he planned last season with Native American partners.

Bill also is considering putting his hat in the political ring at the same time the FBI is sniffing around his business and private life and the State of Utah is holding hearings on the trust of the compound, Juniper Creek.

Naturally, the FBI issues concern Tommy Flute (Adam Beach), the son of Bill’s business partner. “We thought you were the sunny face of polygamy,” Tommy tells Bill.

Bill also has multiple family crises to sort out with his three wives, nine children and extended family. In the first two episodes, there are a marriage and a funeral to deal with.

Things clearly aren’t about to slow down for Bill after last year’s death of Roman Grant, the prophet of the compound that Bill left years ago. Those who feared that Grant’s death—and the loss of brilliant character actor Harry Dean Stanton, who played the villainous prophet—would cause this series to suffer needn’t worry.

With an excellent ensemble cast that includes Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin as Bill’s very different three wives, the early episodes of “Big Love” are loaded with drama, politics, suspense, dark humor, religious music and one cold-hearted beauty of a surprise twist. Surprisingly for HBO, there isn’t a whole lot of sex going on, especially for a show titled “Big Love.”

But if you take away the fact that the Henricksons are polygamists, “Big Love” really has a rather conventional message of the importance of a family to pull together and to stand up against what the members believe is government interference.

“We’re not going to be divided,” Bill tells his wives. “We’re all on the same team.”

The big decisions usually fall to Bill, who has several tough, business, marital, family and political calls to make under the pressure of protecting his family’s lifestyle.

With its Emmy nomination last year, “Big Love” and its writers have their own set of pressures. So far, so good. The first two episodes are insanely entertaining.

‘Chuck’ pushes its luck

On to “Chuck,” the silly spy series that NBC has been promoting to death for weeks and is giving a prized Sunday premiere before it moves to its regular 8 p. m. Monday time slot.

CHUCK

Three stars (Out of four)

9 p. m. Sunday, NBC

“Chuck” was almost canceled last spring, but survived because it had strong critical support and NBC really doesn’t have much else to cheer. There had been fears that budget cuts could damage the show, but Sunday’s first two episodes make those fears unwarranted.

In Season Three, Chuck (Zachary Levi), the computer geek turned spy after data was embedded in his brain, has the new ability to practice kung fu and be quite a fighter. However, he obviously would prefer to be a lover.

“I’m still not comfortable with the whole shooting thing,” he tells a superior before adding: “I’m convinced I can be a great spy.”

His dream girl, spy Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), and her partner, Col. John Casey (Adam Baldwin), are around to help Chuck adapt to his new skills. He still has best friend Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and other geeks from the electronics store where he works to play with.

The big problem that Chuck is dealing with is illustrated in the two Sunday episodes that air back-to-back starting at 9 p. m. on Channel 2: Chuck is in love with Sarah, and love can be as deadly to a spy as a machine gun.

After a few early moments in which Chuck is depressed and eating cheese balls, the first two episodes have the usual assortment of silly spy villains, sexy outfits, cartoonish action scenes and sappy romance. Levi’s charm and Strahovski’s beauty make a series that isn’t very taxing on the brain, extremely watch-able escapism.

‘Simpsons’ milestone

THE SIMPSONS

Three stars (out of four)

8 p.m. Sunday, FOX

Lovers of “The Simpsons” get a 90-minute treat starting at 8 p. m. Sunday that will compete for viewers’ hearts with “Big Love” and “Chuck” for the final 30 minutes.

The first 30 minutes is the 450th episode of the series. It revolves around Krusty the Klown being forced by network executives to accept a female co-star, Princess Penelope (guest star Anne Hathaway), to attract more female viewers. She’s actually from Long Island and has been in love with Krusty since childhood.

With Gary Larson, Jackie Mason and the late Eartha Kitt as guest voices, the jokes fly by at the usual rapid pace. My favorite line targets a prominent Fox producer in a closing thank you statement.

At 8:30 p. m., it’s time for an entertaining hour-documentary from Morgan Spurlock, “The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3-D! ON ICE!” Of course, it is neither in 3-D or on ice.

It is loaded with history, trivia and worship of “The Simpsons,” from writers, producers, celebrities and obsessive fans— some with the tattoos to prove it. And there’s some dry humor from Dan Rather.

Spurlock deals with the revolutionary show’s impact on TV as well as the controversies sparked around the world by the outlandish program. Many of the early controversies look silly in retrospect and illustrate some people can take comedy way too seriously.

It concludes with former “Simpsons” writer Conan O’Brien’s hope for how the show would end its run. I hated his dark idea and think it probably would be as popular as the “Seinfeld” finale.