Spring Arts Television: A lush flowering of the new and old

The Killing (AMC Sundays at 9 p.m., after returning with a special two-hour season premiere at 8 p.m. April 1). The evocative and very rainy Seattle murder mystery resumes. The cast is intact: Michelle Forbes and Brent Sexton as the blue-collar parents of murdered teen Rosie Larsen; Mireille Enos and shady Joel Kinnaman as the homicide detectives investigating the crime, and Billy Campbell as the too-good-to-be-true local politician. Many fans drawn in by the moodiness and intricacy of the series ultimately expressed frustration at the pace and lack of resolution. All involved with The Killing swear they have heard you loud and clear. Season two: bang-bang plotting and the culprit revealed at last.

Scandal (6ABC, Thursdays at 10 p.m., starting April 5). Is Shonda Rhimes the best show runner on television? Fans of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice would probably say so. Now Rhimes unveils a new drama about a high-powered crisis-management firm in Washington, D.C. Kerry Williams stars as the former White House consultant who stepped away to start her own practice. She and her staff are brilliant at solving their clients' very public problems, not so good at managing their own messy personal lives. Henry Ian Cusick, Darby Stanchfield, Tony Goldwyn, and Guillermo Diaz costar.

Magic City (Starz, Fridays at 10 p.m., starting April 6). You should have seen Miami Beach back in the old days, in all its pastel glory. Now you can. Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan of Grey's Anatomy) runs the Miramar Playa Hotel, the swankiest joint on the beach, just as the '60s are dawning. But Ike has had to borrow heavily from mobster Ben "the Butcher" Diamond (Danny Huston), and he finds himself being squeezed from all sides. Former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko, Judi Silver, Kelly Lynch, and Christian Cook costar.

Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (6ABC, Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m., starting April 11). It's a familiar sitcom cautionary tale: A naive Midwestern girl (Dreama Walker) moves to New York and is quickly fleeced for everything she's worth. Out of desperation, she finds herself living with the most heartlessly cynical roommate in the city (Krysten Ritter). Now, here's the weird part: The evil roomie's best friend is James Van Der Beek. Playing himself. Yeah, the guy who put the Dawson in Dawson's Creek. On this show, he's a former teen idol who can't find work. It's a gag that works, but you have to wonder how they talked Van Der Beek into taking the role.

Contact television writer David Hiltbrand at 215-854-4552, dhiltbrand@phillynews.com, or @daveondemand_tv on Twitter. Read his blog, "Dave on Demand," at www.philly.com/dod.