CBS announces new fall lineup
05/16/07 09:03 AM
By ED BARK
Billed as intentionally "daring and different," CBS' new fall lineup includes a casino-based "mystery drama with music" and a good guy vampire who takes bites out of crime.
No. 1 in total viewers and second this season among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, CBS is adding five new series while trading places with two popular returnees. Without A Trace gets its old Thursday slot back, with the freshman hit Shark moving to Sundays following Cold Case.
Canceled are Close to Home, Jericho and The Class. Benched until midseason are The Amazing Race and The New Adventures of Old Christine.
CBS maintained its longstanding Monday night comedy presence but otherwise again reserved the rest of the week for crime dramas, reality shows and news magazines. The combined new fall lineups of CBS, ABC and NBC so far have just 11 half-hour comedy series, only four of them newcomers. Fox and The CW will unveil their latest master plans on Thursday.
Here are CBS' five new fall series:
***Viva Loughlin (drama) -- Hugh Jackman executive produces and guest stars in a musical mystery tour drawn from the acclaimed BBC miniseries Viva Blackpool. Its principal star, newcomer Lloyd Owen, plays rambling, gambling Ripley Holden, whose plans for a sprawling Laughlin, Nev. casino fall through. This forces him to resort to "dashing, sarcastic, wealthy" Nicky Fontana (Jackman), owner of a rival gambling resort. Pop song interludes advance the story, which also includes a murder investigation and continued troubles on Ripley's domestic front. Madchen Amick of Twin Peaks fame plays his wife, Natalie.
***Moonlight (drama) -- "Undead" private eye Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin) got bitten 60 years ago by his new bride, Coraline (Amber Valletta). Ageless ever since, he's also sickened by those who view humans as dinner. So he protects the living while also ogling a beautiful, ambitious news reporter. Would she, could she, give up a normal life to be with him? Oh the angst.
***Cane (drama) -- Jimmy Smits yet again returns to series TV, this time as the idealistic adopted son of rum and sugar business patriarch Pancho Duque (evergreen Hector Elizondo). While Alex (Smits) remains faithful to his longstanding wife, "impulsive" stepbrother Frank (Nestor Carbonell) schemes and chases the pretty ladies. Near-legendary Rita Moreno also is part of the ensemble.
***The Big Bang Theory (comedy) -- Brainy pals Leonard and Sheldon (Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons) know their scientific principles but of course are "lost in the cosmos" when it comes to everyday life. Then they meet a sexy new neighbor named Penny (Kaley Cuoco), who has the power to make their pants go crazy. Executive producer Chuck Lorre also is behind prime-time's most popular comedy, Two and a Half Men.
***Kid Nation (reality) -- Forty kids, ages eight to 15, get 40 days to build their own "new world" in an abandoned New Mexico ghost town named Bonanza City. There are no eliminations, but how many will stick it out? That's determined in weekly town hall meetings, where you can raise your hand and then run home to your mama.
CBS also will launch a new big-money game show this summer. Power of 10, hosted by Drew Carey, polls thousands of Americans on questions such as "Are you smarter than the president?" Well, that's an easy one. Then contestants must predict the results, with the money pot potentially building to $10 million.
The network has one midseason announcement, too. It's ordered the new 1970s-set Swingtown, which returns to this "heady era" of shag carpeting, sexual experimentation, open marriages and women's liberation. Former Melrose Place star Grant Show heads the cast.
Here's CBS' complete fall 2007 lineup (all times central):
MONDAY
7 p.m. -- How I Met Your Mother
7:30 p.m. -- The Big Bang Theory
8 p.m. -- Two and a Half Men
8:30 p.m. -- Rules of Engagement
9 p.m. -- CSI: Miami
TUESDAY
7 p.m. -- NCIS
8 p.m. -- The Unit
9 p.m. -- Cane
WEDNESDAY
7 p.m. -- Kid Nation
8 p.m. -- Criminal Minds
9 p.m. CSI: NY
THURSDAY
7 p.m. -- Survivor
8 p.m. -- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
9 p.m. -- Without a Trace
FRIDAY
7 p.m. -- Ghost Whisperer
8 p.m. -- Moonlight
9 p.m. -- Numb3rs
SATURDAY
7 p.m. -- Crimetime Saturday
8 p.m. -- Crimetime Saturday
9 p.m. -- 48 Hours Mystery
SUNDAY
6 p.m. -- 60 Minutes
7 p.m. -- Viva Laughlin
8 p.m. -- Cold Case
9 p.m. -- Shark