The CBS Fall Lineup: New Blood, But No Vampires

CBS has some issues. While superficially the network remains strong -- it's likely that the disruption of the strike, and the fact that it didn't affect Fox and American Idol, is all that kept CBS from another season ratings win -- age is beginning to creep up on most of its hit shows, and little has entered the pipeline lately that has shown the strength of the three CSIs, or of its leading sitcom, the now five-year-old Two and a Half Men. CBS has also had problems developing shows that appeal to younger women, the most desirable of all viewers from a sales standpoint.

With fewer young shows to nurture than its competitors, CBS is planning a more aggressive slate of debuts for its fall lineup than, say, ABC, which has only three new series for the fall. But it remains to be seen if the 2008-09 lineup, revealed on Wednesday, will help the network break out of its Corpse Broadcasting System box.

The big news among the canceled series is that Moonlight, the one show in the current CBS lineup with the most cult appeal for young women, has had a stake driven through its virtual heart. The network felt it was a poor fit with Ghost Whisperer, solidly entrenched in the 8 p.m. Friday slot, and what's more, CBS has gotten gun-shy about cult shows since the reboot of Jericho failed so dramatically (CBS execs have made it clear that no amount of Jericho-like protest -- blood vials through the mail, etc. -- will revive Moonlight). CBS also canceled Shark after two seasons, something that was predictable after Paula Marshall began appearing on the show a few weeks back. Kid Nation, a good show that never overcame the accusations of exploitation and poor safety that preceded its debut, is likewise history.

All three of the sitcoms on the bubble, How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and The Rules of Engagement, are returning, though Rules will be sitting it out until midseason in the same way Old Christine did this past season. The Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy will be moving to Wednesdays in an attempt to do what The King of Queens was unable to achieve a few years ago: give CBS a second solid sitcom block. The Unit will also be returning after several weeks when its fate seemed uncertain.

CBS has five new shows planned for its fall lineup, and a sixth slated for midseason. The network usually tries to break in one new sitcom on Mondays every year, and this coming season it will be Worst Week, which stars Kyle Bornheimer as a young man who tries and fails to impress the conservative parents of his fianc´e;e. It sounds more like a premise for a single episode than for an entire series, but CBS seems high on it and gave it the nod for the more desirable timeslot over Project Gary, which will follow Old Christine on Wednesdays. Project Gary stars Jay Mohr, late of Ghost Whisperer, and Paula (Kryptonite) Marshall, late of pretty much everything, as a divorced couple who share custody of their children. In another not-so-optimistic note, one of the children is played by Laura Marano, who was inexplicably replaced on Back to You midway through that show's season.

In the drama department, CBS is bringing back Simon Baker, whose The Guardian had modest success several years ago, as the star of The Mentalist. Baker will play a former psychic who has gone straight, in a manner of speaking, and now works as an independent consultant who plays odd hunches to solve crimes. It sounds like a cross between Medium and House, and Baker could be the actor to make it work. The Mentalist will have a strong lead-in from NCIS. The Ex List will be CBS's attempt to make women forget all about Moonlight, as the romantic comedy is being plugged into the vampire show's Fridays-at-9 slot. The Ex List stars Elizabeth Reaser as a woman who gets some bad news from a psychic: she has already dated the man who will be her husband, but if she doesn't realize who it was within a year, she's doomed to never marry.

The most highly touted of the new CBS dramas is the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Eleventh Hour, based on a well-liked British miniseries. Rufus Sewell plays a government adviser who tracks down potentially lethal abuses of science with the aid of a bodyguard played by Marley Shelton. This sounds like an attempt to recreate some of the old X-Files chemistry, but with less weirdness and more Bruckheimer. The mystery Harper's Island has been ordered for midseason; it concerns a murder that takes place as friends are gathered on the title island for a wedding. The combination of mystery and island can't help but call to mind you-know-what, but this show sounds as if it's intentionally set up as a limited-run series.

The schedule, in full:

Monday: The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Worst Week, CSI: Miami. Unchanged except for the new sitcom at 9:30.

Tuesday: NCIS, The Mentalist, and Without a Trace, which is on the move for the third straight year as CBS can't seem to resist using it to plug holes at 10 p.m.

Wednesday: The New Adventures of Old Christine, Project Gary, Criminal Minds, CSI: NY. Two reliable ratings-getters stay at 9 and 10.

Thursday: Survivor: Gabon, CSI, Eleventh Hour.

Friday: Ghost Whisperer, The Ex List, Numb3rs.

Saturday: Various repeats of procedurals from 8 to 10 p.m., followed by 48 Hours Mystery.

Sunday: 60 Minutes (duh), The Amazing Race, Cold Case, and The Unit -- we'll see how a military show fares on Sundays at 10. As for The Amazing Race, CBS has it down for both a fall and spring edition, and who knows, it might benefit from having been away for a while, as it has in the past.

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