CBS Makes Its Fall Picks . . . But Omits One ‘Family’

CBS and Fox are expected to fortify their prime-time lineups with seven new series each to start the coming TV season, including a long-in-the-works comedy starring Bette Midler on CBS and a futuristic drama from “Titanic” director James Cameron on Fox.

CBS will offer several familiar faces in addition to Midler, including “Coach’s” Craig T. Nelson as a police commissioner in the crime drama “The District,” William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger as forensic investigators in “CSI” and “Cybill’s” Christine Baranski in the sitcom “Mr. New York.”

Baranski co-stars with comic Jim Gaffigan, who plays an Indiana weatherman who takes a similar job in New York City. The premise is noteworthy, because the show mirrors the roots of CBS late-night host David Letterman and is produced through his company, Worldwide Pants.

CBS will also try to mine the fertile vein struck by “Judging Amy” with “That’s Life,” about a blue-collar woman in her 30s (Heather Paige Kent) who enrolls in a prestigious college. The other new series are a revival of “The Fugitive,” with Tim Daly as the hunted Dr. Kimble and Mykelti Williamson as his pursuer, Lt. Gerard; and “Yes, Dear,” a buddy comedy starring comics Mike O’Malley and Anthony Clark, both veterans of failed NBC sitcoms. (O’Malley’s show, in fact, was pulled last year after just two weeks.)

At Fox, the emphasis appears more on production auspices than identifiable stars, including an untitled new series from “Ally McBeal” producer David E. Kelley set in a suburban Boston high school and “The $treet,” a Wall Street drama from “Sex and the City” producer Darren Star.

Then there is Cameron’s “Dark Angel,” a post-apocalyptic sci-fi show featuring Jessica Alba as a genetically enhanced human prototype rebelling against the police state. Sources say the project is one of the most expensive series prototypes ever shot, with a budget that ballooned north of $10 million; still, Fox felt obliged to indulge the producer given the enormous profits “Titanic” delivered to its film unit.

Fox’s other new dramas both seek to capture some of the eerie allure of the network’s “The X-Files,” with a bit of “The Twilight Zone” thrown in for good measure. “Night Terrors” is a scary anthology series featuring two stories within each hour, and “Fearsum” focuses on “tales of the unexpected” involving a young man who seeks to debunk paranormal mysteries via the Internet.

In terms of comedies, sources say Fox will bring back “Roseanne’s” John Goodman in “Don’t Ask,” a sort of updated “The Odd Couple,” the twist being that Goodman’s divorced dad is gay. The network is also expected to give acerbic comic Robert Schimmel his own sitcom as a brooding family man, and it will most likely follow the similarly dark “Titus.”

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CBS’ own sitcom about mismatched gay-straight buddies, based on the independent film “Kiss Me, Guido,” didn’t make the cut for fall but remains under consideration for a possible midseason berth. The same uncertainty faces a show-within-a-show concept that would mark Ellen DeGeneres’ prime-time return.

In terms of existing series, sources say CBS will renew “City of Angels,” a medical drama featuring a predominantly African American cast that premiered in January; however, the show is expected to draw a tough time slot, most likely Thursdays at 9 p.m.

CBS will unveil its new lineup to advertisers in New York today, with Fox and UPN to conclude the annual schedule-setting ritual Thursday.

ABC, meanwhile, presented a fall lineup Tuesday featuring four editions of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” with the new hour leading off Wednesday nights.

The network is introducing comedies starring Geena Davis as a career woman who marries a widower with two kids in “Geena,” Gabriel Byrne as one of three generations of single men in “Madigan Men,” and Jon Cryer as a paranoid man who may have reason to be in “People Who Fear People.” “Homicide’s” Andre Braugher also returns in a medical drama, “Gideon’s Crossing,” which will face off against NBC’s “Law & Order.”

Despite the success of “Millionaire,” ABC has little else to show from last season in the way of returning programs. Gone are such comedies as “Then Came You,” “The Hughleys” and “Sports Night,” though the last two have a chance of continuing at UPN and HBO, respectively.

In fact, the network canceled every series launched last fall with the exception of “Once and Again,” which will again begin the season in “NYPD Blue’s” time slot, moving to Mondays once the “Monday Night Football” season is over. That means “Blue” will again be delayed until January, a strategy that worked well this season, eliminating reruns.

The network also announced backup orders on sitcoms starring Damon Wayans, Joan Cusack and comedian Denis Leary. In a demonstration of corporate synergy, all but one of the seven new programs for next season are produced by ABC parent, the Walt Disney Co.