Networks target key time slot

It’s still early in the upfront presentation derby (only NBC and ABC have gone so far; CBS unveils its fall lineup today and the new CW on Thursday), but it already appears that the hottest network scheduling battle for the 2006-07 TV season will take place on Thursdays at 9 p.m. Here’s how it’s playing out:

* ABC is moving its megahit “Grey’s Anatomy” to the slot, which is also where NBC has for now put its most highly anticipated new drama, Aaron Sorkin’s show-biz saga “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” And it’s a foregone conclusion that CBS will keep “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” in that time period.

All this could mean very tough sledding for NBC. The “Grey’s” audience skews heavily female, while “CSI” is more man-friendly, so both established hits can probably thrive in the slot (however, ABC is asking “Grey’s” to do an awful lot on a tough night, with new shows both in front of and behind it). Unfortunately for NBC, that won’t leave a lot of eyeballs left to sample “Studio 60.” (The network may be rethinking its positioning of the show.) What’s more, Hollywood satires have a poor track record on TV, and “Studio 60” got a surprisingly flat reaction from media buyers during NBC’s presentation Monday. But if anyone can pull it off, it’s Sorkin.

* Early gossip about the new CW lineup has executives pulling the plug on “Everwood,” the respected WB Network show that was earlier expected to make the switch. If true, the show will have lasted four seasons and produced 89 episodes. Looking good for pickup by CW: “Gilmore Girls,” “Smallville,” “All of Us,” “Veronica Mars,” “One Tree Hill,” “Supernatural,” “Seventh Heaven.”

* In its first season without “Monday Night Football” in 36 years, ABC decided to punt, pardon the expression, on Mondays, returning such familiar and not especially high-rated reality fare as “Wife Swap” and “Supernanny.” That must be a relief to CBS, which now has the way clear to reinvigorate its comedy lineup for that night, and also to NBC, which is trying the new drama “Heroes” at 9 p.m.

* With TV comedy in desperate straits now, both ABC and NBC are betting heavily on the single-camera format, which eschews the multiple-camera, stage-bound, laugh track-sweetened setups common to most TV sitcoms in favor of a more cinematic approach, a la HBO’s “Sex and the City.” ABC’s single-camera efforts include “Let’s Rob

The only problem? Mainstream audiences haven’t warmed to the single-camera format. “Arrested Development” never grew beyond a cult hit on Fox, and “The Office” is still trying to build an audience on NBC. Indeed, the most successful examples of single-camera shows tend to reside on HBO -- for example, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

MyNetworkTV gets the bed bug

Here’s what people aren’t buzzing about at the upfronts: MyNetworkTV, the new network launching in September from News Corp., the same Rupert Murdoch-controlled enterprise whose Fox Broadcasting brought you “Celebrity Boxing” and revived Paula Abdul’s career. Well, folks are not talking about it yet, maybe, but they will after they see what Fox Television Stations chief Roger Ailes and his merry band have in store: English-language telenovelas!

Did I say telenovelas? That’s a bad word. I meant to say: short dramatic series, which is how they described them at Tuesday morning’s presentation in New York. Somehow that term doesn’t capture all the sizzle in these shows, however, which are six-day-a-week, one-hour “strips” (it’s TV lingo for a daily syndicated show -- work with me here) full of good-looking people falling into bed, climbing out of swimming pools wearing skimpy bikinis, falling into bed, blowing up cars, shooting at each other, swapping catty insults, falling into bed, firing automatic weapons, jumping into the pool again, falling into bed ... you get the idea. And they’ve got stars, too, like Bo Derek, Sean Young and Maria Conchita Alonso! What’s not to like?

One of the series is called “Desire,” the other “Secret Obsessions,” and each will have a dramatic arc (more TV lingo for you), with a new cast and story line, that will run for 13 weeks. Each arc has its own subtitle, such as “Table for Three” (romantic triangle!), “Art of Betrayal” (uh, betrayal!) or “A Dangerous Love” (don’t fall into bed too hard!). MyNetworkTV will have a hefty Internet component (one that might conjoin nicely with MySpace, another News Corp. property), but I think it would be buzz-y to let viewers create their own MyNetwork telenovela Short Dramatic Series by interchanging various words used in the existing arc titles.

Ready to play? OK! Here are the words you can use:

Table/Art/Betrayal/Rules/ Deception

Friends/Enemies/Fashion/House

Dangerous/Love/Watch/Me/Love/Die

Other Words: Of/And/Over/For/To

I’ll get us started:

“Watch Me Die”

“Table of Dangerous Love & Betrayal”

“Enemies of Art & Fashion”

See how fun and easy this is? See? People will be buzzing!