ABC opts for drama, ‘Cavemen’

NEW YORK -- Once again, ABC leads the network pack in picking up new programming, announcing Tuesday that seven new dramas and four new comedies are coming to its prime-time lineup beginning this fall.

But in a sign of growing stability, the third-place network is holding on to 17 returning shows, a notable change from last year’s frenetic comings-and-goings. With big hits such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost,” “Dancing With the Stars” and “Desperate Housewives,” ABC has an enviable roster, but the network has had trouble finding reliable mid-level programming.

The new schedule reflects all of the networks’ mild retreat from serialized programming, as well as ABC’s bid to bring a better balance and durability to its lineup. “It’s really a golden age of dramas right now,” said Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment, during a morning news briefing. “I think maybe it’s been too much of a commitment for people to make, so I think this was a little bit of a hindsight adjustment.”

The executive’s comments preceded a formal afternoon presentation for the “upfronts,” a weeklong production held in New York each spring in which the networks showcase their new fall lineups for advertisers.

It also conforms to the network’s goal of securing more procedural dramas because of the genre’s ability to repeat well and boost the bottom line. ABC has picked up three new procedurals:

* “Pushing Daisies,” a love story and forensics fairy tale scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesdays, is about a young man, Ned (Lee Pace), who can bring things back to life by touching them. He uses his gift to help solve murders and even bring back the love of his life, but if he ever touches her again, she will die.

* “Women’s Murder Club” (9 p.m. Fridays), led by Angie Harmon, is about four women -- a detective, a reporter, a medical examiner and a district attorney -- who solve murder cases in San Francisco and are close friends.

* “Eli Stone,” which will air sometime in midseason, is about a lawyer who “has an inoperable brain tumor, is having visions and is confused between the world that he lived and the world that he may be called to live. It’s not a sappy tale of a lawyer going good at all. It’s a guy struggling with the realities of what his life was but also what it should be,” McPherson said. Jonny Lee Miller is the star.

In dire need of a comedic hit, ABC picked up four shows -- two of them with female central characters and two focused on men.

“Sam I Am” (9 p.m. Mondays) is Christina Applegate’s show about a woman who has amnesia and can’t remember who she was and doesn’t like what she learns when she figures it out.

“Miss/Guided” stars Judy Greer in an Ashton Kutcher production for a yet-to-be-determined midseason slot that McPherson described as “every day is high school.”

“Cavemen” and “Carpoolers,” which will be paired on Tuesdays at 8 and 8:30 p.m., are male-bonding shows that explore vastly different themes. “Cavemen,” based on the popular Geico ads, attempts to turn race relations on their head by focusing on a new “minority,” McPherson said. “Carpoolers” is about suburban husbands and dads who commiserate on their way to and from work.

The network also is premiering its first male ensemble drama. “Big Shots” (10 p.m. Thursdays) is about four chief executives who are at the top of their game in the boardroom but not in the bedroom. The stars are Dylan McDermott, Michael Vartan, Christopher Titus and Joshua Malina.

On the topic of friendships, there’s “Cashmere Mafia,” which will air at 9 p.m. Tuesdays only after the “Dancing With the Stars” results show ends its fall run. McPherson described it as “the next generation of ‘Sex and the City,’ ” starring Lucy Liu, Miranda Otto, Frances O’Connor and Bonnie Somerville.

ABC also is harking back to its “Dynasty” years with “Dirty Sexy Money” (10 p.m. Wednesdays), a big soap opera starring Peter Krause as a lawyer who represents the mysterious, wealthy Darling family, headed by Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh.

McPherson said the network wants its new shows to bolster two nights that, other than the hit “Dancing With the Stars,” have performed poorly: Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Wednesdays at 9 p.m., big hopes rest on the “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff “Private Practice.” But McPherson admitted the show is still being fine-tuned.

“They were spending a lot of time on introducing the characters and not enough time on the stories,” said McPherson. “We’ve really got to get the stories stronger.”

(“Lost,” which will come back midseason for a 16-episode run -- the first of three -- will probably return to Wednesdays. McPherson said he thought that “Lost,” currently on at 10 p.m. so it could steer clear of the “American Idol” train, was “a better 9 or 8 o’clock show.”)

Meanwhile, the network is counting on its Tuesday lineup to revive the night and television comedy in general.

The half-hour comedy, which once ruled television, recently has become almost an endangered species.

“People have been asking what’s been broken about comedies,” said McPherson. “The good news is that comedy is not broken. People have started taking chances again.”

ABC hopes the much talked about “Cavemen” series can break the comedy doldrums. “It will have the ability to offend everyone,” said McPherson. “But offend no one.”

One major problem for its new Tuesday night half-hour comedies: They’ll eventually go up against the most popular show on television, Fox’s “American Idol.”

“Male comedies are a good counter-programming effort against ‘Idol,’ if there is a good counter-programming effort against ‘Idol,’ ” said McPherson. “We want them to get on and get some traction before that monster comes back.” “American Idol” usually begins in January.

ABC’s bid to build a sturdier schedule could be wiped out by a possible writers’ strike this fall. A chief point of contention is compensation for television content on the Internet.

“I really hope it doesn’t happen and that cooler heads prevail,” said McPherson. “It’s certainly the topic of conversation, but I really am hopeful that people realize if you go back in history none of these things have ever worked out for anybody.”

martin.miller@latimes.com

maria.elena.fernandez@latimes.com

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ABC lineup

Here is the fall prime-time lineup that ABC announced Tuesday:

Sunday: “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Brothers & Sisters”

Monday: “Dancing With the Stars,” “Sam I Am,” “The Bachelor”

Tuesday: “Cavemen,” “Carpoolers,” “Dancing With the Stars the Results Show,” “Boston Legal”

Wednesday: “Pushing Daisies,” “Private Practice,” “Dirty Sexy Money”

Thursday: “Ugly Betty,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Big Shots”

Friday: “Men in Trees,” “Women’s Murder Club,” “20/20”

Saturday: “Saturday Night College Football”