The Fall TV Season presentations for all the new network shows take place this week with the third announced today. Here's a full breakdown of which concepts have made the final list over on CBS.
The old guard remains the winning network on most its shows and important demographics with proven hits like the "CSI" series and the likes of "Cold Case", "Without a Trace" not to mention more recent success stories like "Ghost Whisperer" and "The Unit". Indeed with eighteen shows returning, six of which debuted last year, it's surprising they had any room in their line-up at all for new stuff. Yet they've still managed to squeeze in five new dramas and two new comedies to debut over the course of the year.
In terms of existing shows the most notable change is Sunday night is being beefed up with three long running Bruckheimer-produced hits set to air back to back (Amazing Race, Cold Case, Without a Trace) on a new day. Despite not being listed, comedy "The King of Queens" will be back mid-season. Here's there new slate:
- DRAMAS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
JERICHO A drama about what happens when a nuclear mushroom cloud suddenly appears on the horizon, plunging the residents of a small, peaceful Kansas town into chaos, leaving them completely isolated and wondering if they're the only Americans left alive.
Fear of the unknown propels Jericho into social, psychological and physical mayhem when all communication and power is shut down. The town starts to come apart at the seams as terror, anger and confusion bring out the very worst in some residents.
But in this time of crisis, as sensible people become paranoid, personal agendas take over and well-kept secrets threaten to be revealed, some people will find an inner strength they never knew they had and the most unlikely heroes will emerge.
Skeet Ulrich ("Scream"), Gerald McRaney ("Ike: Countdown to D-Day"), Ashley Scott ("Dark Angel"), Pamela Reed ("Proof of Life"), Kenneth Mitchell ("The Recruit"), Lennie James ("Sahara"), Sprague Grayden ("Six Feet Under"), Michael Gaston ("Prison Break") and Erik Knudsen ("Saw II") star.
SHARK Multiple Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner James Woods ("Ghosts of Mississippi," "ER") stars as Sebastian Stark, a charismatic, supremely self-confident defense attorney who, after a shocking outcome in one of his cases and a personal epiphany, brings his cutthroat tactics to the prosecutor's office.
As the head of the Los Angeles District Attorney's High Profile Crime Unit, Stark works for Jessica Devlin, (Jeri Ryan, "The O.C."), the ambitious and accomplished D.A. who despises his ruthless strategies. Devlin teams him with a group of young prosecutors who are about to have the learning experience of a lifetime because, though Stark is seeking to redeem himself, he has no intention of cooling his underhanded approach to cases just because he's now working for the "good guys."
Sam Page ("American Dreams"), Alexis Cruz ("American Family"), Sarah Carter ("Numb3rs"), Danielle Panabaker ("Mom at Sixteen"), Romy Rosemont ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation") and Sophina Brown ("Without a Trace") also star. Academy Award nominee Spike Lee directs. Academy Award winner Brian Grazer ("A Beautiful Mind," "24"), (David Nevins ("Arrested Development"), Ian Biederman ("Crossing Jordan") and Ed Redlich ("Without A Trace") are executive producers.
SMITH Emmy Award winner Ray Liotta ("ER," "Goodfellas,") stars as a criminal mastermind in a drama about a close-knit crew of career criminals who plot and execute intricate and ingenious high-stakes heists across the country.
Though Bobby Stevens (Liotta) appears to be a regular family man with a nine-to-five job, he's actually an expert thief who is seeking just two or three more big jobs so he can finally leave the business for a comfortable, lawful lifestyle with his wife, Hope (Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen, "Sideways"). Bobby's second family, his core band of partners, each bring their own areas of expertise to pulling off the biggest and most sophisticated armed robberies.
The FBI is determined to catch the team but is most interested in capturing "Smith," the crew's mysterious leader and the brains behind the entire operation. It remains to be seen whether Bobby will be able to extricate himself in time from the scores that give him such a rush, or if his retirement will be a forced one -- behind bars.
Jonny Lee Miller ("Trainspotting"), Franky G ("Saw II"), Simon Baker ("The Guardian") and Amy Smart ("Felicity") also star. Emmy Award winner John Wells ("ER," "The West Wing") is the executive producer.
THREE LBS (mid-season) Mark Feuerstein ("The West Wing") stars as a rising-star brain surgeon who is doing a fellowship under the guidance of a brilliant but unpredictable surgeon (Stanley Tucci). Armando Riesco ("Fever Pitch"), Indira Varma ("Rome") and Tamara Taylor ("Sex, Love & Secrets") also star in the project, which comes from CBS Paramount Network Television and executive producers Barry Levinson, Paul Stupin, Peter Ocko and Tom Fontana.
WATERFRONT (mid-season) Focuses on the quirky mayor (Joe Pantoliano) of Providence, Rhode Island. Larenz Tate ("Love Monkey"), Lyndsy Fonseca ("How I Met Your Mother"), Mary Stuart Masterson ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"), Natalia Cigliuti ("All My Children") and William Baldwin ("Fun with Dick and Jane") also star in the hour, which comes from creator Jack Orman ("dr. vegas").
- COMEDIES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE CLASS Emmy Award winner David Crane ("Friends") and Emmy Award nominee Jeffrey Klarik ("Mad About You"), is a comedy about the lives of a group of 20-somethings who are inextricably bound together having shared the same third grade class.
Now face to face at an impromptu reunion to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the day they met, they wonder if they'll have anything in common besides vague memories of playground kisses and underwear sightings on the monkey bars. Turns out they do. After two decades apart for most of them, some are eager to show off, some want to rekindle old crushes and others just want to satisfy their curiosity.
Whatever the case, their lives will intersect from this point forward, sharing childhood memories and dealing with adult issues -- career, relationships and the general direction or misdirection life will take them.
Jason Ritter ("Joan of Arcadia"), Heather Goldenhersh ("The Merchant of Venice"), Lizzy Caplan ("Related"), Jon Bernthal ("Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman"), Sean Maguire ("Eve"), Jesse Tyler Ferguson ("Putnam County Spelling Bee"), Lucy Punch ("Ella Enchanted") and Andrea Anders ("Joey") also star.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (mid-season) A relationship comedy about a married couple, an engaged duo and a single guy. Sony Pictures Television and creator Tom Hertz are behind the half-hour, which stars Kathleen Rose Perkins ("Four Kings"), Megyn Price ("Grounded for Life"), Patrick Warburton ("Less Than Perfect") and Paulo Costanzo ("Joey"). Happy Madison's Adam Sandler, Doug Robinson and Jack Giarraputo also serve as executive producers.
Renewals include "60 Minutes", "The Amazing Race", "Close to Home", "Cold Case", "Criminal Minds", "C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation", "C.S.I.: Miami", "C.S.I.: NY", "Ghost Whisperer", "How I Met Your Mother", "N.C.I.S.", "The New Adventures of Old Christine", "Numb3rs", "Survivor", "Two and a Half Men", "The Unit", "Without a Trace"
Cancellations include "Courting Alex", "Love Monkey," "Out of Practice", "Still Standing", " Threshold", "Yes, Dear".
More details about the Fall line-up can be found at the network's official site. The nightly CBS schedule will be as follows:
MONDAY 8pm: "How I Met Your Mother" 8:30pm: "The Class" 9pm: "Two and a Half Men" 9:30pm: "The New Adventures of Old Christine" 10pm: "C.S.I.: Miami"
TUESDAY 8pm: "N.C.I.S." 9pm: "The Unit" 10pm: "Smith"
WEDNESDAY 8pm: "Jericho" 9pm: "Criminal Minds" 10pm: "C.S.I.: NY"
THURSDAY 8pm: "Survivor" 9pm: "C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation" 10pm: "Shark"
FRIDAY 8pm: "Ghost Whisperer" 9pm: "Close to Home" 10pm: "Numb3rs"
SATURDAY 8pm: "Crime Time Saturday" 10pm: "48 Hours: Mystery"
SUNDAY 7pm: "60 Minutes" 8pm: "The Amazing Race" 9pm: "Cold Case" 10pm: "Without a Trace"
