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. This past season has been a solid one for the Eye. With the "CSI" franchise still a ratings powerhouse, and a raft of solid hits across the board, the network still owns much of the Top 20 shows. Yet numbers for its various programs, from the Katie Couric-lead news to once mega-powerhouse "Survivor," are slightly down.
Also not good is that of the seven programs announced at last year's upfronts, only one - "Shark" - was a solid hit. One other mid-season entry has been kept, but the rest have been jettisoned. A far cry from the previous season which yielded six series that got second seasons.
Still, CBS remains arguably the most stable of the networks, the warhorse who makes good money and lands big audience figures on various procedural shows that do extremely well despite little in the way of 'buzz'. The only pre-existing schedule change of note is that "Shark" and "Without a Trace" have swapped timeslots, whilst "The Amazing Race" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine" will be back mid-season.
This year the plan is to launch three new dramas, one reality series, and a new comedy. One other drama is primed for mid-season, and Drew Carey gameshow "Power of Ten" is scheduled for the Summer. It's interesting in that a few of the entries this year are quite different, even unusual, for a network known for playing it safe. Most of these new shows are taking over slots of last year's failed new series.
Notable omissions of pilots that didn't get picked up include the comedic drama "Babylon Fields" about the dead coming back to life, the all-star police ensemble drama "Protect & Serve," the Stephen Doff-led "Skip Tracer" about a rogue investigator who finds missing people, and the LL Cool J undercover sting cop drama "The Man."
The Big Bang Theory
Brainy best friends Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons), who can tell you anything you want to know about quantum physics, but when it comes to dealing with everyday life here on earth they're lost in the cosmos.
Neither fully understands that scientific principles don't always apply in matters of the heart - until they meet their sexy new neighbor Penny (Kaley Cuoco), a friendly screenwriter/waitress from the midwest who also happens to be newly single.
She quickly makes an impression on the other members of Leonard and Sheldon's geek squad - Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), who portrays himself as the Casanova of Cal Tech, and fellow whiz kid Rajesh Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), who is rendered speechless around anyone unprepared to converse about the Theory of Relativity or other scientific jargon.
The chemistry between this gaggle of geniuses and a delightful damsel is about to undergo a stimulating series of inter-personal experiments. Chuck Lorre produces.
Cane
An epic drama about the external rivalries and internal power struggles of a large Cuban-American family running an immensely successful rum and sugar business in South Florida.
When the family patriarch, Pancho (Hector Elizondo), is offered a lucrative but questionable deal by his bitter adversary, the Samuels, to purchase thousands of acres of sugar fields, he's faced with a tough choice: Should he cash out of the sugar business and focus solely on rum, which would please his impulsive natural son, Frank (Nestor Carbonell), or protect the family legacy that he built from the ground up by not selling, and side with his adopted son, Alex (Jimmy Smits), who mistrusts the Samuels and still sees value in sugar.
Alex and Frank's approach to business is as different as their approach to life. While Frank might lose focus chasing women, Alex is deeply in love with his beautiful wife, Isabel (Paola Turbay), who is also Pancho's daughter. Married when she was just 17 years old, Isabel balances Alex by choosing not to involve herself in the business, focusing instead on their three children, who are determined to forge their own paths outside the family.
For the Duques, will family allegiance come first or will their secrets and acrimonious conflicts over love, lust and control of the family fortune be their downfall? . Alona Tal, Eddie Matos, Lina Esco, Michael Trevino, Polly Walker, Rita Moreno, and Sam Carmen also star. Jimmy Smits and Cynthia Cidre ("Mambo Kings") produce.
Kid Nation
A reality-based series in which 40 kids will have 40 days to build a new world - in a ghost town that died in the 19th Century. These kids, ages 8-15, will spend more than a month without their parents or modern comforts in Bonanza City, N.M., attempting to do what their forefathers could not - build a town that works.
They will cook their own meals, clean their own outhouses, haul their own water and even run their own businesses - including the old town saloon (root beer only). They'll also create a real government - four kid leaders who will guide the group through their adventure, pass laws and set bedtimes.
Through it all, they'll cope with regular childhood emotions and situations: homesickness, peer pressure and the urge to break every rule they've ever known. At the end of each episode, all 40 kids will gather at an old fashioned Town Hall meeting where they will debate the issues facing Bonanza City. They'll show wisdom beyond their years and the unflinching candor that only kids can exhibit.
There are no eliminations on KID NATION - you only go home if you want to. And in every Town Hall meeting, kids may raise their hands and leave. Will they stick it out? In the end, will these kids prove to adults everywhere (and their own parents!) that they have the vision to build a better world than the pioneers who came before them? And just as importantly, will they come together as a cohesive unit, or will they abandon all responsibility and succumb to the childhood temptations that lead to round-the-clock chaos? .
Moonlight
Follows Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin) a captivating "undead" investigator who uses his acute vampire senses to help the living... instead of feeding on them.
In an agonizing twist of fate, Mick was "bitten" 60 years ago by his new bride, the seductive and beguiling Coraline (Amber Valletta). Immortal and eternally as young, handsome and charismatic as he was then, Mick is sickened by Coraline and other vampires who view humans only as a source of nourishment.
With only a handful of undead confidantes for company, including deceitful ally Josef (Rade Serbedzija), Mick fills his infinite days protecting the living, and trying not to think about how his life would have been if he hadn't followed his heart. However, after six decades of resisting, he wonders if it's time to pursue the love of a mortal.
He has his eyes on Beth Turner (Shannon Lucio), a beautiful, ambitious reporter who has been covering the ongoing plague of unusual murders. But would Beth even consider giving up a normal life to be with him, and can Mick risk the pain of seeing himself as a monster in her eyes? As Mick lives between two realities, fighting his adversaries among the undead and falling in love with Beth, he knows he needs to figure out a reason to keep "living." Joel Silver produces.
Swingtown
Peeks into the shag-carpeted suburban homes of the 1970s to find couples reveling in the sexual and social revolution that introduced open marriages, women's liberation and challenged many conventional wisdoms.
During this heady era of provocative change, Susan (Molly Parker) and Bruce Miller (Jack Davenport) move their family to an affluent Chicago suburb in search of a different sense of community, and they look forward to barbecues and get-togethers with their new neighbors, as well as a change of pace for their teenage daughter and pre-teen son. Enter Tom (Grant Show) and Trina (Lana Parrilla) Decker, a striking, outgoing couple on the hunt who redefine the term "neighborhood watch."
After a mind-blowing evening with them, Susan and Bruce realize that couples in this town share much more than recipes, local gossip and a view of Lake Michigan, and are worlds apart from their former conservative neighbors, Janet (Miriam Shor) and Roger (Josh Hopkins) Thompson. Susan's loyal friend Janet is appalled by what she witnesses in this new neighborhood, while Roger, though dutiful to his wife, may be more intrigued than she knows.
In a changing social climate - defined by its music, fashion and style - everyone in "Swingtown" is confronted with personal choices, experimentation and shifting attitudes. Aaron Howles, Brittany Robertson, Kyle Searles and Shanna Collins also star.
Viva Laughlin
Based on the hit BBC show "Viva Blackpool." Ripley Holden (Lloyd Owen) is the ultimate gambler with an infectious personality who is on the brink of making a killing... just as soon as he opens his casino that's nowhere near completion.
When his financing suddenly falls through, the fearless and tenacious Ripley approaches his enemy - dashing, sarcastic, wealthy casino owner Nicky Fontana (Hugh Jackman) for help. Though the odds are stacked against him, Ripley doesn't miss a beat, even when he becomes embroiled in a murder investigation after the body of his ex-business partner is found at his club.
At home, Ripley uses his dry wit to adjust to the demands of his family: his gorgeous wife, Natalie (Madchen Amick), wants more attention; his teenage daughter, Cheyenne (Ellen Woglom), wants his approval; and his son, Jack (Carter Jenkins), wants to help him at work.
All of this adversity would defeat a lesser man, but for the outgoing and passionate Ripley there's no such thing as bad news, only deals to be struck and wagers to be won in the intoxicating neon glow of Laughlin, where the cards are on the table, romance is in the air and lively music is on the stage. D.B. Woodside, Eric Winter, Melanie Griffith, and P.J. Byrne also star. Hugh Jackman executive produces.
Renewals include "48 Hours: Mystery," "60 Minutes," "The Amazing Race," "Cold Case," "Crime Time Saturday," "Criminal Minds," "C.S.I.," "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," "Rules of Engagement," "Survivor," "Two and a Half Men," "The Unit," "Without a Trace."
Cancellations include "The Class," "Close to Home," "Jericho," "The King of Queens," "Smith," "Three Lbs.," "Waterfront."
The nightly CBS schedule will be as follows:
MONDAY 8pm: "How I Met Your Mother" 8:30pm: "The Big Bang Theory" 9pm: "Two and a Half Men" 9:30pm: "Rules of Engagement" 10pm: "C.S.I.: Miami"
TUESDAY 8pm: "N.C.I.S." 9pm: "The Unit" 10pm: "Cane"
WEDNESDAY 8pm: "Kid Nation" 9pm: "Criminal Minds" 10pm: "C.S.I.: NY"
THURSDAY 8pm: "Survivor" 9pm: "C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation" 10pm: "Without a Trace"
FRIDAY 8pm: "Ghost Whisperer" 9pm: "Moonlight" 10pm: "Numb3rs"
SATURDAY 8pm: "Crime Time Saturday" 10pm: "48 Hours: Mystery"
SUNDAY 7pm: "60 Minutes" 8pm: "Viva Laughlin" 9pm: "Cold Case" 10pm: "Shark"
