ABC's New Fall Look

If NBC's announcement yesterday was marked by a play-it-safe strategy, ABC looks like its pushing it all out on the table and rolling the dice. According to the New York Times, the network, which already has more hit shows than any of its competitors, is ordering at least 11 new series--seven hour long dramas and four new comedies. Most will air this fall but others will come on mid season. The most taked about for the new entries will be Private Practice, a spinoff of Grey's Anatomy, starring Kate Walsh as a doctor who leaves Seattle Grace Hospital to work in a clinic in LA. Another promising series is Pushing Daisies about a young man who can raise the dead who helps a homicide detective. In the Desperate Housewives vein, ABC is also ordering Dirty Sex Money, starring Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) who plays a lawyer for a corrupt family. They also have Cashmere Mafia, about a group of women in NYC, starring Lucy Lui, which should appeal to Sex and the City Fans, and Women's Murder Club, a crime procedural drama starring Angie Harmon and Big Shot (possible temp title) about the work/love lives four rich exeecutives.

On the comedy front, the most bizarre new show has to be Cavemen, about the heavy-brow dudes from the Geico car insurance commericals who face prejudice as they try to adapt to the strange ways of contemporary society (God, is it just me or does this sound like the worst fish-out-of-water comedy ever. Dimes to dollars, it's gone in less than a year). One long-running sitcom that will be missed is The George Lopez Show, which has has been cancelled. And boy, was George unhappy about that, as he tells the LA Times this morning:

"I get kicked out for a ... caveman and shows that I outperformed because I'm not owned by [ABC Television Studios]. So a Chicano can't be on TV, but a caveman can?" Lopez said. "And a Chicano with an audience already? You know when you get in this that shows do not last forever, but this was an important show, and to go unceremoniously like this hurts. One hundred seventy people lost their jobs."

Here is the full line up, courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter, which is reporting 12 new shows total--eight new series for the fall, with four more on the shelf for midseason, including an unscripted series featuring Oprah Winfrey called Oprah's Big Give. The complete fall schedule follows (New programs in CAPS):

MONDAY
8-9:30 p.m.: "Dancing with the Stars"
9:30-10 p.m.: "SAM I AM"
10-11 p.m.: "The Bachelor"

TUESDAY
8-8:30 p.m.: "CAVEMEN"
8:30-9 p.m.: "CARPOOLERS"
9-10 p.m.: "Dancing With the Stars" (results show)
10-11 p.m.: "Boston Legal"

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m.: "Pushing Daisies"
9-10 p.m.: "PRIVATE PRACTICE"
10-11 p.m.: "DIRTY SEXY MONEY"

THURSDAY
8-9 p.m.: "Ugly Betty"
9-10 p.m.: "Grey's Anatomy"
10-11 p.m.: "BIG SHOTS"

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m.: "Men in Trees"
9-10 p.m.: "WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB"
10-11 p.m.: "20/20"

SATURDAY
8-11 p.m.: "Saturday Night College Football"

SUNDAY
7-8 p.m.: "America's Funniest Home Videos"
8-9 p.m.: "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
9-10 p.m.: "Desperate Housewives"
10-11 p.m.: "Brothers & Sisters"