CBS: Eye on domination

CBS's schedule is so ridiculously solid these days that the network only required four new series for its fall 2006-07 season, and only ordered three midseason replacements. Now that's confidence.

And none of the shows look that bad, either. "The Class" comes from "Friends" co-creator David Crane, and can best be summed up as, well, "Friends" with severe neuroses.

"Smith" stars Ray Liotta in a "Thief"/"Heist"/"Hustle" sort of con game with Virginia Madsen co-starring as his wife, who's oblivious to his double life as a master crook.

"Shark" brings the inimitable James Woods (well, actually, I guess a lot of people do pretty fair imitations of him) as a Johnny Cochran-style defense attorney who decides to use his powers for good rather than evil. Woods looks compellingly watchable in this.

The biggest gamble of the bunch -- but the one the network seems to be the most bullish on -- is "Jericho," which'll be a sort of Midwestern "Lost." It's about a small town mysteriously isolated after a nuclear attack; Skeet Ulrich plays a man recently returned to his hometown who, well, you know, has a lot of secrets. Like, who doesn't.

As opposed to NBC and ABC, CBS changed its lineups on strong evenings only to bolster its new shows, not because it had to. For example, CBS bumped its hit "Without a Trace" to Sunday a) because NBC's crime shows are no longer on the evening and b) to give "Shark" the not-inconsiderable "CSI" lead-in. Which means "Shark," barring botched execution (not likely, given its EPs have shows like "24," "Crossing Jordan" and "Without a Trace" on their resumes), should be an out-of-the-box hit.

The network jettisoned its long-running Sunday movie after a season of misfires. Once a staple of primetime, there are now no broadcast networks airing telefilms on a regular basis. They've become a promotional albatross, requiring renewed advertising energy week after week after week, which in such a cluttered media landscape has become a headache apparently not worth suffering.

With so little to hard-sell advertisers at the network's upfront, CBS instead just put on a show -- lots of comedy bits (Mandy Patinkin of "Criminal Minds" singing pop hits from the psychopath's point of view -- "Stranglers in the Night," "Bewitched, Bothered and Beheaded;" "CSI: Telenovelas," CBS CEO Les Moonves and news anchor Bob Schieffer contemplating "Brokeback Network"), lots of singing and dancing. Who'd've guessed a broadcast network would be in such singularly solid shape in this cable universe, and who'd've thunk it would be the one-time Geezer network?

The bad news: They've started selling advertising for the CBS shows you see on airlines. Like those presentations aren't promo-heavy already.