CBS: Success made (to look) easy

While efforts continue apace to locate the rumored underground bunker/laboratory that manufactures the diminutive, dissembling executrixes that Les Moonves seems to prefer to run his empire (Nina Tassler at CBS, Dawn Ostroff at The CW), we'll cut short the analysis on CBS's 2006/07 season. Mainly because there isn't a lot to say.

CBS is in as sound a shape as a network can be these days. The network needed a paltry four new shows to kick off its season, which begins officially tonight with the debut of "The Class." It and "Shark," which finds James Woods playing against type as a brilliant, charismatic and arrogant attorney (the "attorney" part is where "playing against type" comes in), should do quite well.

"Smith:" Eh. "Jericho:" Ugh. (The latter's not bad, but a feel-good show about nuclear devastation seems a tough sell to the masses; NBC's "Heroes" also features a nuclear blast -- what is it about the current global situation that has TV producers thinking in such apocalyptic terms? -- but at least that one can be averted.)

As its shows age, the network that delights in empirically dubbing itself "The Network" may lose a smidgen of steam (we've discussed "Survivor" at length already, but any network executive would barter a lackey's soul for a show with those ratings, even if it's considered by pundits to be something less than an unqualified success). But by filling its schedule with slick, generally smart (notable exception: "Ghost Whisperer"), middlebrow (in the best sense of the word) entertainment, Moonves' sovereignty looks to remain healthy for many years.