Fall-TV 2008's winners and losers (since subtle shades of grey are so tricky to evince)

OK, so we've had some time to absorb upfront week (read that: We sat through upfront week, wrote about it as it occurred, then spent the weekend in brain-melting heat incapable of thinking about anything, and now we're making this up as we go), and herewith, our winners and losers re: the upcoming fall season.

Winner: Fox. The best schedule, the shows most likely to succeed and, with "Remote-free TV" (airing "Fringe" and "Dollhouse" with limited commercials throughout the entire season), a nice, outside-the-box idea that a) genuinely seems to respond to the challenges confronting broadcast networks, b) should translate into heightened viewership (provided the shows deliver the goods, since everyone's going to want to give them a lot of hype) and c) gets Fox enough publicity that should allay any financial hits, which one imagines will be pretty minor, since advertisers should pretty much be clamoring to get in these shows and be willing to pay handsome premiums.

Loser: ABC. They shouldn't even be allowed to call what they offered up their 2008-09 schedule. They should've called it their 2007.1 Vista "upgrade."

Winner: NBC. By at least appearing to be forward-thinking and trying to solve problems in new ways, Ben Silverman gets a pass for programming shows with tons of product placement, co-productions with foreign and domestic investors and concepts so depressingly derivative there's not much on that schedule any sentient being is highly anticipating (fortunately for him, I guess, is the fact that there are plenty of TV viewers who would never be mistaken for sentient beings).

Loser: NBC. By conceding that his 2008-09-and-beyond schedule is written "in pencil," Silverman's just admitting that most network executives are making it up as they go along (just one example: The USA Network's "Monk" is supposed to return to NBC in Summer 2009; it's already been yanked from NBC's spring 2008 schedule). That "Office" spin-off sounds so suspiciously written in pencil that it's hard to imagine it coming off without a severe drop-off in quality either in it or the original (remake).

Winner: TNT/TBS. The cable networks proved themselves more than willing to mix it up with the big boys in their first upfront with advertisers during the week generally reserved for the broadcast networks. Just a sampling of the behind-the-camera talent they trotted out in announcing shows they're developing: George Clooney, Steven Bochco, William H. Macy, Jamie Foxx, Ray Romano, Mark Burnett, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Dean Devlin, Donnie Wahlberg, Russell Simmons and director Jon Avnet. Some of the shows even sounded pretty promising.

Loser: CBS. Well, they have more cop/procedural shows for your edification.

Kinda sorta winner: Comedies. Though fewer new comedies will debut in the fall, more new sitcoms have been ordered overall for the entire season. Hope springs eternal for a genre perennially deemed moribund.

Kinda sorta loser: Reality programs. Far fewer new reality shows will debut this fall, but fear not: Once new shows start dropping one by one, what will be brought in to replace them?

Winner: Cult-TV geeks. Fox loves you guys and is willing to give you a second chance: They're airing shows from "Alias's" and Lost's" J.J. Abrams ("Fringe"), "Buffy the Vampire Slayer's" and "Firefox's" Joss Whedon ("Dollhouse"), and two shows from "Arrested Development" writers, "Do Not Disturb" (a comedy set in a hotel) and "Sit Down, Shut Up," an animated show developed by "AD" creator Mitch Hurwitz based on an Australian sitcom about beleaguered teachers who, um, aren't exactly dedicated to their profession.

Loser: The Human Race. ABC renewed "According to Jim."