Tweaks at ABC

Not to be outdone by CBS's scheduling announcements earlier today, ABC has cooked up some programming changes of its own. Caught flat-footed by the writers strike, ABC has gone into virtual freefall this season (with the exception of "Dancing with the Stars"). Its returning sophomore shows have cratered (and mostly have been cancelled), its two new shows landed with a thud and its older hits are showing their age.

The network announced three new hourlong shows premiering next year:

* "Castle," Monday, March 9 at 10 p.m. About a famous mystery novelist (Nathan Fillion) who helps the NYPD solve murders so he can flirt with a pretty detective (Stana Katic). It's a comedy-drama, probably not unlike, say, "Monk" or "Psych."

(When you're the star of the show, you get the actresses swarming around you; when you're not, you're thrown on the perimeter of the photo, where you look unpopular and like you're posing for a "before" shot of a Weight Watchers ad.)

* "Cupid," Tuesday, March 24 at 10 p.m. Remake of a well-regarded but little-seen show that used to star Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall, only now it stars Bobby Cannavale as a guy who thinks he's actually the Roman god of love and Sarah Paulson as his shrink. They play matchmaker and are flirtatious and stuff. Rob Thomas, who created the original, is given a second chance.

(Paulson and Cannavale (left), and then a couple of interlopers who just wandered in and ruined the shot.)

* "The Unusuals," Wednesday, April 8 at 10 p.m. More NYPD, more murders, more comedy. Amber Tamblyn ("Joan of Arcadia," "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants") stars.

(Perhaps more crimes would get solved if TV cops would do more than stand around and pose for group photos.)

* "Primetime: What Would You Do?" returns Tuesday, Jan. 6, 10 p.m. ABC News sells this as some sort of social experiment, but it's really just another hidden-camera show placing unwitting folks in uncomfortable situations. But then they talk about ethics, which apparently makes it OK.

* Oh, and "Lost" returns with a two-hour premiere Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. "Life on Mars" will follow, at 10 p.m. "Private Practice" will head for the comforting embrace of 10 p.m. Thursdays, where it will follow its mothership show "Grey's Anatomy."