Upfronts: CBS

Another year, another CBS upfront where they get to show it's good to be number one.

Who Stays? Who Goes? As you'd expect from a network that's doing well, there aren't that many cuts that weren't already known. The most surprising is Vegas, whose late spring hiatus led to a drop in viewers from which it never recovered. The Eye also finally put Rules of Engagement out of our misery and retired CSI:NY one year too late.

What's Coming?

Monday - we get the largest collection of new shows  on Monday, with How I Met Your Mother (in its last season) at 8 and Two Broke Girls at 9. In the 8:30 slot we get We Are Men, the latest attempt at a guy-centered sitcom, this time located at an apartment complex that caters to short-term renters (kind of a live-action version of Kirk Van Houten's life at the Bachelor Arms). Tony Shalhoub, Kal Penn and Chris O'Donnell are some of the tenants, not that a well-known cast has helped similar shows long since cancelled.

At 9:30 there's Mom, which stars Anna Faris as a recovering addict with two kids who winds up living with her recovering alcoholic mom, played by Allison Janney. This feels a lot like ABC's Back in the Game. I'm hoping Chuck Lorre's involvement will help elevate this.

At 10, we start the season with Hostages, starring Toni Collette as a surgeon whose family is taken hostage by a rogue FBI agent (Dylan McDermott) who wants Collette to assassinate the President when she operates on him. I expect the show will involve more of whatever conspiracy that's behind the kidnapping, otherwise they're going to have to push the surgery back a few seasons.

This will be replaced at midseason by Intelligence, which follows the exploits of a secret agent whose been implanted with a chip that allows him access to the Web, etc. I feel like this has been done before, or maybe it was an old April Fool's joke from Google. Anyway, can't say I'm interested.

Tuesday - NCIS leads to NCIS: LA and then to the relocated Person of Interest. Not sure it's wise to put so many highly-rated shows on one evening. On the other hand, there's not really a night that really needs the help from any of these shows (though they could have moved Person of Interest to Monday and let one of the new dramas go here to soak up the ratings).

Wednesday - unchanged with Survivor, Criminal Minds and CSI.

Thursday - Opens with The Big Bang Theory and closes with a relocated Two and a Half Men and Elementary. In the middle at 8:30 there's The Millers, starring Will Arnett as a recently divorced TV newsman whose dad (Beau Bridges) takes this news as a sign that he should divorce his wife of 43 years (played by Margo Martindale). Mom moves in with Arnett's character, Dad with his daughter and her family. Hijinks apparently ensue, not sure if the high-profile cast will tempt me to see if hijinks actually happen.

The other new sitcom is The Crazy Ones, which sees Robin Williams return to situation comedy as the boss of an ad agency whose success is due to his almost uncontrollable genius. Providing what control she can is his daughter, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. As these things go she's the focused and organized one, and she, with the help of the agency's best and brightest (which includes James Wolk, Mad Men's Bob Benson) keep her dad in line. I actually like the chances for this one, as the timing is right with 30 Rock and The Office going away, the casting will draw early viewers, and it's the most original attempt at ripping off Mad Men to date.

Friday - Undercover Boss and Blue Bloods remain, with Hawaii 5-0  moving in between them.

Satuday - reruns and 48 Hours

Sunday - unchanged with 60 Minutes, The Amazing Race, The Good Wife and The Mentalist. I do wonder when CBS will finally give in and schedule the NFL overrun.

The lone new midseason show is Reckless, which is like Hart of Dixie, except for grownups. A lawyer from Chicago moves to Charleston and gets involved with the city attorney, a local guy, just as a scandal in the police department pits them against each other professionally (and may have More Sinister Implications, as you'd expect). 

The Verdict?

CBS is going to stay on top, and will do so even if all of their new shows tank. Which they won't. I'm slightly more bullish on the new sitcoms here than at the other networks, though that may be from all the familiar names more than anything else. The dramas all fall in that Revenge/Scandal/Single Name Suggesting Serious Import mold that I'm not that interested in. But I assume at least one of them will be good enough - and get enough viewers thanks to its lead-in - to stick.