Upfronts: ABC

It's worse than I thought: ABC will spring 15 new shows on us next season, with some sort of change every night of the week.

GONE - It might be easier to list the shows that didn't get canned. Notables here include Monday Night Football, Commander in Chief, Less than Perfect, Invasion, and Primetime Live (somewhat surprisingly, though I assume it could return to fill holes).

MOVED - Grey's Anatomy to Thursday at 9 is the biggie. I can't even begin to predict how this will play out, between CSI, NBC's Studio 60 and the CW's Supernatural, which is expected to land here as well. I tend to think Grey's Anatomy will do OK on its own - it's turned out to be better than the increasingly cartoonish Desperate Housewives - but it's a crowded night.

What About Brian survived the cut (shades of Jake in Progress?) and will team up with Supernanny, Wife Swap, and for reasons unknown to science, The Bachelor to make up for the loss of testosterone on Monday.

Dancing With the Stars will lead off Tuesday and Wednesday nights, while George Lopez and According to Jim will move together to lead off Wednesdays after the dancing ends. That's a hell of a way to repay J. J. Abrams.

NEW - Speaking of Abrams, he'll have a new show on Thursday at 10. Six Degrees follows six New Yorkers who are brought together again after an initial meeting. The reunion is under strange circumstances (of course), and they become friends. Cast includes Hope Davis, Bridget Moynihan, and Campbell Scott. This whill hopefully move a little faster than Lost while retaining its mystery.

Speaking of Lost, it will lead out to The Nine, a show about people who experience a "twist of faith" related to being held hostage during a failed bank robbery. Lots of familiar faces here - Chi McBride, Timothy Daly, and Scott Wolf.

OK, I'll never get through all of these at this rate. The shorter version:

Brothers & Sisters should not be confused with Sons & Daughters, though I can't keep them straight. Calista Flockhart headlines this drama about a family dealing with the loss of its matriarch. It gets to follow Desperate Housewives, which suggests it'll be around for at least a whole season.

Let's Rob... is a sitcom based around a guy (Donal Logue) who plans a heist to get money so he can open a bar. Mick Jagger is guesting in the pilot, which is about the best thing I can say about it at this point. It runs Tuesday at 9, and is followed by Help Me Help You, marking Ted Danson's re-return to sitcoms. It sounds like Dear John, but from the shrink's point of view.

Thursday 8-9 is the home of Big Day - a show about planning a wedding starring Wendie Malick and Marla Sokoloff. It is followed by Notes from the Underbelly, wherein a woman who doesn't want kids becomes pregnant - and she and her husband decided to keep that fact hidden from their friends. Expect the secret to get out one way or another around February sweeps - assuming the show makes it that long (ditto for its lineup-mate).

Betty the Ugly kicks off Friday - it's a show about a woman hired as an assistant to a guy based on the idea that she's unattractive enough that he won't hit on her. I'm sure that sounded better when it was pitched. It is followed at 9 by Men in Trees, which stars Anne Heche as a relationship coach who decides to stay in Alaska when she's snowed in after finding out her fiance cheated on her. So I take it I'm not supposed to thank God it's Friday anymore?

There's a whole slew of midseason shows, too, most of which haven't been positioned yet (though you can guess where they might go - hello Friday!). They include:

Daybreak, starring Taye Diggs as a policeman who has to prove that he did not shoot the state's attorney.

Traveler, about two guys who pull off some sort of rollerblading stunt in a NYC museum and are arrested as terrorists when the museum is bombed shortly thereafter. If that makes sense to you, you can be an ABC programming exec. Stephen Culp makes us all wish he was still playing Rex van de Camp by appearing in this.

In Case of Emergency, where friends from high school are reuinited - in the ER. Lots of recognizable names here - Lori Loughlin, David Arquette, Kelly Hu, Jonathon Silverman. That may cut both ways.

There are also three unscripted replacements, of which I'll specifically mention Set For the Rest of Your Life, where a couple plays to win regular checks for life... but at what amount? This will replace Dancing With the Stars on Tuesdays when that show ends, thus effectively stranding Boston Legal.

Do you get the feeling ABC will be trotting out 15 new shows for 2007-08? OK, it's not all that bad - Six Degrees, The Nine, and Brothers & Sisters all have a chance, thanks to some good time-slotting. The Tuesday night comedies may prove durable, as both Logue and Danson kept Grounded for Life and Becker going longer than anyone expected.

But there's still a lot of suck, much of it at the start of hours. That doesn't help the later shows at all. Friday is pretty much a lost cause, and Monday is uninspiring.

All in all, a more interesting schedule than what NBC presented yesterday, but with more risk.