Upfronts - CBS

Hard to believe, but the Eye will premiere more shows next season than ABC. Of course, it's only by one, and CBS isn't clogging its schedule with dancing.

What's gone? - Buy your peanut futures now, as Jericho is once again canceled. I do not expect another miracle save. Shark takes the ultimate sophomore slump, while first-year shows Cane and Moonlight either were strike casualties or weren't that good, depending on how you want to spin it.

What's back? - No major surprises here, though the mid-season return of Rules of Engagement puts the last nail in the coffin for my dead pool entry. Some of the dramas look like they've moved, but I can't say I watch much CBS to know for sure. Nothing looks egregious, though I'm not sure that The New Adventures of Old Christine is strong enough to lead off on Wednesdays.

What's new? - Three hours and two half-hours. The hours:

The Mentalist is about a celebrity psychic turned detective who uses his powers of observation to ferret out killers. Like Ghost Whisperer, but with smaller boobs. It's on between NCIS and Without a Trace, which I suppose makes sense given the crime-solving aspects of all three shows.

Eleventh Hour follows a governmental special advisor who investigates "scientific crises and oddities." So it's The X-Files without Scully. But it's on after CSI, so it should get some viewers.

The Ex-List is about a woman who decides that her future love interest is actually a guy from her past, so she goes through the titular list to find him. It stars Elizabeth Reaser, better known as Rebecca/Ava from Grey's Anatomy. It's on after Ghost Whisperer, setting up a femme-friendly Friday that Numbers doesn't seem to fit into. Unless Rob Morrow is the CBS analogue of Patrick Dempsey.

The half-hours:

Worst Week is about a guy who causes problems every time he's around his girlfriend's parents, who don't care for him (for obvious reasons). Nothing special here, though if Kurtwood Smith can bring Red Foreman to the present day, I'm in for at least a couple of episodes. It's the last show in the Monday comedy block, and should already be picking out gifts for Two and a Half Men's lead-in.

Project Gary features a couple who, now divorced after 15 years of marriage, must work around each other as they raise their kids and get back into the dating game. DEAD POOL ALERT: the show stars Jay Mohr and Paula Marshall, which means it may just get canceled during the first commercial break of the first episode.

Oh, there's also the new mid-season drama Harper's Island, where a destination wedding turns into a murder investigation. Who has a destination wedding on an island that had a serial killer run amok, even if it was seven years ago?

Prognosis - Meh. CBS is as CBS does. I don't expect anything to really take off or tank, though I don't have a lot of faith in any of the new shows.