ABC Revamps Lineup For the Fall

With the end of such long running comedies such as "Friends" and Frasier" as well as "Everybody Loves Raymond" drawing to a close after this season, American viewers are in a bit of limbo as far as their sitcoms go; in the near future some network will undoubtedly strike gold again in the comedy forum, just don't expect it to be ABC.

The new management team at ABC-TV, feeling the heat from the fourth place ratings of the last four years, is fielding just eight comedies this fall down from 10. The network is shifting its focus to producing a hit drama to fill in for NYPD Blue, which concludes this season, as well as continuing to pump out new versions of its battle-tested reality shows such as "The Bachelor," "Extreme Makeover," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," and "America's Funniest Home Videos."

ABC is also adding two more reality TV shows to the pile: "The Benefactor," which showcases 16 contestants vying for Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban's prize of a $1 million, and "Wife Swap" that features women from two families switching places with each other.

In terms of comedy, ABC has scrapped "Life with Bonnie," "I'm With Her," "It's All Relative," and "Married to the Kelly's." To replace these failed sitcoms, Mel Gibson has been tapped to produce a family comedy entitled "The Savages" and comedian Rodney Carrington will star in "That's Just Rodney."

ABC has also decided to continue to air "8 Simple Rules," which has endured the death of John Ritter and "Less Than Perfect," which stars Eric Roberts and Sara Rue to go along with the mainstays of the comedy lineup: "My Wife and Kids" and "George Lopez."

A new hit drama to accompany the acclaimed "Alias" series would heal all sorts of wounds at ABC and viewers will have five new choices. David E. Kelly's "The Practice: Fleet Street" will feature James Spader reprising his role in this spinoff of the long running hit "The Practice." The other new dramas will include "Desperate Housewives" from the producers of "Melrose Place," an action adventure series dubbed "Lost," and a teen drama named "Life As We Know It."

NYPD Blue's run will come to an end this season, but Steven Bochco's "Blind Justice" will attempt to fill the void left by Sipowitz and company.

ABC's maladies with the Nielson ratings have created a high pressure situation for newly-installed chief programmer, Steven McPherson. This season has widespread ramifications at ABC as the recent takeover bid of parent company, Disney, by Comcast Corporation is still fresh and with upset shareholders having started to call for the head of Disney Chief Executive, Michael Eisner, more drastic changes could be on the way at the network if this season is not a success.