Keeping to its theme of stability, CBS is adding only 4 1/2 hours of new programming to its fall schedule, returning 18 series and movie franchises and adding six shows -- three sitcoms and three dramas.
Among the shows the network canceled, however, is the made-in-Utah series "Promised Land." (The other Utah-based series, the hit "Touched by an Angel," will return.)CBS left two nights -- Saturdays and Sundays -- unchanged, but did shuffle half-a-dozen shows to new nights and/or times. Among the bigger changes: "Cosby" switches from Mondays to Wednesdays; the "CBS Tuesday Night Movie" becomes the "CBS Wednesday Night Movie;" and "Chicago Hope" returns to the night were it began five years ago -- Thursdays.
This time around, though, it won't face that other medical drama, "ER," it will go up against "Frasier" at 8 p.m. And "Chicago Hope" will feature the return of Mandy Patinkin as Dr. Jeffrey Geiger -- a role for which he won an Emmy -- and the return of creator David E. Kelley ("The Practice," "Ally McBeal") as a "hands-on" executive producer. (And both Kelley and Patinkin were around during the show's first -- and by far its best -- season.)
CBS's new dramas are:
"Family Law" (Mondays, 9 p.m.), from the producer of "EZ Streets" and "Due South," is a legal drama about a woman (Kathleen Quinlan) whose husband/law partner leaves her and takes the practice with him, so she has to build a new one by attracting whatever partners she can. The cast includes Dixie Carter ("Designing Women"), Julie Warner and Christopher McDonald.
"Judging Amy"(Tuesdays, 9 p.m.) stars Amy Brennaman ("NYPD Blue") as a single mother who leaves New York City, moves in with her mother (Tyne Daly, "Cagney & Lacey") in Connecticut and becomes a judge. It's based on the real-life story of Brenneman's own mother.
"Now & Again" (Fridays, 8 p.m.), from the creator of "Moonlighting," is definitely high-concept. Eric Close stars as a guy whose body is destroyed in an accident, so the government transplants his brain into a perfectly engineered body of a "rugged" guy 20 years younger. He agrees to carry out missions for the government but can't do as his bosses ask and stay away from his wife (Margaret Colin), family and friends.
CBS's new comedies are:
"Ladies Man" (Mondays, 7:30 p.m.) stars Alfred Molina as a well-meaning guy trying to play peacemaker for his boisterous family, which includes his wife (Sharon Lawrence, "NYPD Blue"), his ex-wife (Park Overall, "Empty Nest"), his mother (Betty White), his mother-in-law (who has yet to be cast) and his daughters, ages 15 and 10.
"Work With Me" (Wednesdays, 8:30 p.m.) is a romantic comedy that stars Nancy Travis and Kevin Pollak as married lawyers who become partners in a home-based law practice.
"Love or Money" (Fridays, 7:30 p.m.) is an ensemble comedy about romantic entanglements in a swank New York apartment tower. The large cast includes Swoosie Kurtz, David Ogden Stiers, Paget Brewster and Brian Doyle Murray.
In addition to "Promised Land," the shows CBS has canceled this season include "The Brian Benben Show," "Buddy Faro," "Magnificent Seven," "L.A. Doctors," "Maggie Winters," "The Nanny," "Payne," "To Have and to Hold" and "Turks." "Candid Camera" will return as a midseason backup.