CBS won't announce its fall schedule for more than a month, but the network has already renewed about a third of its schedule -- including the made-in-Utah series "Touched by an Angel," which will return for its seventh season in the fall.
Not that that's any surprise, given the ratings success "Touched" continues to have. And most of the other renewals were similarly predictable.The only surprises were mild ones at best. "Walker, Texas Ranger" will be back for its ninth season, contrary to what its star, Chuck Norris, was saying a few months back. And "Nash Bridges" will be back for its sixth season despite less-than-spectacular ratings.
The other shows getting picked up for the 2000-2001 season include three of CBS's four Monday-night comedies. "Everybody Loves Raymond" (fifth season), "The King of Queens" (third season) and "Becker" (third season) each received 24-episode orders, two more than the network standard. The network also picked up "JAG" for a fifth season.
The only freshman series to be invited back for its sophomore season so far is the surprise Tuesday-night hit "Judging Amy."
The fact that your favorite CBS show, be it anything from "Diagnosis Murder" to "Early Edition" to "Now and Again," isn't on this list doesn't necessarily mean that it won't be back in the fall. CBS mantra over the past few seasons has been stability, and the network is certainly going to bring back more than the eight shows -- 10, including "60 Minutes" and "60 Minutes II"-- that make up less than 40 percent of CBS's prime-time schedule.
(The only current series CBS has officially canceled is "Cosby.")
Shows like "Family Law" and "Martial Law," "Kids Say the Darndest Things" and even "Diagnosis Murder" will probably be back. On the other hand, shows like "Ladies Man," "Grapevine," "Early Edition" and "Chicago Hope" are probably goners.
The more interesting question is what will happen to the shows on the bubble -- shows like "Now and Again" and "Martial Law." And we won't find that out for sure until the latter part of May.
LOTS MORE "WILL & GRACE": It's also not surprising that NBC has renewed its hit comedy "Will & Grace." But it is a bit of a pleasant surprise that the network has ordered two more seasons of the show, carrying it through both the 2001-2002 season.
OK, so the show isn't as funny in its second season as it was in its first. But it's still one of the funnier shows on TV -- and the only decent comedy that NBC has come up with in the past couple of years.
In the wake of the "Ellen" fiasco, conventional wisdom seemed to be that the general audience would not accept a show that revolved around a gay character. But "Will & Grace" has prospered.
Which only proves the real truth of TV -- funny is funny; not funny is not funny. "Ellen" didn't succeed because it wasn't a good show; "Will & Grace" is succeeding because it is.
CHANGING CHANNELS: The news that "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" will be moving from ABC to the WB this fall tells us something about both networks.
In the case of the WB, which ordered two full seasons of the show, it's another clear demonstration of how much trouble the emerging network has had developing comedies. More than five years after its launch, the WB has made a mark with hourlong shows like "7th Heaven," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Dawson's Creek" (to name a few), but it has yet to come up with a single sitcom that has made much of an impression in the viewing public's consciousness.
In the case of ABC, the fact that it was willing to let "Sabrina" go was another indication that the network is moving farther and farther away from its family-oriented, kid-appropriate "T.G.I.F." lineup. Don't be surprised if it abandons the concept altogether in the fall.