This is the time of year when TV critics spend a whole bunch of time watching shows we're not supposed to write about yet. Fall pilots.
There's a good reason for us to watch them. And there's a good reason for us not to write about them yet.
We need to watch them before this summer's Television Critics Association press tour. Because it's a whole lot easier to ask questions about a show you've seen than a show you haven't.
It seems rather elementary, but I've sat through some rather painful interview sessions when we were asked to ask questions based on a few clips. Or no footage at all.
But we're not supposed to write about the pilots because they're not necessarily finished products. Some will undergo massive changes before they get on the air. Some pilot episodes are tossed out altogether.
Some undergo casting changes. Like ABC's "The Whole Truth" — Joely Richardson, who had one of the lead roles, quit the show after the pilot was shot and ABC ordered it as a series.
So the networks don't want us reviewing fall pilots yet. (Although some of them will air exactly as is.)
I'm thinking that the folks at CBS probably won't get too upset with me if I give you a few early impressions, however. Because nobody minds praise.
I sat down to watch the five new CBS shows with my daughters a few days ago. First up — the "Hawaii Five-O" reboot, which I wanted to see and they did not.
All of us liked it. Enough so that it's already penciled in on our Monday-night viewing calendar in the fall.
Then we watched "$#*! My Dad Says," the new William Shatner sitcom. It started slow, but by the middle of the episode we were laughing. And we kept laughing until the end.
Next up — "Mike & Molly," the new sitcom from the producers of "Big Bang Theory" and "Two and a Half Men." We laughed from start to finish.
"Stupid CBS!" Hillary said. "I don't have time to watch any more shows. Are all of their pilots good?"
"Well, maybe not all their pilots," I replied. "I think the next one won't be anything you're interested in."
That was "The Defenders," the comedic legal show about a pair of smart/semi-sleazy Las Vegas lawyers.
It sounded sort of dumb. And I am not a fan of either of the lead actors, Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell.
Darned if we didn't all like that one, too.
"Stupid CBS!" Hillary said.
A couple of days later, we got around to watching the last of CBS's new fall show. The police drama "Blue Bloods," headlined by Tom Selleck, is about a family of New York City cops. And, while it didn't blow us away, it, too, held considerable promise.
Every year, network executives tell us that they will decide which of their shows they will cancel when they see their fall development. In other words, when they see if their new shows are better than their old shows and stand a better chance of ratings success.
Having watched CBS's five new shows, it's a lot clearer why the network canceled "Accidentally on Purpose," "Cold Case," "Gary Unmarried," "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and "Numb3rs."
45 YEARS: CBS's attempt to program sitcoms on Thursday nights isn't exactly unprecedented, but the network hasn't tried the strategy in a long, long time.
This fall, CBS will air "The Big Bang Theory" on Thursdays at 7 p.m., followed by "$#*! My Dad Says" at 7:30 p.m. MT.
The last time the network had a fall schedule with sitcoms in those time slots was 1965, with "Gilligan's Island" and "My Three Sons."
That was so long ago that network prime-time was 3 1/2 hours a night. In 1965, CBS aired "The Munsters" at 6:30 p.m. MT on Thursdays.
And in TV years, 45 seasons is about a millennium.
53 YEARS: CBS had a weekly series titled "The Defenders," but that was way back in 1961-65. And that series, which starred E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed ("Brady Bunch") as father-son lawyers, shares nothing with the new show other than that title.
The original series was based on a two-part episode of "Studio One" that aired in 1957. Titled "The Defender," it was about father-son lawyers who defended a young man accused of murder (Steve McQueen).
The father and son were played by Ralph Bellamy and 25-year-old William Shatner.
And more than half a century later, Shatner is starring in a CBS sitcom.
e-mail: pierce@desnews.com