This week's upfronts revealed what the five main TV networks have planned for this fall. Here's our breakdown of what to expect, and when to expect it (including the CW's new Nikita, starring the beautiful Maggie Q, the lady to our right).
Monday
8pm - 9pm:
ABC - Dancing With The Stars
CBS - How I Met Your Mother/Rules of Engagement
CW - 90210
Fox - House
NBC - Chuck
All returning shows, and mostly returning in the same timeslots they had before (Rules of Engagement replaces The Big Bang Theory on CBS, which has moved to Thursdays, but otherwise, no change). The two ratings powerhouses in this timeslot are Dancing With The Stars and House, although the latter may be beginning to feel its age by this point.
9pm - 10pm:
ABC: Dancing With The Stars
CBS - Two & A Half Men/Mike & Molly
CW - Gossip Girl
Fox - Lonestar
NBC - The Event
I'm nervous about Mike & Molly, a new romantic comedy about a couple who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting created by Two & A Half Men's Chuck Lorre, because - well, it's a romantic comedy about a couple who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting. Meanwhile, both Lonestar and The Event are brand new dramas.
Lonestar, "set against the sprawling backdrop of big Texas oil," according to Fox, is a drama about a schemer caught when his two separate lives start to come together, while NBC's The Event is a large scale conspiracy theory about a presidential assassination that may or may not have a supernatural component.
10pm - 11pm:
ABC - Castle
CBS - Hawaii Five-O
CW - Local affiliate
Fox - Local affiliate
NBC - Chase
Castle (One of my favorite shows, if a bit of a guilty pleasure) stays in its slot, but gets competition from the revamped Hawaii Five-O (Produced by Fringe/Star Trek/Transformers' Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and starring Lost's Daniel Dae Kim and Battlestar Galactica's Grace Park, so its geek-fu is strong) and Chase, a new Jerry Bruckheimer drama about law enforcement officials chasing - hence the title - down bad guys.
Tuesday
8pm - 9pm:
ABC - No Ordinary Family
CBS - NCIS
CW - One Tree Hill
Fox - Glee
NBC - The Biggest Loser
Color me surprised that Glee is getting moved back to 8pm from its current 9pm slot, but it's still the show to beat in this timeslot (Although neither NCIS not Biggest Loser are exactly slouches) - which means that ABC's new Fantastic Four-esque show No Ordinary Family's days may already be numbered, sadly.
9pm - 10pm
ABC - Dancing With The Stars
CBS - NCIS Los Angeles
CW - Life Unexpected
Fox - Raising Hope/Running Wilde
NBC - The Biggest Loser
With no Lost or Glee, this timeslot has become a lost cause for me, if Fox's new comedy block doesn't entertain enough (Raising Hope looks shaky - It's a comedy about a loser having to raise a kid he didn't know he had! Ha ha oh God - but I have hopes for Running Wilde, Will Arnett's new show, co-created by Arrested Development's Mitch Hurwitz). My views don't reflect America's, though; expect the ratings battle between NCIS: LA, Dancing With The Stars' result show and Biggest Loser to be fierce.
10pm - 11pm
ABC - Detroit 187
CBS - The Good Wife
CW - Local affiliate
Fox - Local affiliate
NBC - Parenthood
NBC and CBS' offer familiar flare, and ABC offers new show Detroit 187, a new cop show with the gimmick that it's a documentary shot by an embedded team of journalists. Yes, it's Reno 911 played straight.
Wednesday
8pm - 9pm:
ABC - The Middle/Better Together
CBS - Survivor
CW - America's Next Top Model
Fox - Lie To Me
NBC - Undercovers
Fox moves Lie To Me to 8pm, ABC premieres new comedy Better Together (Two sisters with different ideas about life bicker, etc.), but come on: There's no way this timeslot isn't going to be demolished by JJ Abrams' new spy series, Undercovers. No way whatsoever (Also likely to be demolished by Undercovers? Chuck. I'm convinced that NBC won't want two spy shows longterm, and think that Undercovers' potentially high ratings may show Chuck's bubble audience up enough to make NBC decide to cut the series loose).
9pm - 10pm
ABC - Modern Family/Cougar Town
CBS - Criminal Minds
CW - Hellcats
Fox - Hell's Kitchen
NBC -Law & Order: SVU
Mostly returning shows, with the exception of the CW's Hellcats, a cheerleading show that seems to want to be Bring It On meets Glee (So that's a Bring It On-ier version of Bring It On, then...?), and stars High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale:
10pm - 11pm
ABC - The Whole Truth
CBS - The Defenders
CW - Local affiliate
Fox - Local affiliate
NBC - Law & Order: Los Angeles
All-new shows from (almost) everyone! Obviously, you know what to expect from NBC's Law & Order: LA, but ABC's The Whole Truth is going for a similar thing with each episode following both the prosecution and defense counsels of a legal trial. CBS' The Defenders is also about lawyers, but it's a comedy drama about shady Vegas lawyers played by Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell, so that doesn't really count...
Thursday
8pm - 9pm
ABC - My Generation
CBS - Big Bang Theory/$#*! My Dad Says
CW - Vampire Diaries
Fox - Bones
NBC - Community/30 Rock
Most surprising move of this timeslot is 30 Rock's appearance, although that does make for a great hour of comedy for NBC... But will it be enough to withstand CBS' bid for comedy dominance with the move of Big Bang Theory and new William Shatner-starring Twitter-inspired show $#*! My Dad Says? Meanwhile, both Bones and Vampire Diaries stay where they were, and ABC premieres a drama it claims is "the most ambitious show of the fall," My Generation, another mockumentary drama about a group of people 10 years after their high school graduation. Maybe it's all in the execution.
9pm - 10pm
ABC - Grey's Anatomy
CBS - CSI
CW - Nikita
Fox - Fringe
NBC - The Office/Outsourced
ABC, CBS and Fox stay as before, while NBC adds new workplace comedy Outsourced (about a call center in India; today's likelihood for potential of unfortunate racial stereotyping: High) and the CW unveils Nikita, its new action series starring the wonderful Maggie Q as an assassin gone rogue and on the run from her former handlers. I smell potential breakout potential... or as breakout as the CW can manage.
10pm - 11pm
ABC - Private Practice
CBS - The Mentalist
CW - Local affiliate
Fox - Local affiliate
NBC - Love Bites
ABC and CBS bring back old favorites, while NBC debuts Love Bites, a new anthology series about love and romance created by a former Sex & The City writer. I hope it succeeds, if only because I really like its star, Ugly Betty's Becki Newton (What? I liked Ugly Betty, I admit it).
Friday
8pm - 9pm
ABC - Secret Millionaire
CBS - Medium
CW - Smallville
Fox - Human Target
NBC - Who Do You Think You Are? (Later: School Pride)
All of these shows are the walking dead. In Smallville's case, literally, as we already know this is the last season for the show. I'm holding out hope - potentially futile, I admit - that Human Target pulls off some wonderful comeback and beats the curse of Fox Friday Night shows.
9pm - 10pm
ABC - Body of Proof
CBS - CSI: NY
CW - Supernatural
Fox - The Good Guys
NBC - Dateline NBC
First off, don't expect The Good Guys to stay there long, if it even makes it to the fall; the ratings on this week's preview episode were not good, and I wouldn't be surprised if the show gets canceled before its summer season is done. Supernatural moves from Thursdays, which can't be too good for them, but there are rumors that this will join Smallville in the intentionally-final-season stakes, so perhaps it doesn't matter. The real loser in this timeslot may be ABC's Body of Proof, a new forensics show starring Dana Delaney as a bitter medical examiner; even if it's as CSI: House as it sounds, no show deserves to be launched on a night when no-one's watching.
10pm - 11pm
ABC - 20/20
CBS - Blue Bloods
CW - Local affiliate
Fox - Local affiliate
NBC - Outlaw
While ABC does its usual thing, CBS is launching Blue Bloods, a new "dark" drama about a family of cops starring Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg and NBC has Outlaw, featuring Jimmy Smits as a Supreme Court lawyer who quits his highly-paid position to stand up for the little guy. Considering the timeslot, both shows may be DOA, although I'm hoping they profit from lowered expectations.