ABC: “Commander-in-Chief” cast Geena Davis as president. “Invasion” has space aliens doing what they do best. “The Night Stalker” is a hip updating of the old supernatural series from the producers of “The X-Files.” “Freddie” is a sitcom starring colorless Freddie Prince as a guy named Freddie. “Hot Properties” is a sitcom about real estate set to air after “Hope & Faith”–so who cares? “Emily's Reasons Why,” a sitcom starring Heather Graham, and “What About Brian,” the third ABC series produced by J.J. Abrams (“Alias,” “Lost”), will both show up after “Monday Night Football” dies down.
CBS: “How I Met Your Mother” is a romantic sitcom narrated by Bob Sagat. “Close to Home” is a female-centric legal drama. “Out of Practice” has Henry Winkler playing doctor. “Criminal Minds” has FBI agents tracking dangerous criminals. In “Threshold,” Carla Gugino and Brent Spiner investigate a UFO that has crashed in the ocean. In “Ghost Whisperer,” Jennifer Love Hewitt is a newlywed who sees dead people–not that it's a rip-off of “Medium” or anything.
NBC: “E-Ring,” starring Dennis Hopper and Benjamin Bratt, takes us inside the Pentagon. “Fathom” has a bunch of oceanographers discovering a weird new lifeform hiding in the briney deep. “Inconceivable” is an ensemble drama set at a fertility clinic. “My Name is Earl” stars Jason Lee as a good-for-nothing who decides to make amends in his life. “Four Kings,” from the creators of “Will & Grace,” is a sitcom about four lifelong friends. “Thick & Thin” is a “comedy” about a former fat women who's now not. “Three Wishes” is NBC's attempt to replicate “Extreme Makeover,” a weepy show in which poor sad chumps get free stuff. “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart” needs no explanation.
FOX: FOX's dramas run the gamut, from forensic investigators (“Bones”) to cops (“The Gate”) to lawyers (“Head Cases”). The vaguely fresh concepts are “Prison Break,” an action series in which a guy goes to prison to help his unjustly accused brother break out, and “Reunion,” a soapy mystery centering on a group of high school friends reunited by an old pal's funeral. “The War at Home” has Michael Rapaport dad-ing it over a typical suburban brood. “Kitchen Confidential” is a very loose adaptation of Anthony Bourdain's hit culinary tell-all from the creators of “Sex and the City.”
WB: “Just Legal” is a lawyer drama starring Don Johnson. “Supernatural” is a drama about two brothers who travel around the country fighting paranormal forces. “Related” finds a group of sisters living in New York. The only new sitcom is “Twins,” starring Sara Gilbert (“Roseanne”) as one half of some mismatched twins.
UPN: How about the twentysomething soaper “Sex, Lies & Secrets” and the twentysomething soaper “South Beach”? Comedy-wise, we have the amusingly titled “Everybody Hates Chris,” based the childhood tribulations of comedian Chris Rock. Finally, Shannen Doherty plays a sexy female matchmaker in UPN's answer to “Miss Match,” titled “Love, Inc.”
