The ABC Fall Schedule, 2004-05. Click on the graphic above for more info.

There’s something decidedly anti-climactic and mildly dispiriting about the announcements of the fall television schedules — or should that read: ‘soon to be cancelled shows’ — for the major U.S. networks. For its part, ABC is doing everything it can to wrest itself from the bowels of the ratings basement. But what has new head honcho Stephen McPherson come up with? You can judge for yourself, but from VanRamblings’ vantage point, aside from the humour that the Defamer brings to the situation …

ABC’s doing its part to make sure laughter stays dead by reducing their comedy load and by bringing back According to Jim, My Wife and Kids, and George Lopez. In any case, look for ABC to suffer another season in the toilet, looking up at Fox’s pimply, third place ass.

there’s not that much, unless you’re excited about the prospect of six more hours of barely watchable, so-called ‘reality’ programming, a spinoff of The Practice starring William Shatner, or a new series titled Lost, about the survivors of a plane crash stranded on a remote island.
Want to know what others are saying about ABC’s Fall Schedule? Not much, but here goes anyway. Zap2it.com offers this, while Gary Levin at USA Today writes about ABC’s reality heavy programming.
David Bauder, writing for the Associated Press, and Bill Carter and Stuart Elliott, writing in the New York Times’ Business section, compare the ABC and WB new fall schedules, while Kimberly Potts, at E-online, bemoans the loss of Alias this fall (not to worry, Kim, it’ll be back mid-season).
For the remaining fall television schedules for the major U.S. networks, click on the following direct VanRamblings’ links: CBS, NBC, the WB, and FOX.

Click on the graphic above for more info on NBC’s fall schedule

From the Defamer: Happy to derive its laughs from aspiring actors devouring the genitalia of dead animals on Fear Factor and from hopeless nerds trying to lay third-place beauty pageant contestants on Average Joe, NBC’s fall schedule will go light on the sitcoms.
The only new comedies on NBC will be the animated, Siegfried and Roy-inspired (and, disappointingly, mauling-free) Father of the Pride, and Friends spinoff Joey. NBC head Jeff Zucker is banking on Joey to deliver big ratings numbers in the Friends timeslot; if it falters, expect Matt LeBlanc to ingest a yak labia just before each commercial break.
For a somewhat less catty take on NBC’s proposed 2004-05 television season read Daniel Fienberg at Zap2it.com, who writes that the motto for NBC’s upcoming season ought to be ‘Comedy Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’.
Gary Levin, at USA Today, indicates that NBC seems to not to have much faith in their coming season, given the large number of mid-season replacements that are on order.
Kimberly Potts at E-Online offers this, while Lisa de Moraes, at The Washington Post, suggests that the proper way to appreciate NBC’s fall schedule would be to have a stiff drink in hand.
For the remaining fall television schedules for the major U.S. networks, click on the following direct VanRamblings’ links: ABC, FOX, the WB, and CBS.