By Paul Thomasch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - CBS Corp unveiled three new dramas and
two comedies for its fall prime-time lineup on Wednesday, with
executives promising more laughs and female faces from a
network known for its popular crime dramas.
In rolling out five new shows for the fall, CBS, which
often trumpets the stability of its lineup, introduced far more
changes than Walt Disney Co's ABC after a development season
that created headaches because it was cut short by a 14-week
screenwriters' strike.
News Corp's Fox will take the wraps off its 2008-09
schedule on Thursday, while General Electric Co's NBC did so
last month, in a departure from the traditional announcement
during the so-called "upfront week" in May.
Next, over the coming weeks, the broadcast networks will
get down to signing around $9 billion worth of commercial deals
with advertisers for the new season.
At CBS, perennially the most watched network but one that
often struggles to attract the younger viewers coveted by
advertisers, executives added to the schedule dramas "The
Mentalist," "Eleventh Hour," and "The Ex List," along with
comedies "Worst Week" and "Project Gary."
"When the strike was done, the day after, we hit the ground
running," Chief Executive Les Moonves said at a news
conference. "The compressed development schedule forced people
to concentrate more and work harder."
ROLES FOR WOMEN
Another executive, CBS Entertainment President Nina
Tassler, said the network sought to add more and bigger roles
for women to its lineup, which is best known for its "CSI"
crime series, comedies "Two and a Half Men" and "How I Met Your
Mother," and the long-running reality series "Survivor."
