New TV about to blossom

So nothing caught your attention this fall? You don’t understand the “Heroes” hype,… So nothing caught your attention this fall? You don’t understand the “Heroes” hype, “Jericho” is mysteriously successful, “The Class” isn’t remotely amusing, you think “Shark” looks every other courtroom drama and nearly everything else is canceled.

Well, good news for jaded TV viewers: It’s March, which means that everything that wasn’t good enough in the fall – or “wasn’t ready,” to use a network euphemism – is coming out right about now. There will be everything from drama to comedy to reality, so there’s a chance something might stick around. It’s OK to be a little leery, but just remember that “Grey’s Anatomy” premiered in the spring and there is hope.

Monday nights feature two new shows that have already premiered. “The Black Donnellys” airs on NBC after “Heroes.” Yes, it took the place of “Studio 60,” but with a decent premise, this watered-down “Sopranos”/”Boondock Saints”-style show is at least worth a quick view. You can catch up on previous episodes at NBC.com.

CBS is sitting comfortably with most of its new shows picking up viewers, so the network only has one new show to bring to the air. CBS decided to stick with what it knows and go with a comfortable, marketable sitcom. David Spade’s “Rules of Engagement” flows nicely with the rest of the Monday-night comedy block, and although it’s not the best or most original show on the air, it’s good enough to keep most of the “Two and a Half Men” audience around.

Fox gave viewers a taste of the lives of wedding planners, and things don’t seem to be going so well. When “The Wedding Bells” premiered after “American Idol,” viewership dropped drastically after the move to Friday night. Looks like creator David E. Kelly has another “Girls Club” on his hands.

Fox will premier its new action/drama, “Drive,” on April 15, and it looks like a train wreck waiting to happen. The previews show little more than people speeding down highways while the announcer informs us that everyone has a reason to drive. Expect lots of explosions, shootouts, a convoluted plot and mediocre acting. Fox doesn’t exactly have the best track record with action shows centered on cars (Remember “Fastlane?” Didn’t think so).

Andy Richter takes yet another stab at network television with “Andy Barker P.I.” He’s joined by “Arrested Development” alum Tony Hale, almost destining the show to be on Bravo’s brilliant-but-canceled Web site. You can catch it Thursday nights as part of NBC’s comedy block.

Airing right after “Barker” is Jeff Goldblum’s foray into the television world, “Raines.” It’s part “Monk” and part “Medium.” Will it be The Quirky Show That Could or yet another Quirky Show That Annoyed Everyone Into Changing the Channel?

NBC also has a “Whose Line”-knockoff coming our way. “Thank God You’re Here” features comedy veterans like Nicole Sullivan (“Mad TV”), Jennifer Coolidge (“American Pie”) and Bryan Cranston (“Malcolm in the Middle”) in crazy costumes and crazy situations while improvising crazily. “Whose Line” lasted for several seasons, and NBC is betting that people will tune in to revisit the glory days of improv on April 9.

ABC’s new dramedy, “October Road,” looks nearly identical to “What About Brian,” except this show seems to know where it’s going and which tone to use. With the blessing/curse of airing after “Grey’s Anatomy,” it could see a second season if it manages to hold on to more than 60 percent of the top-rated show’s audience.

“Notes From the Underbelly,” a comedy about the lives of future parents, will show up April 11 after being delayed for seven months. We could assume that the show was just given a bit of time for polishing, but it’s more likely that ABC just wants to dump it in April. Don’t hold your breath for a second season.

Bad news for ABC’s thriller, “Traveler.” Originally it was set to premier in the winter, but then it was yanked to become a summer series. The last scripted summer series on network TV was NBC’s “Windfall,” and we all know how that turned out. Expect to not even know that “Traveler” is on the air.

There doesn’t seem to be another breakout hit in the works this spring, but who knows – maybe “Drive” will have a plot, or “Traveler” won’t get lost in the shuffle, or “Notes From the Underbelly” won’t be as poorly conceived as it looks. And maybe, just maybe, people will watch something that’s on NBC. It’s doubtful, but there’s always hope; just think of “Grey’s Anatomy” before ignoring spring shows.