ABC’s hot fall lineup

ABC drastically changes its fall schedule to capitalize on its success and to continue its… ABC drastically changes its fall schedule to capitalize on its success and to continue its forward momentum in the ratings. Two years ago ABC had the breakout of “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost,” then “Grey’s Anatomy” surpassed the success of “Housewives” after the Super Bowl.

For the past two years, ABC has been unbeatable on Sunday nights. But this fall its separating “Housewives” and “Grey’s” in an attempt to jumpstart a new night. With “Grey’s” moving to Thursdays at 9 p.m. (yes, network executives love to schedule all your favorite shows at once), that leaves Sunday at 10 wide open.

ABC knows that viewers expect to see a skinny heroine with dirty blonde hair on Sunday nights, and with Meredith Grey packing up and moving to Thursdays, ABC is turning to the mother of all skinny heroines with dirty blonde hair: Calista Flockhart.

The former “Ally McBeal” star returns to network television in “Brothers ‘ Sisters” (not to be confused with the cancelled “Sons and Daughters”). The show has a similar lighthearted-drama feel that “Grey’s” does, and viewers are used to watching ABC on Sunday nights. So as long as “Brothers ‘ Sisters” is half as good as the preview made it seem, then ABC shouldn’t lose too many viewers.

Over the past few seasons, ABC struggled with its Thursday night lineup. “Alias” anchored Thursday nights last season, but the show was never a huge ratings winner, and before that ABC didn’t even seem to be trying. Expect that to change with “Grey’s Anatomy” moving to Thursdays at 9, two promising new sitcoms in the 8 o’clock hour and a new show from “Lost” creator JJ Abrams.

“Big Day,” starring Wendie Malick (“Just Shoot Me”), Marla Sokoloff (“The Practice”) and Josh Cooke (“Four Kings”), kicks off the night. The show will take a year to cover the wedding day of a young couple. Expect lots of little things to turn into big things.

“Notes from the Underbelly” follows “Big Day” at 8:30 and focuses on a couple who decides to have a baby and how their friends and family deal with their pregnancy.

“Notes” is a lot darker than “Big” and that may turn off viewers. The shows were probably put together because they each deal with big events in life, but they may not be compatible because of the drastically different tone of each show.

ABC could have trouble getting audiences to tune in because it doesn’t have an established lead-in, and they’re airing against NBC’s strongest comedies: “My Name is Earl” and “The Office.” Hopefully both shows will be given a chance to find an audience and not cancelled immediately like “Emily’s Reasons Why Not” and “Jake in Progress” were last season.

“Grey’s Anatomy” faces “CSI,” “The O.C.” and “Deal or No Deal” at 9. “Grey’s” probably won’t lose too many viewers to “CSI” because the shows are drastically different and “Grey’s” has been steadily getting a larger audience, while “CSI” lost some of its audience last season.

Having “Grey’s” at 9 also gives ABC a 10 o’clock launch pad for a new show, which is where Abrams’ new show “Six Degrees” comes in. “Six Degrees” takes the six degrees of separation idea and makes it into a one-hour drama.

The online trailer and description played a lot like the Oscar-winning film “Crash,” and while it may be interesting to see the way that a stranger’s actions can affect someone else’s life, it may also be a little too much concept and not enough content.

Abrams has proved with both “Alias” and “Lost” that he can take extreme situations and make audiences care about the characters more than their predicament, but this show might suffer from him spreading himself too thin. He currently has “Lost” and “What About Brian” on the air, and it’s hard to have several shows running at once; ask David E. Kelly (“Ally McBeal,” “The Practice,” “Boston Public,” “girls club”).

ABC is trying to make their Friday night schedule female-friendly with two new dramedies, one from Salma Hayek, and the other from the head writer of “Sex and the City.”

“Betty the Ugly” is a Latino television transplant that stars America Ferrera (“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) as an overweight, unfashionable girl trying to make it in the world of fashion magazines. The concept bears a striking resemblance to book-turned-star-studded film “The Devil Wears Prada.” The success of the movie could either cause people to watch and love the show, or could make it look like a watered-down version of the movie.

“Men in Trees,” which runs after “Betty,” seems to be “Sex and the City” minus the city, friends and disposable male characters. Anne Heche (“Everwood”) stars as a famous relationship coach who finds out her fiancee is cheating on her while she’s on a trip to Alaska. She extends her stay in the male-heavy Alaskan wilderness so she can “find herself.”

“Betty” and “Men” have the talent behind them to become hits, but Friday is a night on which very few people watch television. NBC tried a similar romantic comedy night stunt a few years ago with Alicia Silverstone and “Miss Match,” and we haven’t seen Silverstone since. While the networks have lower viewer expectations, they will probably end up canceling one of the shows and moving the other in an attempt to save it.

ABC’s biggest change is on Tuesday night. With “Dancing with the Stars” moving to 8 on Tuesday, and “George Lopez” and “According to Jim” premiering midseason, ABC will try to jumpstart two new sitcoms in the post-“Stars” timeslot.

“Let’s Rob…” is about a group of working class people who decide they want to rob Mick Jagger’s house to finance their dreams. Donal Logue (“Grounded for Life”) stars as the ringleader and Jagger makes appearances as himself (apparently he decided he wanted to try a sitcom).

Overall “Let’s Rob…” seems to be trying to cash in on the same goodhearted-but-flawed-characters-on-a-mission concept that made “My Name is Earl” a success. With no other comedies in the same timeslot and with a solid lead-in, people might stick around.

“Help Me Help You” finishes out the 9 o’clock hour and stars sitcom veteran Ted Danson. He plays a self-help author leading group therapy sessions. Danson’s name should bring some viewers in, but if “Let’s Rob…” can’t keep the “Dancing” viewers, then “Help” is in trouble.

ABC’s final new show is “The Nine,” which bears a striking similarity to “Lost” in that it’s about a group of strangers who are brought together during a bank robbery and their stories are shown in flashbacks.

“The Nine” airs after “Lost” and it seems like the creators went out of their way to make the shows as similar as possible. First they cast Scott Wolf, the other guy from “Party of Five,” then they made him a doctor, and then they gave him a tough brunette love interest. Hopefully viewers will be able to handle two consecutive hours of former “Party of Five” stars.

Overall ABC has a really strong schedule, with a lot of star power both in front of and behind the cameras. Sunday and Wednesday night will continue to be strong in the ratings, and they’ll be competitive, if not dominating, on Thursday nights. The new Friday schedule will need to be retooled because of low viewer turnout and competition from “Ghost Whisperer” and “Close to Home.”

The weakest night on ABC’s new schedule is Monday nights. “Wife Swap” does decently on a consistent basis, but “The Bachelor” hasn’t performed well over the last two seasons, and that leads into the great, but underwatched, “What About Brian.” “Brian” was a surprise pickup for the fall, and unless “The Bachelor” finds more viewers, the entire Monday lineup could be cancelled.

The new crop of shows also looks promising. “Brothers ‘ Sisters,” “The Nine” and “Betty the Ugly” seem to mesh the best with ABC’s current schedule. “Big Day” and “Notes from the Underbelly” will probably have a small but loyal following and get cancelled, while “Let’s Rob…” and “Help Me Help You,” the more traditional multi-camera formulaic sitcoms, will stick thanks to their cushy timeslots.