Upfront Watch: ABC

I'll get to last night's "HIMYM" and "Heroes" in a bit, but ABC just wrapped up their upfront press conference, so I'll do some quick analysis of that. If you have a PDF reader, you can read the whole press release here, but I'll put in the basic schedule after the jump...

MONDAY: 8:00 p.m. �Dancing with the Stars�
9:30 p.m. �Sam I Am� (new comedy series)
10:00 p.m. �The Bachelor�

TUESDAY: 8:00 p.m. �Cavemen� (new comedy series)
8:30 p.m. �Carpoolers� (new comedy series)
9:00 p.m. �Dancing with the Stars the Results Show�
10:00 p.m. �Boston Legal�

WEDNESDAY: 8:00 p.m. �Pushing Daisies� (new drama series)
9:00 p.m. �Private Practice� (new drama series)
10:00 p.m. �Dirty Sexy Money� (new drama series)

THURSDAY: 8:00 p.m. �Ugly Betty�
9:00 p.m. �Grey�s Anatomy�
10:00 p.m. �Big Shots� (new drama series)

FRIDAY: 8:00 p.m. �MEN IN TREES�
9:00 p.m. �Women�s Murder Club� (new drama series)
10:00 p.m. �20/20�

SATURDAY: 8:00 p.m. �Saturday Night College Football�

SUNDAY: 7:00 p.m. �America�s Funniest Home Videos�
8:00 p.m. �Extreme Makeover: Home Edition�
9:00 p.m. �Desperate Housewives�
10:00 p.m. �Brothers & Sisters�

�Cashmere Mafia,� �Notes from the Underbelly� and �October Road� will premiere after �Dancing with the Stars� and �The Bachelor� conclude their fall seasons.

So, some initial thoughts:

• Once again, ABC is throwing a ton of new product on in the fall, despite being one of the stronger networks. It shows how much of their strength is concentrated in a handful of shows, primarily on Sunday, Monday and Thursday. Programming three original dramas on the same night -- even if one of them is a "Grey's Anatomy" spin-off -- is a really risky move.
  
• Of all ABC's pre-existing comedies, who woulda thunk that "Notes from the Underbelly" would be the only survivor? McPherson said "Knights of Prosperity" came close to renewal, but they couldn't find a place for it. On the plus side, "According to Jim" is now dead, dead, DEAD. With the much better "King of Queens" having gone off the air last night, is this the last we'll see of the "Fat oaf with hot wife" sitcom?
  
• "Private Practice" is still a lousy title, but no worse, I suppose, than "Boston Legal."
  
• I'm not as big a Bryan Fuller fan as some (I've liked his work on other people's shows, like the "Company Man" episode of "Heroes," but "Wonderfalls" and "Dead Like Me" both felt like they were trying too hard), but "Pushing Daisies" sounds cool. And I'll watch anything Chris Titus does at least once (except maybe "Killer Klowns from Outer Space"), which means "Big Shots" will be near the top of my pilot pile when it arrives.
• Either the scathing Ain't It Cool? review of "Cavemen" was way off, or this is a situation where McPherson feels the name recognition is too great to not try. Of course, that way lies "Emeril."
  
• I like Christina Applegate, but neither "Help Me Help You" nor "Big Day" did well airing after "Dancing" in the fall. I don't know that reality shows are good lead-ins to comedies -- but then, ABC has no returning comedies on the fall schedule to use as lead-ins.
  

Talk amongst yourselves. Gotta write up the two "H" shows.