Prime-time schedule has a familiar look this fall

You know all those frayed and tattered tires turning up in such abundance alongside the highways these days? One of them could have been the 2007-2008 TV season.

The 100-day writers strike produced a blowout for the major broadcast networks at midseason last winter. The work stoppage not only interrupted series, but truncated development season in the spring, when the networks are usually producing pilot episodes of aspiring shows for the next fall.

The end result of that has been twofold. Without as many new shows to pick from, the major broadcast networks have been more likely to renew bubble shows that might otherwise have been canceled. That's been a blessing for challenging shows that were slow to build an audience, like Barry Sonnenfeld's beautiful "Pushing Daisies" on ABC, but it's also saved shows that would have been better off dead, like NBC's "Life" and ABC's "Eli Stone." Lazarus, come fourth - but better not in the Nielsen ratings.

The other major fallout has been that, without any actual new ideas for programs, the networks have recycled the old. "Knight Rider" and "Beverly Hills 90210" are both back in updated incarnations, and there are also several shows based on overseas imports, such as CBS' "Worst Week" and "Life on Mars," ABC's "Eleventh Hour" and NBC's "Kath & Kim."

That has produced a fall season that looks awfully familiar, but also somewhat shoddy - a TV retread. There will be times this fall when the prime-time schedule seems to be déjà vu all over again. It will probably be midwinter before the 2008-2009 TV season takes on an identifiable character of its own. Yet there are still a few new roadside attractions out there, and with that in mind let's take a spin through the TV week as it appears at the start of the season on Monday, after the Emmy Awards bring last season to a formal close Sunday night.

Monday

With a couple of exceptions, this night looks very much as it did at various times last season. Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" launched strong last winter, but then seemed to run low on power. It's back nonetheless paired with the like-minded chase-and-pursuit series "Prison Break." CBS is adding the stoopid slapstick comedy "Worst Week" to its Monday sitcom lineup, but how long before its pratfalls involving an ill-fated fiance grow tiresome? NBC brings Christian Slater to TV as an average Joe who somehow doesn't even know he's a superspy in "My Own Worst Enemy" and teams it with "Heroes" and "Chuck," but what if audience erosion and high concept continue to undercut "Heroes?" NBC honchos Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff are already said to have their jobs in jeopardy.

Tuesday

Having started the week with "Dancing With the Stars," ABC airs the results show Tuesday after "Opportunity Knocks," a family-oriented reality game show, then tosses in the insipid "Eli Stone." Likewise, having started the week with "Gossip Girl," the CW network follows it on Tuesday with the new incarnation of "90210" (which has provided a better area code for "The Wire" child star Tristan Wilds if little else) and the even more insipid drama "Privileged." CBS brings back studmuffin Simon Baker as someone so observant he appears to be psychic in "The Mentalist," but even that looks familiar as a mordant ripoff of USA's more playful "Psych." Better is J.J. Abrams' "Fringe," airing at 8 p.m. on WFLD Channel 32, with Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv confronting a mutual attraction as they try to deal with his crackpot genius father, who has the keys to a global conspiracy known as "the pattern."

Wednesday

The good news is the gorgeously quirky "Pushing Daisies" is back at 7 p.m. on ABC's WLS Channel 7, but the bad news is so is "Knight Rider," revving its engines at the same time on NBC's WMAQ Channel 5. Fox's "Bones" will have to find an audience somewhere in between, but it always has, although it will get no help from the following old "'Til Death" and the even worse new "Do not Disturb." CBS' Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitcom "The New Adventures of Old Christine" fights for ratings in there as well, teamed with the new sitcom "Gary Unmarried," starring Jay Mohr and Paula Marshall as a newly divorced couple. They both deserve a hit, but to that end I'd rather see them together. ABC's "Private Practice" and "Dirty Sexy Money" and NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" all return for the lack of anything better in the network cupboards. The CW brings back "America's Next top Model" and pairs it with the new reality competition "Stylista." MyNetworkTV mostly relies on wrestling and reality as programming this season, but it does bring back Flavor Flav's "Under one Roof" at 8:30 p.m. on WPWR Channel 50.

Thursday

Everything new is actually old and imported on this night - like aged cheese. NBC tries to brighten up its take on the boorish Australian sitcom "Kath & Kim" by casting Molly Shannon as the star, but if you put lipstick on a crummy show it's still a crummy show and figures to be the worst of the "Comedy Night Done Right" entries. At 9, ABC's "Life on Mars" and CBS' "Eleventh Hour" are both remakes of British series, the former about a detective transported back to the '70s (yeah, right), the latter about a crime-solving eccentric genius. NBC's "ER" may yet go out as the timeslot's ratings champ as it trots all its old cast through for sentimental swan songs in its final season.

Friday

A couple of series that barely survived are being dumped on this night, but one of them seems to belong here. The CW finally gives families something to watch again at 7 p.m. on the weekend by moving "Everybody Hates Chris" there on WGN Channel 9. Chris Rock's sitcom might well enjoy its best season and a taste of actual success. Not so for NBC's "Life," playing out its overextended run at 9 p.m. on Channel 5. Two new dramas battle for different audiences at 8. "The Ex List" on CBS imagines an attractive woman who believes it when a fortune teller informs her that, if she's looking for true love, she's already found it in one of the men she's previously rejected. (For this they canceled "Moonlight," just when vampires were back and trendy again?) NBC's "Crusoe," yes about Robinson Crusoe, tries to play it both ways as a period drama with a modern-day sensibility. Did I already suggest that NBC's top programmers are in jeopardy?

Saturday

Once again the major networks more or less punt this night on the schedule, as their entertainment-conglomerate film-studio siblings would rather you went to the movies.

Sunday

Still waiting around for something new, daring and actually entertaining? It might be there in the CW's "Valentine," which finds Greek gods toying with the love lives of L.A. singles at 7 p.m. on Channel 9. You can't say you've seen that before - at least not until ABC revives "Cupid" at midseason. (Hey, if Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall couldn't make it work, who can?) Even so, it's the only new show of the night - and it might be the only worthwhile new show of the season. We'll just have to see.

• Ted Cox writes Tuesday and Thursday in L&E and Friday in Sports and Time out!