CBS tries to replace "Raymond"; ABC gloats over good year

NEW YORK (AP) _ NBC didn't have much luck replacing television's most popular comedy when ``Friends'' ended last year. CBS now faces the same challenge with the departure of ``Everybody

Wednesday, May 18th 2005, 7:39 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ NBC didn't have much luck replacing television's most popular comedy when ``Friends'' ended last year. CBS now faces the same challenge with the departure of ``Everybody Loves Raymond.''

CBS, the most stable and popular broadcast network, will unveil its new fall schedule Wednesday. ``Two and a Half Men'' is the odds-on favorite to move into the Monday time slot occupied by ``Raymond'' until this week's finale.

Fans of ``Joan of Arcadia'' are waiting to see if the spiritual drama is picked up for a third season. It was a surprise hit on Friday nights its first year but slumped badly this season with darker story lines.

The Wednesday edition of ``60 Minutes'' is also threatened with cancellation. It sank in the ratings this year and was also the broadcast where CBS's ill-fated report on President Bush's military service aired.

Both ABC and the WB networks detailed their fall plans Tuesday, with ABC unable to resist a little gloating.

The success of ``Desperate Housewives,'' ``Lost,'' ``Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' and ``Grey's Anatomy'' fueled a dramatic 17 percent ratings increase among viewers aged 18-to-49, the group advertisers pay a premium for.

``ABC has undergone an amazing transformation, going from the fat kid who eats paste _ as Jimmy Kimmel put it last year _ to being back in the game,'' said Anne Sweeney, president of the ABC Television Group.

ABC rolled a clip of Laura Bush referencing ``Desperate Housewives'' while speaking at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. The show's stars, dressed in evening gowns, danced onstage at Lincoln Center behind creator Marc Cherry, who sung a song in black tie and tails.

The cast received a standing ovation _ led by the section where parent Walt Disney Corp. executives were sitting.

``'Lost' is a big hit,'' Kimmel said during a stand-up routine. ``Why not put Regis on the island and run it five nights a week?''

Advertisers howled at the reference to ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,'' which ABC ran into the ground by airing it too much, leading to the network's collapse early this decade.

ABC will introduce five series in the fall. They include ``Commander-in-Chief,'' a drama where Geena Davis portrays the president, and the sitcom ``Freddie,'' where Freddie Prinze Jr. is surrounded with women.

ABC's hot Sunday lineup went untouched. Otherwise, network entertainment chief Stephen McPherson did so much shuffling that viewers will have to check program guides this fall: ``Alias'' switches to Thursday, ``George Lopez'' to Wednesday, ``Boston Legal'' to Tuesday and ``Supernanny'' to Friday. One of its biggest new hits _ ``Lost'' _ moves back an hour to 9 p.m. Wednesday and ``According to Jim'' moves up an hour to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

ABC canceled the Damon Wayans comedy ``My Wife and Kids'' and ``8 Simple Rules,'' which survived two years following the death of star John Ritter. ``Blind Justice'' and ``Extreme Makeover'' were also axed. ``Less Than Perfect'' will return in midseason.

The new drama ``Invasion'' is about a sneaky alien attack and is ``a big show in the vein of 'Lost,' in terms of high concept and being noisy and exciting,'' McPherson said.

September's schedule will also include ``Hot Properties,'' a comedy about four women who work in a Manhattan real estate office, and a remake of the short-lived 1970s occult series ``Kolchak: The Night Stalker.''

``Let me be clear,'' McPherson said. ``This is a comeback in progress. We are building our shows and rebuilding our relationships with viewers.''

The youth-obsessed WB network unveiled a schedule heavily dependent on stars from another era such as Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson (not together) and Fran Drescher.

In ``Just Legal,'' Johnson is cast as an alcohol-soaked lawyer who teams with an 18-year-old whiz kid. Griffith plays a ditzy mom in the situation comedy ``Twins.'' Drescher's cradle-robbing comedy ``Living with Fran,'' a midseason success, returns on Friday nights.

The WB, long a network favored by teenage girls, is trying to broaden its audience, said Garth Ancier, its chairman. Still, the WB repeatedly flashed the motto ``Be Young'' on screens during Tuesday's presentation to advertisers, and the midseason fare includes a drama about attractive college students in a sexuality class.

Other new fall series are ``Related,'' a drama about four sisters created by a former ``Friends'' producer and ``Sex and the City'' writer, and ``Supernatural,'' about two brothers navigating a terror-filled world of the unexplained.

The WB canceled ``Steve Harvey's Big Time,'' ``Grounded for Life'' and the well-regarded series about battling brothers, ``Jack & Bobby.''