Spring's in the Airwaves for ABC

ABC orders new eps of "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Ugly Betty," among others, to fill remainder of season

By Gina Serpe Feb 20, 2008 10:38 PMTags

The doctors—not to mention the lawyers, housewives, fashion editors and comely amnesiacs—are in.

The holistic doctors—not to mention a corpse-resurrecting private investigator and one of New York's wealthiest and most dysfunctional families—are out. For now, anyway.

ABC on Wednesday became the last of the big four networks to announce its prime-time plans for what's left of the 2007-08 TV season, revealing that seven of its most popular scripted series are back in production and ready to fill the gaping weeknight hours.

Grey's Anatomy, Boston Legal, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Samantha Who? and Brothers & Sisters are joining the still-airing Lost and resuming production in the wake of the debilitating writers' strike, with new episodes beginning in April and running through May sweeps.

Lost , which premiered in the midseason, is the only one of those series which is still airing original episodes. ABC has ordered five more original episodes, bringing the season total to 13, just shy of the original order of 16.

Although Lost was able to move time slots to Thursdays at 9 p.m., thanks to rival networks' juggernauts forced into reruns due to the strike, ABC is quitting while it's ahead with the island series, pushing it back to Thursdays at 10 p.m. starting Apr. 24.

Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy will also have new installments airing on Apr. 24, the first of five new episodes apiece.

The Christina Applegate-starring Samantha Who? will be the first to return to ABC's airwaves with original shows, coming back on Apr. 7 with six brand-new episodes.

Boston Legal follows on Apr. 8, with William Shatner, James Spader & Co. also returning with six original episodes.

The ladies of Wisteria Lane are back with the first of five new episodes of Desperate Housewives beginning Apr. 13, while Brothers & Sisters comes back with four new episodes on Apr. 20.

ABC announced earlier this month that nine series have been given early renewal for the 2008-09 TV season. However, Wednesday's announcement indicated that three of those shows won't be back in production this season.

Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money, while safe and secure in their renewals, will not be returning until the fall.