CBS Eyes Fall

After floating the sacrilegious idea (to Wallace) of launching a second, weekly edition of 60 Minutes, CBS decided to keep things simple for fall 1998--like introducing a new series from the makers of Nash Bridges!

The second-place, older-skewing network unveiled an Ensure-friendly lineup Wednesday that politely shows the door to the likes of Bryant Gumbel, Tom Selleck and Jane Seymour, and quietly welcomes seven new series--four dramas and three sitcoms. CBS is also banking on the return of pro football to bring in more males and younger viewers to the network.

Hopefully (for CBS), the incoming shows will fare better than last fall's freshmen. Not a one of those programs survived today's cut, including Gumbel news mag Public Eye, George & Leo and David Caruso's fizzled comeback, Michael Hayes.

Also off the CBS roster were several high-profile, star-driven vehicles the network had been developing: Melanie Griffith's sitcom, Me and Henry; John Larroquette's Fawlty Towers remake, titled Payne; and Arsenio Hall's buddy cop show, Skip Chasers.

Here's a night-by-night rundown of CBS' 1998-99 TV schedule: MONDAY: Cosby leads off the night at 8; The King of Queens, a new sitcom about a lovably loud extended New York family, lands at 8:30; network fave Everybody Loves Raymond moves to the key 9 p.m. slot; The Benben Show, a new comedy series starring Dream On graduate Brian Benben, checks in at 9:30; L.A. Docs, the unimaginatively titled new drama series about Los Angeles-based doctors with thirtysomething's Ken Olin, debuts at 10.

TUESDAY: JAG returns at 8; CBS plugs the 9 to 11 time slots with TV movies.

WEDNESDAY: The Nanny staves off cancellation to whine again at 8; Maggie Winters, a new sitcom about a plucky divorcée played by Murphy Brown's Faith Ford, bows at 8:30; To Have and to Hold, a romantic drama about a cop and a lawyer, weighs in at 9; long-running Chicago Hope is back at 10.

THURSDAY: Returning feel-good drama Promised Land at 8; returning geriatric mystery show Diagnosis Murder at 9; returning news mag 48 Hours at 10.

FRIDAY: Bill Cosby continues as host of Kids Say the Darndest Things at 8; midseason replacement Candid Camera clicks at 8:30; Buddy Faro, a new drama about (stop, if you've heard this before) a tough-guy P.I., with Crime Story's Dennis Farina, roughs up things at 9; Nash Bridges inexplicably returns at 10.

SATURDAY: Early Edition at 8; Martial Law, a new martial arts action-drama from (yes!) the creator of Nash Bridges, at 9; Walker, Texas Ranger at 10.

SUNDAY: 60 Minutes back for its 31st season at 7; Touched by an Angel wings it at 8; the typically top-rated CBS Sunday Movie serves up tearjerkers from 9 to 11.

Notable shows that didn't make the cut (given the ax): Seymour's once-popular Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; Steven Bochco cop drama Brooklyn South; Selleck's The Closer; Cybill; The Gregory Hines Show; and The Magnificent Seven.

The new schedule also means the end for two ex-ABC shows salvaged last spring by the eyeball net: Step by Step, stumbling after seven seasons; and Family Matters, divorcing itself from prime time after nine Urkel-fied seasons.

It's believed that both a second edition of 60 Minutes and Public Eye could return to CBS as midseason replacements.

Among the prime-time specials planned by CBS for the new season: a four-hour miniseries based on author E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime, a novel that's already proved good source material for a 1981 movie and a current Broadway musical.