CBS Fall: New Dramas, New Ellen

CBS unveiled its 2001-02 prime-time schedule Wednesday, featuring the déjà vu-style return of Ellen DeGeneres, five new dramas, a reality-adventure series and another Thursday night showdown led by Survivor and C.S.I..

All told, the Eye network is adding at least one new program to every night of the week except Monday--opting not to mess with success on its Everybody Loves Raymond-powered comedy lineup.

Gone from the schedule (sniff, sniff) are Diagnosis Murder, The Fugitive, Kate Brasher, Nash Bridges and Walker, Texas Ranger. But CBS has decided to save That's Life--once thought doomed, the drama starring Heather Paige Kent will move to a completely reconfigured Friday night lineup immediately following two new sitcoms, DeGeneres' The Ellen Show and American Wreck, starring Daniel Stern (City Slickers).

Other notables: CBS will be the only network with an official Sunday night movie next season; The network is moving 48 Hours out of Thursday nights, replacing the news mag with The Agency, a new thriller starring former Ally McBeal costar Gil Bellows (which execs hope will give ER a little more competition); And long-running series Touched By An Angel is taking flight from Sunday nights, heading to a lower-profile slot on Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Here's a brief look at CBS' new shows:

The Guardian: Simon Baker (L.A. Confidential) stars as a hotshot, cold-hearted lawyer who's values are thrown into a tailspin when he's stuck doing community service at a child advocacy office following a drug arrest. Dabney Coleman costars as his lawyer father--and anytime the erstwhile Slap Maxwell is involved, can it be that bad?
The Amazing Race: Travel Channel personality Phil Keoghan hosts this "Survivor-on-wheels" reality game show, in which 11 teams compete against each other in a 25,000-mile race around the world. No planes allowed.
Wolf Lake: Lou Diamond Phillips (once named as a possible replacement for David Duchovny on The X-Files) jumps into his own sci-fi drama set in the Pacific Northwest. The series, costarring Tim Matheson (The West Wing), revolves around a pack of wolves "living in human form in the small Seattle suburb of Wolf Lake." The truth, presumably, is out there.
The Agency: Gil Bellows makes his post-Ally McBeal debut in this drama from Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm) about a team of "highly skilled" CIA agents "who put their lives on the line to preserve the safety of the nation." Sounds a bit more thrilling than dancing around to Vonda Shepard tunes, doesn't it?
The Ellen Show: DeGeneres is back, this time in a sitcom about an Internet executive (yes, apparently in TV land there are some of those left) who bails on her big-city life and moves back home. Cloris Leachman costars as Ellen's mom, Emily Rutherfurd plays her ditzy sister, Martin Mull is her old high school teacher and Jim Gaffigan plays Ellen's senior prom date.
American Wreck: Daniel Stern stars as a single father who runs a local community center, which Stern's character built from a couple of abandoned warehouse buildings.
Citizen Baines: James Cromwell (Babe, L.A. Confidential) stars in the new John Wells drama as three-term U.S. Senator Elliott Baines, who returns to Seattle after losing his bid for re-election. In what could be described as a mix between Empty Nest and The West Wing, Baines comes home to three grown-up daughters, one of whom is thinking about her own career in politics.
The Education of Max Bickford: Richard Dreyfuss heads to TV in a Mr. Holland's Opus-type drama about the trials and tribulations of college professor Max Bickford. Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden costars as a former student of Max's (with whom he had an affair) who's now a teacher at the all-girl Chadwick College.

CBS also announced one midseason entry, First Monday, one of two Supreme Court dramas set to hit the small screen. While ABC is pushing Sally Field's The Court, CBS has one from Donald Bellisario (JAG, Quantum Leap) starring Joe Mantegna and James Garner.

CBS President Les Moonves also sought to assure advertisers that Survivor won't be a fleeting stunt when it debuts this fall, saying Survivor 4 will follow in the winter--combining for a grand total of 28 original hours of programming next season. Meanwhile, the network took plenty of jabs at its competition, most notably NBC's new schedule and its upcoming sitcom featuring star chef Emeril Lagasse.

"I love Emeril's restaurant. And as an actor, I'm sure he's a wonderful cook," Moonves cracked.

The following is a night-by-night look at the network's fall schedule:

MONDAY: The King of Queens; Yes, Dear; Everybody Loves Raymond; Becker; Family Law
TUESDAY: JAG; The Guardian; Judging Amy
WEDNESDAY: 60 Minutes II; The Amazing Race; Wolf Lake
THURSDAY: Survivor; C.S.I.; The Agency
FRIDAY: The Ellen Show, American Wreck; That's Life; 48 Hours
SATURDAY: Touched by an Angel; Citizen Baines; The District
SUNDAY: 60 Minutes; The Education of Max Bickford; CBS Sunday Movie

(updated at 3 p.m. PT)