ABC's 2005-06 Lineup

What a difference a season makes! This time last year, ABC was being laughed off as the Abysmal Broadcasting Company and was considered a millstone around the neck of parent company Disney's CEO Michael Eisner. Now, thanks to "Lost," and "Desparate Housewives" (whose stars have, according to Bill Maher, "have replaced the 'Sex and the City' girls as America's lovable sluts!"), ABC is in second place. The alphabet network isn't exactly enjoying a repeat of the salad days in which Aaron Spelling and Garry Marshall created nearly the entire lineup, but it's better than being in last place. (Isn't that right, Jeff Zucker?)

Their earlier gambit to rebuild their ratings last season by emphasizing new sitcoms was a big honkin' failure, so this time ABC turned to scripted dramas, and this move clicked. Unsurprisingly, the network will have more shows of the sort - including "Commander-In-Chief," starring Geena Davis as America's first female president. Oh, yeah, that'll really play well in the red states!

Sitcoms aren't entirely gone from ABC's lineup, though. The network renewed "Less Than Perfect" for a fourth season - hmm, maybe I ought to check out his show in summer reruns! Gone for good, though, is "8 Simple Rules," which was part of ABC's long-term strategy to rebuild its lineup when the John Ritter sitcom debuted in 2002. Ironically, Ritter died a year later, so there was no reason to continue the series, but no one told the cast and crew that until they trudged on for another two seasons largely on ratings generated by respect for Ritter's memory.

Good news: "Complete Savages," depicting an all-male household as a bunch of complete animals, was a complete disaster and is completely gone. Bad news: "Hope and Faith," a show starring two actresses perkier and blonder than the average American woman, has been renewed for a third season.