Let’s face facts: There aren’t any new ideas on television anymore.
Just look over the list of new network shows that are scheduled to premiere starting this week, and you can probably see echoes of series past.
To prove it, here are descriptions of new shows, plus past shows to which they’re closely related. Because when it comes to Hollywood, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery — which makes this one flattering season. A word to the wise: The correlation between the new shows and their predecessors does not indicate whether that series is as good — or as bad — as the series after which it is patterned.
ABC (WLS-Ch. 7) “Sara” + “Something So Right” = “The Geena Davis Show,” Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. (premieres Oct. 10). Comedy with the Oscar-winner playing an older version of her TV character from the 1980s. She’s a career woman who marries a widower (Peter Horton of “thirtysomething”) with two kids.
“Marcus Welby, M.D.” + “Homicide: Life on the Street” = “Gideon’s Crossing,” Wednesdays, 9 p.m. (special preview Oct. 10; premieres Oct. 18). “Homicide” Emmy-winner Andre Braugher stars as a challenging, caring doctor specializing in experimental medicine in a teaching hospital.
“The Lone Gunmen” + “The Bob Newhart Show” = “The Trouble with Normal,” Fridays at 7:30 p.m. (premieres Friday). Comedy starring David Krumholtz and Brad Raider as pals who feel the world is against them and who join a therapy group. Possibly the first show to share a premise with a show that hasn’t come on the air yet in “Gunmen,” the “X-Files” spinoff about three conspiracy nuts.
“Bachelor Father” + “Sex and the City” = “Madigan Men,” 8:30 p.m. (premieres Friday). Comedy starring Gabriel Byrne (“The Usual Suspects”) as a guy who gets dating tips from his father and 16-year-old son.
CBS (WBBM-Ch. 2)
“Full House” + “The Odd Couple” = “Yes, Dear,” Mondays at 7:30 p.m. (premieres Monday). Comedy with Mike O’Malley (“The Mike O’Malley Show”) and Anthony Clark (“Boston Common”) as married-with-children brothers-in-law with different parenting skills.
“Seinfeld” + “Cybill” = “Bette,” Wednesdays at 7 p.m. (premieres Oct. 11). Bette Midler stars as herself in a comedy about the private life of a successful singer/actress named Bette Midler.
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” + “Moonlighting” = “Welcome to New York,” Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. (premieres Oct. 11). Christine Baranski (“Cybill”) is a morning news show producer who gets a new weathercaster from Indiana (Jim Gaffigan) with decidedly Midwestern values.
“The Fugitive” + “The Fugitive” = “The Fugitive,” Fridays at 7 p.m. (premieres Friday). Update of the classic series with “Wings”‘ Tim Daly on the run combines elements of the 1960s television series with the Harrison Ford movie. It can’t hold a candle to either.
“Miami Vice” + “Quincy” = “CSI,” Fridays at 8 p.m. (premieres Friday). Flashy crime drama about a team of crime scene investigators in Las Vegas starring Chicago actor Bill Peterson; produced by superproducer Jerry Bruckheimer of “The Rock’ and “Armageddon.”
“Felicity” + “That Girl” = “That’s Life,” Saturdays at 7 p.m. (special preview Sunday at 8 p.m.; regular premiere Saturday). Lighthearted drama about a New Jersey thirtysomething who dumps her blue-collar fianc and returns to college.
“The Commish’ + “Hill Street Blues” = “The District,” Saturdays at 9 p.m. (premieres Saturday). Drama with Craig T. Nelson (“Coach”), who heads an ensemble drama as the flamboyant police commissioner of Washington, D.C.
Fox (WFLD-Ch. 32)
“Room 222” + “Picket Fences” = “Boston Public,” Mondays at 7 p.m. (premieres Oct. 23). David E. Kelley (“Ally McBeal,” “The Practice”) produces this quirky drama about teachers at a suburban Boston high school.
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” + “The Fugitive” = “Dark Angel,” Tuesdays at 8 p.m. (premieres Tuesday). A sci-fi thriller from James Cameron (“Titanic”) about a genetically enhanced 19-year-old (Jessica Alba) on the run from her creators in an apocalyptic 2019 Seattle.
“Ellen” + “Married…With Children” = “Normal, Ohio,” Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. (premieres Nov. 1). Comedy with “Roseanne” star John Goodman as a gay man who returns to his hometown to live with his family, which isn’t as open to his lifestyle.
“Bull” + “Melrose Place” = “The Street,” Wednesdays at 8 p.m. (premieres Nov. 1). Young guns at an investment firm are at the center of Darren Star’s (“Sex and the City”) look at Wall Street.
“Eerie, Ind.,” + “The X-Files” = “Freakylinks,” Fridays at 8 p.m. (premieres Friday). The creators of “The Blair Witch Project” created this thriller about a webmaster who surfs strange and unusual tales on the Internet in search of his supposedly dead twin brother. See story, pg. 37.
NBC (WMAQ-Ch. 5)
“Providence” + “Northern Exposure” = “Ed,” Sundays at 7 p.m. (premieres Oct. 8). Whimsical comedy-drama about a lawyer who moves back to his small town after losing his job and wife. He buys the local bowling alley to be near to his high school crush.
“Malcolm in the Middle” + “The Wonder Years” = “Tucker,” Mondays at 7:30 p.m. (premieres Monday). Comedy about a teen boy who moves with his mother into his persnickety aunt’s (“Married.With Children’s” Katey Sagal) home after his mom and dad break up.
“Lou Grant” + “Murder, She Wrote” = “Deadline,” Mondays at 8 p.m. (premieres Monday). Drama with Oliver Platt (“The Firm”) playing a flashy Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist who investigates crimes with the help of his college journalism school class.
“Seinfeld” + “Mike Hammer” = “The Michael Richards Show,” Tuesdays at 7 p.m. (premieres Oct. 24). The “Seinfeld” nut stars in a new ensemble comedy, playing novice private detective Vic Nardozza; Tim Meadows of “Saturday Night Live” and William Devane of “Knots Landing” are part of the cast.
“Get Smart” + “The West Wing” = “DAG,” Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. (premieres Oct. 31). David Alan Grier (“In Living Color”) plays a disgraced Secret Service agent who is busted down to protecting the First Lady of the United States (“Designing Women’s” Delta Burke).
“Dynasty” + “Melrose Place” = “Titans,” Wednesdays at 7 p.m. (premieres Wednesday). Aaron Spelling (“Dynasty”) brings good old-fashioned trash back into prime time with this lusty soap opera about a rich family.
“Bewitched” + “The Single Guy” = “Cursed,” Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. (premieres Oct. 26). Comedy starring Steven Weber of “Wings” as a Chicago advertising executive who is hexed by a blind date into having the worst luck possible; a power struggle between the original producers and NBC might result in a tweaking of the premise.
UPN (WPWR-Ch. 50)
“Living Single” + “Designing Women” = “Girlfriends,” Mondays at 8:30 p.m. (premiered Sept. 11). Comedy produced by “Frasier’s’ Kelsey Grammer about four single African-American career women of various temperaments.
“Kung Fu” + “Harsh Realm” = “Freedom,” Fridays at 7 p.m. (premieres Oct. 27). Sci-fi/martial-arts/action hybrid about a group of freedom fighters working covert operations to save an America that is under martial law.
“The FBI” + “The Net” = “Level 9,” Fridays at 8 p.m. (premieres Oct. 27). Action series about government agents who use their computer skills to take down Internet-based criminals.
WB (WGN-Ch. 9)
“In Living Color” + “Laugh-In” = “Hype,” Sundays at 8 p.m. (premieres Oct. 8). Sketch comedy show that specializes in lampooning celebrities, movies, television, music and other forms of popular culture. Candidate for the “Desmond Pfeiffer” award for the worst new show of the season.
“Mad About You” + “Angie” = “Nikki,” Sundays at 8:30 p.m. (premieres Oct. 8). Comedy starring Nikki Cox (“Unhappily Ever After”) as a dancer in Las Vegas married to an aspiring professional wrestler (Nick von Esmarch).
“One Day at a Time” + “Party of Five” = “Gilmore Girls,” Thursdays at 7 p.m. (premieres Thursday). Lighthearted drama about a 32-year-old single mother and her 16-year-old daughter and the angst they share living in a small Connecticut town.
“Beverly Hills, 90210” + “The Larry Sanders Show” = “Grosse Pointe,” Fridays at 7:30 p.m. (premiered Sept. 22). Comedy that goes behind the scenes of a TV teen drama that was so close to reality that “90210” creator Aaron Spelling and his daughter, “90210” co-star Tori, were reportedly so insulted that the WB, home of Spelling’s “Charmed” and “7th Heaven” asked for changes.
