For the networks, it's midterm time

For the networks, it's midterm time

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

It's midterm time at the school of network entertainment, and a few of the students are not performing up to their potential. So as we reach the TV season's halfway point, let's pass out freshman class grades and point out what each network needs to do to get its average up.

		Desperate Housewives: Nicollette Sheridan, left, Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman.
		By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY

ABC: A

Evaluation: Some grades are easy. You put on two terrific shows and turn them into the two biggest scripted hits in years, and you get an A. In fact, ABC's best shows are so good, we're not even going to average in the network's failures. Give us Lost and Desperate Housewives; take a pass on The Benefactor.

Second-semester outlook: In terms of quality, and that's all we're worried about here, ABC's fortunes should only improve, starting with the January return of Alias ?which all by itself kicks ABC's overall grade up to A-plus. Yes, ABC still has a lot of work to do on the comedy side, as do all the networks. But its midseason drama lineup is unusually solid. None of them is another Lost, but each is an improvement on Life as We Know It.

CBS: C

Evaluation: In September, this grade would have been a solid "B." But the network's fall average was depressed by the cancellation of its best new show, Clubhouse, and the creative mistakes of CSI: NY ? a lifeless series in which the characters are so dull and ill-defined, you can barely tell the cops from the corpses. Luckily, CBS has so many solid hits, it can survive some freshman flops. But it still may want to take a second look at some of its development strategies. You copy CSI too many times, you risk wearing out the original.

Second-semester outlook: One more copy, however, may work. The network's Numb3rs is a CSI twist that substitutes math for forensic science, a twist that is far enough removed from the original to almost seem original. Now if only CBS would turn its attention to creating a decent new sitcom, preferably one built around a woman rather than one that forces some beautiful woman to play the adoring mate of some unattractive schlub.

Fox: D

Evaluation: House is a fabulous show, so good that it can make us toss the F grades for Quintuplets and Method and Red. Unfortunately for Fox, that still leaves grade-F The Swan, The Next Great Champ, The Complex: Malibu and North Shore ? which are cumulatively and individually just too awful to be redeemed by one strong drama ? and we haven't even reached Who's Your Daddy? It doesn't matter how Fox labels its baseball-interruptus schedule: year-round programming, extended summer, delayed fall. Lousy is lousy.

Second-semester outlook: Fox gets an immediate boost in January with the return of American Idol and 24, which comes back strong with a terrific two-hour special.The network will need those shows to perform well, because Fox has TV's most extensive and risky midseason schedule. The point player is Point Pleasant, a fantasy about a teenage girl who is searching for her birth mother ? unaware that her birth father is Satan. Hey, at least no forensics are involved.

NBC: F

Evaluation: What happens when you turn the top-rated network over to people who are good at scheduling and promotion (particularly self-promotion) but have no taste, no vision and no real sense of show business? You get instant flops like LAX and Hawaii. You get the hubris of Father of the Pride, a show that should have been scrapped the moment Roy Horn was attacked by that tiger. Worst of all, you get the increasingly depressing waste-of-potential that is Joey, a show that desperately needs to be reshaped by a strong hand before it's too late, assuming it isn't already. In short, you get NBC.

Second-semester outlook: So what has NBC come up with to turn around its fortunes? A deadly drama about a crime-solving medium called Medium, another extension of Law & Order, and an American adaptation of the likely-to-prove unadaptable British hit The Office. On the plus side, NBC also has Committed, an incredibly odd but charming comedy about an incredibly odd but charming couple. Will it survive? Odds are it won't.

UPN: B

Evaluation: Follow-through remains a problem at UPN. The network introduced two strong dramas this fall, Veronica Mars and Kevin Hill, but neither has completely lived up to expectations, though Veronica has come closer than Kevin.

Second-semester outlook: If UPN is ever going to make the grade, it's going to have to bow to an old showbiz maxim: You have to spend money to make money. It's not just the feeling you get that the network isn't investing enough in talent. Everything about it smacks of the cut-rate, including the on-air logos and promotions, which are ugly almost beyond belief. Come on, UPN, how hard can that be to fix?

WB: C

Evaluation: Simple math. You average an A for Jack & Bobby, a fine show despite its creative rough spots, with an F for The Mountain, and you get a C. Yes, that means forgetting Blue Collar TV and Drew Carey's Green Screen, but who hasn't?

Second-semester outlook: Don't expect any great changes from WB at midseason, which is fine with me. The network should focus its energy on getting Jack & Bobby into grade-A shape for next season.