• by Paul Gough , May 13, 2003

Eager to push its comedic side, ABC unveiled its schedule with 10 sitcoms, another wave of new dramas and yes, two hours of reality shows for the new fall TV season.

ABC's schedule includes the return of NYPD Blue and Alias, moving The Practice back to its 10 p.m. Sunday slot after an abortive Monday move, and the attempted resuscitation of Dragnet. It also spells the end for two long-running ABC shows, The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway? At Tuesday's upfront presentations, ABC Entertainment head Susan Lyne praised the network's Tuesday comedy block and announced plans to extend it to Wednesdays and Fridays, reseeding the former TGIF franchise by moving two Tuesday night hits to Fridays.

The network also trotted out several new dramas, one area where ABC fell short this season. All new ABC dramas were canceled before New Year's Eve. And ABC didn't turn away from its successes in reality - a marked departure from NBC and The WB's presentations, where they went out of their way to distance themselves from most reality - celebrating The Bachelor's success against The West Wing at 9 p.m. Wednesdays. Lyne also introduced the next bachelor - a slimmed-down guy who didn't make cut on The Bachelorette but who gained two Oprah appearances - and made another announcement regarding Bachelorette Trista Rehm and her handpicked beau, Ryan: ABC will air four-hour coverage of their wedding this fall.

ABC talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, in a brief monologue following the three reality contestants' appearance on the upfront stage, was less circumspect: "You know, you hate to see that happy couple go off and live happily ever after without us making money off of it," he said. Kimmel said it seems that now there are more people on reality shows than they are "actually living in reality," and mocked its hold on the industry. "That word is taboo," he said, of reality. "From now on, they'll simply be referred to as (censored)."

ABC also showed a penchant for making fun of itself, including a segment edited from Leave It To Beaver and an appearance by one of ABC's most famous if loopy detectives, Lt. Colombo, sent on what he said was a secret mission to the set of Alias to make it clearer for Disney Chairman Michael Eisner (who attended the upfront) to understand the sometimes-confusing storyline and to lighten it up a little. Other celebrities made live appearances, including NYPD Blue creator Steven Bochco and Dick Wolf, creator of the newly named L.A. Dragnet; John Ritter and Katey Sagal; Jennifer Garner; Bonnie Hunt; Diane Sawyer; Barbara Walters; Jim Belushi; Faith Ford and Kelly Ripa. Author Steven King made an appearance to present a mid-season replacement series set in a haunted hospital in Lewiston, Maine.

Ford and Ripa are starring in a new sitcom, Hope & Faith, with Ripa as a down-on-her-luck soap star who is forced to move in with her sister, a stay-at-home mom, played by the Murphy Brown alum. It's part of the new TGIF lineup. The George Lopez Show and Life with Bonnie are being moved to Fridays and matched with another new comedy, Back to Kansas. 20/20 remains at 10 p.m. Friday, one of three hours of newsmagazines and another season (the 14th) of America's Funniest Home Videos.

The three dramas are given relatively thankless spots in the new schedule, with Karen Sisco (adapted from the Jennifer Lopez character in the 1997 film Out of Sight) against Law & Order; Threat Matrix at 8 p.m. against the last year of Friends; and cop show 10-8 against a whole slew of shows on Sunday.