• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 22, 2006

Lifetime Television is making a bid to attract young female viewers. The network's upcoming programming includes a reality show set in a high school, a drama featuring a twenty-something FBI agent, and a comedy set in a SoCal matchmaking agency.

The network, under new leadership and having dropped its "Television For Women" tagline, announced its new 2006-07 programming yesterday at an upfront event. And it's clear the network is intent on lowering its 51.8 prime-time median age.

The reality show coming this fall features political minds behind Clinton and Cheney advising Joe and Jane High School. Husband-and-wife consultants Democrat James Carville and Republican Mary Matalin--who represented rival candidates in the '92 presidential race--will square off in the battle for student body president in a Washington high school.

Called "Election," Carville and Matalin will serve as campaign managers for opposing students in the race. R.J. Cutler--who helped turn Carville into a media darling in "The War Room"--is the producer. The Cutler documentary was based on Bill Clinton's '92 presidential campaign, which Carville led. Matalin was on the Bush team that year, and more recently, has advised Vice President Dick Cheney.

The drama, "Angela's Eyes," is from the producers of Oscar-winning movie "Crash" and focuses on Clinton--Angela Clinton, an FBI agent in her 20s, who's an expert at determining when someone is lying. It premieres in July.

The improv comedy "Lovespring" is set in a matchmaking agency that bills itself as an "elite Beverly Hills" operation, despite its location in suburban Tarzana. It premieres in June and is from the production company of "Will & Grace" star Eric McCormack.

Also this summer, the network will try to tap into the "American Idol" craze with an original movie based on the life of--and starring--ex-"Idol" champ Fantasia Barrino.

Lifetime also said it would begin airing weekly repeats of NBC drama "Medium" starting this Sunday at 11 p.m.

In the pipeline is a reality movie about twenty-something karaoke-loving women from the producers of MTV smash "Laguna Beach," popular with young women, and a makeover series called "Queen," where beauty queen experts help an underdog in a local pageant.

The network is also making a move to repurpose its marketing research as on-air programming. Its new initiative, "Lifetime Women's Pulse Polls," will delve into consumer behavior, technology use, and other habits and belief systems among females. Besides making the results available to advertisers, the findings will form the basis of "Generation Why?," a fourth-quarter on-air special hosted by ex-MSNBC anchor Willow Bay that looks at how Gens Y and X and Baby Boomers differ on issues such as sex, men, and marriage.

Lifetime jettisoned long-time tagline "Television for Women" earlier this month, and is now experimenting with replacement concepts. The new program calendar marks the first under Lifetime President/CEO Betty Cohen, the former head of Cartoon Network, and entertainment president Susanne Daniels, the ex-programming chief at The WB.