• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 16, 2007

Forget the importance of being No. 1 for a TV network. Four could be a key digit for one network this fall. Descriptions of four of ABC's new fall programs say it all:

For "Women's Murder Club": "Based on James Patterson's best selling novels, The Women's Murder Club, four working women in San Francisco..."

For "Carpoolers": "Less about saving the environment than male bonding, four guys from very different backgrounds..."

For "Big Shots":  "This is the story about four friends at the top of their game..."

For ABC's "Cashmere Mafia": "Four ambitious and sexy women, who've been best friends..."

It doesn't always come to this nice and even number. Surely, ABC's success with "Desperate Housewives," "Lost," and "Grey's Anatomy" have been with big ensemble casts. Many other network dramas also have large groups of characters.

Sitcoms -- like "Seinfeld"  and "Will & Grace" -- seem to lend themselves to the primary number of four. And many classic sitcoms of years past, such as "All in the Family," "I Love Lucy," and "The Honeymooners," also had a quartet of central characters.

Of course, "Friends" upped the number by two with its cast of six. "Everybody Loves Raymond" was a bit lower at five. "Sex and the City" was also at four.

What does this mean? ABC may be in retro mode. It has a ballroom competition show ("Dancing with the Stars"), and will soon have one about bingo ("National Bingo Night").  Four is a classic TV number.

Even then ABC is hedging its bets at the programming crap table: Here's the depiction of the ambitious "Cavemen" show:  "Inspired by the popular Geico Insurance commercials, the series looks at life through the eyes of ultimate outsiders - three modern cavemen..."

Naturally, plot lines and characters are always being added and changed. But maybe, as it looks to finally leapfrog to the No. 1-rated network, ABC will be rooting, at least initially, for number four -- double deuce -- at the crap table: "Come on, Little Joe! C'mon, Little Joe!"