NBC's new world

No Frasier. Just one Friend. Twelve new shows, but only five debuting in the fall. The network needed a bold move to gain confidence in its new schedule. And it pulled one off.

NEW YORK - Memo to NBC: You had us at Joey.

That's because the network, facing a Radio City Music Hall packed with advertisers Monday, pulled a gutsy move not seen since the days of Golden Girls and The Cosby Show.

Eager to show that its new Thursday schedule would really have some life in it, NBC showed us Friends' spinoff, Joey. The entire 22-minute-or-so pilot. And it was good.

More than getting a little egg on their faces, NBC suits risked turning off big-ticket advertisers gathered for what's known as the upfronts. In this megasales session, the networks sell about 75 percent of their advertising spots for the coming season.

After the pilot, head NBC honcho Jeff Zucker went on talking about his Thursday night Must See TV lineup for another 30 minutes after Joey, ultimately taking more than 21/2 hours to spin the crowd.

"We've come up to the third hour of life you'll never get back," cracked late-night host Conan O'Brien, livening things up with jabs at NBC shows such as Father of the Pride, an animated series about talking lions that perform with Las Vegas entertainers Siegfried and Roy.

Not long before, Roy Horn had appeared via videotape in his first public appearance after being mauled by one of his big cats (of course, NBC also plans a Dateline NBC special on Horn just before Pride's debut).

"If this works, NBC will try an animated series about Billy Joel's car," O'Brien cracked about the accident-prone pop star. "He can drive up on a different lawn every week."

In truth, NBC unveiled a fall schedule that includes just one show from last fall's debuts, Las Vegas. The high-profile casualties include sitcoms from Whoopi Goldberg and Saturday Night Live alum Tracy Morgan.

Two new shows, an Americanized remake of the British TV hit The Office and the fourth spinoff of the Law & Order franchise, won't premiere until later in the season. Zucker said it was an effort to offer new episodes throughout the entire year, sprinkling the network's 12 new shows over the season to avoid long stretches of repeats. Five of those shows will debut in the fall. And Dennis Farina, an alum of the landmark crime drama Crime Story, will return to his cop roots as the replacement for Jerry Orbach on Law & Order.

NBC's fall schedule begins right after the Summer Olympics on Aug. 23, about a month before the traditional TV season starts. Because nothing succeeds like success, it's not surprising that many of the new shows can be summed up in pitch phrases:

Heather Locklear and Blair Underwood's LAX, about warring managers at the Los Angeles airport, is Melrose Place meets Threat Matrix.

Father of the Pride is Shrek meets Siegfried and Roy, with a touch of Toy Story.

Hawaii, a cop drama with Michael Biehn and ER's Sharif Atkins, is Miami Vice meets Magnum P.I.

Medical Investigation, starring The Practice's Kelli Williams and Boomtown's Neal McDonough as investigators for the National Institutes of Health, is CSI meets Outbreak.

Midseason drama Revelations, starring Bill Pullman as a scientist struggling to avert the apocalypse, comes off as The X-Files meets Left Behind.

Some media buyers groused that the fall slate didn't contain many standout new shows, doubting Joey's staying power. But NBC suits touted the network's recent merger with Vivendi Universal as increasing its promotional reach, wedging stars from Universal-owned Sci Fi Channel next to high-powered network hitters such as Donald Trump of The Apprentice and Sylvester Stallone of The Contender, a new boxing-based reality show.

Standing at a red carpet entrance behind the hall, ER star Noah Wyle touted the power of network TV.

"The one thing network TV still can do better than anybody else is focus the attention of a huge group of people on a show that's both enlightening and entertaining," he said. "That's an amazing achievement."

With a fall schedule relying on reality TV shows such as Average Joe and The Apprentice to plug the holes left by departing Frasier and Friends, one wonders how long that achievement will last.

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