Tuning In

2 new shows on ABC

ABC will introduce just two new series in the fall, one of them scripted, in a schedule the network admits was severely affected by the 100-day TV writers strike.

The David E. Kelley-produced drama “Life on Mars” is about a police detective transported back to 1973. ABC gave it a plum Thursday time slot following “Grey’s Anatomy,” Associated Press reports.

The second new series, “Opportunity Knocks,” is a game in which producers show up at a home with a truckload of prizes and quiz family members on what they know about one another.

ABC is also picking up the NBC comedy “Scrubs” for midseason. ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson, who has feuded with his NBC counterpart Ben Silverman, noted yesterday that the comedy had 17 different time slots at NBC and received little promotion.

Meanwhile, “Lost” will be back in midseason next year.

It was a good day for Ashton Kutcher, too. His production company is behind “Opportunity Knocks” and an untitled beauty pageant picked up for midseason. ABC also gave a midseason go-ahead to a Mike Judge animated series, “The Goode Family,” about people obsessed with doing the right thing.

Six picks for CBS

Elsewhere, CBS has settled on its pilot pickups, handing orders to two comedies and four dramas for its 2008-09 schedule.

CBS gave a nod to “Project Gary,” starring Jay Mohr as a recently divorced dad trying to navigate his return to the dating scene with the demands of his ex-wife and children. The other comedy pickup went to “Worst Week,” Variety says. Based on a British format, the multigenerational comedy revolves around a young couple in pre-wedding countdown phase dealing with nuttiness from their in-laws. Kyle Bornheimer and Erinn Hayes star as the couple.

CBS’ most-talked-about drama is 20th Century Fox TV’s “The Ex List,” based on an Israeli series about a woman who is warned by a tarot card reader that she needs to get married soon to a man whom she already has known in her life.

The network’s drama docket will include another British TV adaptation, the thriller “Eleventh Hour,” about a government investigator probing cases involving scientific anomalies. Newly minted Tony nominee Rufus Sewell (“Rock ’n’ Roll”) stars.

There’s also “The Mentalist,” which stars Simon Baker as a man who uses his innate powers of deduction to aid police, and the murder-mystery vehicle “Harper’s Island,” which is centered on a group of friends who meet on an island off Seattle’s coast for a wedding.

’Idol,’ Fox slip

Contestants are disappearing as the “American Idol” finale approaches. Unfortunately for Fox, so are viewers.

The 21.8 million people who watched last Tuesday’s competition made up the show’s smallest Tuesday audience in more than five years, AP says. The show did better the next night, with 22.9 million, but that was the smallest Wednesday audience in three years, according to Nielsen Media Research.

On rival network CBS, another one-time big event, the finale of a “Survivor,” was seen by 13 million viewers and didn’t crack Nielsen’s top 10.

CBS was the nation’s most popular network last week, averaging 10.6 million viewers in prime time, followed by ABC with 9.5 million. Fox was third with an 8.9 million average. NBC had 6 million viewers, the CW had 2.6 million, My Network TV had 1.2 million, and ION Television had 410,000.

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with 3.6 million viewers, Telemundo had 950,000, TeleFutura had 640,000, and Azteca had 130,000.

For the week of May 5 through 11, the top five shows, their networks and viewerships were: 1)”American Idol” (Wednesday), Fox, 22.8 million; 2) “American Idol” (Tuesday), Fox, 21.7 million; 3) “Dancing With the Stars” (Tuesday), ABC, 18.3 million; 4) “Dancing With the Stars” (Monday), ABC, 18.1 million; and 5) “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 18 million.

Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from Web and wire reports