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Last week brought the upfronts, where television networks unveil their lineups for the next fall season, and promote them to advertisers. First up was NBC, whose biggest change is the addition of Sunday Night Football, the best part of which is that NFL fans get something they have wanted for at least a few seasons now, a flexible schedule. Starting in week ten of season one, the Sunday afternoon games will switch to a night game. This will lead to more games with playoff implications late in the year, instead of games that have no impact on the postseason. The only change in the schedule for returning shows is the move of Law & Order: Criminal Intent to Fridays at 10:00, and the pairing of My Name is Earl and The Office moving an hour earlier.

New dramas NBC will bring to us start with Heroes at 9:00 Monday, about a group of people that discover they have extraordinary powers and, presumably, use them to do heroic deeds. Tuesday brings more football in the television adaptation of the film Friday Night Lights at 8:00. It will be followed at 9:00 by Kidnapped, which follows the efforts to resolve the kidnapping of a wealthy family's teenage son. The last new drama to start the season is the new Aaron Sorkin show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It could best be summed up as Sports Night meets The State, if only that description didn't set us up for expectations that couldn't possibly be met. It will air Thursdays at 9:00.

Only two new comedies were scheduled, both during the 8:00-9:00 block on Wednesday. Starting things off is 20 Good Years, which teams John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor (of the sorely missed Arrested Development) as friends who, figuring they only have 20 years left to live, decide to live life to the fullest with no regrets. That will be followed by 30 Rock, Tina Fey's new show seemingly based on her time as head writer for Saturday Night Live. Not to worry, Scrubs fans; it will return later in the season. Some network heads felt the show was helped creatively this season by the late start and hope for a repeat performance. Crossing Jordan will also return at some point in the season.

The next day's upfronts belonged to ABC. The biggest change was the move of Grey's Anatomy to Thursdays at 9:00. The other changes are moving Dancing with the Stars to Tuesday and Wednesday at 8:00, and According to Jim being moved to the post-George Lopez slot after Dancing with the Stars has finished its season. The Monday lineup of Wife Swap, the rotation of The Bachelor and Supernanny, and What About Brian remains the same. With the exception of the aforementioned Grey's Anatomy, the same holds true for Sunday. That night will still have America's Funniest Home Videos, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and Desperate Housewives in their regular spots. Finishing out the night will be the new Calista Flockhart drama Brothers & Sisters which is, unsurprisingly, about a group of brothers and sisters. Also returning are Boston Legal at 10:00 on Tuesday, Lost at 9:00 on Wednesday, and 20/20 at 10:00 on Fridays.

ABC brings the most new shows this fall of any network. Leading off are two new comedies starting at 9:00 on Tuesday. The first is Let's Rob Mick Jagger, which stars Donal Logue as a man who tries to fund his dream of opening a bar by robbing Mick Jagger's apartment. It is followed by the new series Help Me Help You from two of the writers of the underappreciated Undeclared. It stars Ted Danson as an author of self-help books, and focuses on his work as a group therapist. The first new drama is The Nine, about nine people who were hostages for 52 hours after a bank robbery went awry.

Thursday leads off with the new comedies Big Day and Notes From the Underbelly. The former is about a wedding day, the entire day being covered over the course of the season. The latter is about a couple who try and keep the wife's pregnancy a secret. The night finishes with the new J.J. Abrams drama Six Degrees, about the theory that everyone is connected by a chain of no more than six people. Friday leads off with the hour-long comedy Betty the Ugly, an adaptation of the similarly titled Colombian telenovela. It is followed by the new drama, Men in Trees. It follows a relationship coach after her relationship fails. The final new addition is Saturday Night College Football, hoping to both fill the void left by the move of Monday Night Football to ESPN, and bring viewers to the ratings wasteland that is Saturday night.

The last of the Big Three to announce was CBS. CBS is bringing few changes next season. Two and a Half Men, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and CSI: Miami all return to the 9:00 to 11:00 period on Monday. How I Met Your Mother moves up half-an-hour to 8:00, followed by David Crane's new comedy The Class. The Class will follow a group of people in their 20s who were in the same third-grade class. Tuesday starts off the same with NCIS and The Unit, followed by the new Ray Liotta drama Smith. Liotta will play a criminal mastermind who plans one last string of robberies before retiring to a normal family life.

Wednesday is the only night to lead off with a new series, Jericho. It takes place in Jericho, Kansas, and follows the chaos involved when power and communication are lost following the appearance of a mushroom cloud on the horizon. It will be followed by Criminal Minds and CSI: NY. Survivor returns to lead off Thursdays, followed as usual by CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The night closes with new courtroom drama Shark, starring James Woods as a defense attorney who moves to the prosecutor's office. The successful Friday night lineup of Ghost Whisperer, Close to Home, and Numb3rs remains unchanged, as does the Saturday lineup of Crimetime Saturday and 48 Hours: Mystery. Sunday leads off with 60 Minutes at 7:00, then follows with Amazing Race on its new night. The Amazing Race move puts Cold Case on an hour later than before. Without a Trace finishes up the only night to see significant change on the schedule.

First up on the final day of announcements was Fox. They will start off the season with Prison Break at 8:00 on Monday, followed by new show Vanished. The person who has vanished is the wife of a Georgia Senator, and the show will follow efforts to find her. Standoff, leading things off on Tuesday at 8:00, focuses on two FBI crisis negotiators. With the show on Fox, naturally they are having a secret affair. It will be followed by the returning House. Bones returns to its 8:00 Wednesday spot, followed by Jerry Bruckheimer's new courtroom drama Justice.

Leading up to the return of The O.C. at 9:00 on Thursday are two new comedies, 'Til Death and Happy Hour. The first is about two married couples, one closing in on their silver anniversary and the other newlyweds. The other is about a man who moves with his girlfriend to Chicago, only to have her dump him. Unemployed and with no place to live, he finds a new roommate who tries to teach him to enjoy the good life. Friday marks the unfortunate returns of Nanny 911 and Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy. Cops and America's Most Wanted: America Strikes Back return on Saturday. Sunday sees Fox officially bailing on shows before 8:00, using it for the football overrun that usually preempted those shows. The Simpsons and Family Guy return in their regular spots, 8:00 and 9:00 respectively. American Dad and The War at Home, however, switch spots, and are now at 8:30 and 9:30 respectively.

Fox already has their January plans, which will see the return of 24 and American Idol in their current spots. Prison Break will be replaced by Standoff and Justice will be moved up an hour to accommodate American Idol, the Wednesday results portion of which will be followed by the unexpected return of under-watched The Loop. Hopefully its lead-in will change that, as it deserves an audience. The riskiest move could be moving Bones to Friday, a move that probably worries fans of the show who also know Fox's Friday track record. It will be followed by the debut of The Wedding Album, a show following a very successful wedding photographer. January also sees the return of King of the Hill in the pre-Simpsons slot.

Finally, we see the shows from the result of the merger of UPN and the WB, The CW. The merger of those two networks into this one has made the upfronts a bit more anticipated this year. Personally, I just wanted to see if the best show on television was returning. Thanks to seven million people tuning in to watch what was supposed to be the series finale, 7th Heaven returns for another season to lead off Mondays. It returns at the expense of Everwood, and I can't agree with that decision. I disagree largely because it reportedly lost its old network $16 million, despite being its top-rated show. It will be followed by the lone new drama, Runaway. It follows a seemingly normal family who are actually fugitives, on the run after the family patriarch was wrongly accused of murder.

Tuesday leads off with Gilmore Girls, followed by the aforementioned best show on television, Veronica Mars. Hopefully the new home will bring it the success it deserves. Wednesday will see a rotation of America's Next Top Model and Beauty and the Geek leading off the night, followed by the return of One Tree Hill. Of the shows that were unsure of making the merger, I thought this would be the one to miss out. It seems like Wednesday at 9:00 was the toughest spot for the new network to fill, and they went with show that brings the black eye (among other maladies) that is Chad Michael Murray.

Thursday brings back the lineup from The WB of Smallville and Supernatural, and Friday Night Smackdown! returns on, you guessed it, Friday. Saturday also remains the same, as neither of the previous networks had programming that night, either. Sunday leads off off with Everybody Hates Chris at 7:00, followed by All of Us. Girlfriends and its spin-off, The Game, the lone new comedy, fill the next hour. The night ends with a repeat of America's Next Top Model. I understand airing a repeat is cheap, and any viewers are like a bonus, but couldn't the time have been put to better use?

I know both networks had repeats of their shows, but the merger should have fixed that. It indicates that the combination of your network and the pilots you had ordered don't have enough quality programs for an entire Saturday-free lineup. I know some Everwood fans would strongly disagree. Even if Everwood is out of the question, wouldn't one of the new pilots, like Split Decision, the pilot I was most interested in, or Mercy Reef, the show about Aquaman, be preferable to a repeat of something from earlier in the week? All right, maybe not the show about Aquaman. Kevin Williamson's new show, going by the title of Hidden Palms this week, will debut at mid-season. The network also decided it wasn't worth the loss of up to $20 million to cancel Reba, so it, too, will return at mid-season.