If it's February, it must be midseason time.

Networks assess the past season; New shows are plentiful

For all of the new U.S. shows (about 14) that didn't pass muster in the fall and were recently cancelled, there are replacement shows waiting in the wings, commonly referred to as "midseason replacements." Some of these midseason shows had made it through the pilot stage at the screenings but for one reason or another didn't make it onto the fall schedule; others were just good ideas waiting to be developed.

So what's in store for international broadcasters longing for original plot lines and cast members who don't influence hair trends? Well, how about an alien family trying to make it on Earth? Or maybe a group of forty-something guys who constantly relive their days of youth? Sound tempting? The U.S. networks hope so.

Five new series were launched by the networks last month and cable's USA Network launched two, the sitcom Campus Cops (MCA/Universal) and the half-hour reality-based news program from Brandon Tartikoff, Weekly World News (New World). In March the major U.S. networks plan to launch another 15 shows and the USA Network plans to launch an original series called Pacific Blue, about officers in the California Bike Patrol who keep the shores and streets of a beach community safe.

Still suffering from sagging, if not downright dismal, ratings, CBS requires the most work to its schedule. Matt Waters (Columbia TriStar)-starring daytime talkster Montel Williams as a tough teacher in a tough school - is replacing the much-hyped but critical (and audience) disaster Central Park West, which ran on Wednesday at 9 p.m. (CPW is on hiatus and is being revamped to return in either March or April, possibly at 10 on Friday nights.) Matt Waters premiered in early January. CBS sitcoms Bless This House and Almost Perfect and drama The Client escaped the axe by the skin of their teeth. The network is reviving two previously cancelled shows, Diagnosis Murder and Due South. CBS also has in production or pre-production three comedies and another drama: police drama Bridges (Rysher), starring Don Johnson; sitcom The Louie Show (working title), starring Louie Anderson and written by Diane English of Murphy Brown; sitcom My Guys, about a single-parent family, distributed by Warner Bros. International; and Paramount comedy The Cube, set in a midtown Manhattan advertising agency.

On January 9 ABC premiered Champs, the first project from the DreamWorks SKG Studio. Created by veteran Gary David Goldberg of Family Ties fame, the sitcom is about four sports-crazed forty-something guys who constantly reminisce about their high school basketball days. The show aired on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., strategically sandwiched between ABC's current hits Home Improvement and N.Y.P.D. Blue. ABC also plans to bring in one of its own productions, The Faculty (ABC), an ensemble sitcom centering on a group of quirky educators. Another sitcom planned for midseason is Buddies, from Buena Vista International. In March ABC will debut a new drama series from New World Entertainment called Second Noah, which will run on Monday nights at 8. Other ABC series coming down the pike include World's Funniest Videos, Before They Were Stars, The Dana Carvey Show, Muppets Tonight and Aliens In the Family. As for Murder One, ABC got smart and moved it to Mondays at 10 p.m., the slot opposite Chicago Hope. Maybe the show can really get a run for its money, now that ER won't be in its way.

NBC continues to lead the pack in the ratings wars; however, the Mad About You time slot change to Sunday nights at 8 isn't garnering the ratings the network had hoped for. Clearly the show needs a better lead-in than the various specials NBC is currently, running; perhaps the clever sitcom NewsRadio, which has replaced Hope & Gloria as Mad About You's lead-out, will help. Occupying NewsRadio's Tuesday slot is the new sitcom from Carsey-Werner, Third Rock From the Sun (Fremantle). Third Rock stars John Lithgow and Kristen Johnston as aliens learning about life on Earth. Since the network is in pretty good shape, only one other new show will premiere in March: Malibu Shores, distributed by Worldvision. This Aaron Spelling drama claims to be an updated "Romeo and Juliet," featuring a young woman from Malibu and her love interest from the San Fernando Valley.

Despite efforts to bring in more adult viewers, Fox is still targeting the younger audience. The network has five new series up its sleeve for midseason, including the 20th Century Fox comedy The Last Frontier, in which a female oil company executive tries to survive the cruel Alaskan winter in a cabin surrounded by Neanderthal outdoorsmen; a drama series from Worldvision, Kindred: The Embraced, about vampires thriving in modern-day San Francisco; and Local Heroes, from Warner Bros. International Television.

The two fledgling networks, UPN and The WB Network, continue to add new nights to their schedules and thus bring in a few new shows to fill the added hours. UPN will run Worldvision's Moesha, a series featuring teen singing star Brandy. Paramount's The Sentinel will air on UPN's new Wednesday night, as will Swift Justice, from Law & Order executive producer Dick Wolf, about an ex-cop who works outside the system. The WB Network premiered its first drama, Aaron Spelling's Savannah, on January 2. The steamy saga about three Southern belles is distributed by Worldvision. The WB Network will also add Adventure Man to its midseason schedule. Warner Bros. International is distributing this live-action animated series about a genius toy inventor who can transform himself into a tiny superhero.

If the time slot changes for your favorite fall programs haven't confused you enough already, further changes caused by the midseason replacements probably will (see left). There's always next year.

RELATED ARTICLE: Shows With New Time Slots (obviously subject to change!)

* Dave's World, CBS, Wednesdays, 8 p.m. ET/PT

* Bless This House, CBS, Wednesdays, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT

* American Gothic, CBS, Wednesdays, 10 p.m. ET/PT

* Hope & Gloria, NBC, Saturdays, 9 p.m. ET/PT

* NewsRadio, NBC, Sundays, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT

* Minor Adjustments moves from NBC to UPN, Tuesdays, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT

* Simon, The WB Network, Sundays, 7:30 p.m. ET/PT

* Kirk, The WB Network, Sundays, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT