ABC: Ready to laugh again

In a sharp contrast to NBC's no-nonsense upfront presentation of its 2006-07 schedule on Monday, ABC had plenty of fun with its production; the boldest, most surprising element of the afternoon was Entertainment president Stephen McPherson's sultry cha-cha-cha with a professional ballroom dancer who wore something approximating clothing, plugging, of course, "Dancing with the Stars."

The funniest moment came courtesty "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes, who decried the constant sex enjoyed by the sundry frisky characters on her series as “Nasty. … I would definitely clean up the place,� she declared, cuing a filmed fantasy in which the guys from the show -- Isaiah Washington, James Pickens, Jr. and, of course, Patrick Dempsey -- shower together, soaping up one another with what appeared to approach relish. Rhimes soon joined in on the fun.

The indefatigable William Shatner performed yet another "musical" number, and Jimmy Kimmel offered up his traditional evisceration of ABC. Noting that Rosie O'Donnell was joining the cast of "The View," perhaps alongside Star Jones, he marveled: "Star and Rosie, it’s going to be like 'Alien vs. Predator' – whoever wins, we lose." For the next cycle of "Dancing with the Stars," Kimmel suggested, “We’re thinking about using actual stars.�

ABC can afford to smile, as its hits are huge hits. Everything else, however: huge bombs. Which is why the network really went out on a limb, ordering a dozen new scripted series for next season -- six comedies and six dramas. Ordering a half-dozen comedies (including an hourlong comedy, "Betty the Ugly," from executive producer Salma Hayek) is a particularly brash move given how poorly most of them have been performing of late.

But -- and I can't believe I'm about to say this, given that ABC's current signature sitcom is "According to Jim" -- the network's new comedies seem more promising than its new dramas.

"Betty the Ugly," for example, looks to be a potential charmer, starring America Ferrera as the title character (ugly, of course, only by TV standards -- she has glasses and braces), who's decidedly out of place at the snooty fashion magazine where she works. "Let's Rob..." could be a fun lark; it concerns a bunch of losers who decide to pull off a daring heist of Mick Jagger's schmancy Central Park digs. "Big Day" takes "24's" real-time gimmick to depict a young couple's disastrous wedding day.

Two other sitcoms are a lot edgier than anyone'd expect from ABC, as they both focus exclusively on monumentally screwed-up characters: "In Case of Emergency," about a quartet of losers who try to bolster one another, and "Help Me Help You," about the demented patients of a group-therapy session and their equally lunatic doctor, played by Ted Danson. The least interesting sitcom appears to be "Notes from the Underbelly," which'll offer too much navel-gazing re: the pros and cons of parenthood.

As for the dramas, well, less enthusiasm from these quarters. One of the more promising plays more like a comedy -- "Men in Trees," a "Northern Exposure" redux starring Anne Heche as the author of ill-informed self-help dating books who takes up residence in Alaska, where the male-to-female ratio is skewed in favor of women, if they can stand the men's eccentricities. There are two "Fugitive" knockoffs with goofy gimmicks -- "Day Break" adds the "Groundhog Day" element (Taye Diggs plays a cop framed for murder; he relives the same day that he's framed over and over until he finds the real killer); "Traveler" posits the guy who framed two friends for a bombing as a mystery man with no apparent identity or past.

"The Nine" has an intriguing concept -- survivors of a hostage crisis cope with their survivors' guilt and other disparate emotions together -- and a not-bad cast, but would seem difficult to sustain: Will viewers care if they're still moping about this in season three? And "Six Degrees" apparently has no concept whatsoever, as the network's cut-down for the show didn't even try to explain what it was about. Which, I suppose, is at least refreshingly honest.