TVSquad

Jay Mohr moonlights away from his regular gig on Ghost Whisperer to star as Gary Brooks in this traditional sitcom. CBS has paired Gary Unmarried with The New Adventures of Old Christine, which creates an interesting dynamic. First, you have Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a divorced woman trying to live her own life while dealing with her ex and their kid. Then you get Jay Mohr as a recently divorced man trying to live his own life while dealing with his ex and their kids.

In fact, this seems to be almost the same show, only from the ex-husband's point of view rather than the ex-wife's point of view. Husband is a bit more lax with the kids while mom is overbearing and a bit crazy. I do like that in this variation, the kids have more distinct and important personalities. In fact, Gary (premiering tonight at 8:30 PM ET) has a much wider cast altogether. Both spouses have new relationships and Gary's girlfriend has a kid of her own.

In a move as big as his executive producing Living with Fran, Jamie Kennedy has decided to return to series television. In fact, Jay Mohr's loss is Jamie's gain. Jamie Kennedy has signed on to the CBS psychic drama Ghost Whisperer. It's not a guest role or a mini-arc, he's a regular. Yes, Jamie Kennedy will be a regular and will play a dramatic role. Okay, he'll try to play it straight. Perhaps this will be the ultimate Jamie Kennedy experiment?

Jay Mohr was the college connection with whom Melinda consulted on Ghost Whisperer, but now that he's getting his own sitcom on the networks, Project Gary, GW needs a new character to provide the same kind of insight. Jamie will play Eli, a college grad student.

Of all the networks, CBS has the most new shows on deck, including two new comedies, Worst Week and Project Gary, and two new dramas, The Ex-List and The Mentalist. Another drama is set for mid-season, Harper's Island.

We've had a chance to look over these new TV shows, and by and large, it's a fascinating bunch. Also adventurous. No procedurals. More character-driven programming it seems. CBS seems determined not to rest on their laurels.

Read what we thought about these advance screeners, bearing in mind that things are liable to change before the shows start to air.

Yesterday, CBS presented their new schedule for 2008-09. If you'd like to see a sample of the new shows coming to CBS next year, click over to TV Week. There are clips from Eleventh Hour, The Ex-List, Harper's Island, Project Gary, The Mentalist and Worst Week. I've given them a once-over (actually, I watched them more than once) and here's my impressions. That means if you want to watch them fresh without my observations mucking up yours, take a look at them first before reading on.