Just like last year

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Television execs this fall are doing what they do best — bringing us new series just like the old ones we love so much.

Comedies haven't fared well the past few years, and this season proves no different. There are just six new comedies among the more than two dozen new shows, and fewer than 20 non-animated half-hour sitcoms in total. That's barely more than half as many as were on the small screen just five years ago.

Instead, we're seeing more genre shows. A slew of science-fiction-inspired series follow "Heroes," one of last year's few freshman hits. It also may be the season for soaps, with some guilty pleasures modeled on the success of "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy."

Monday nights used to mean must-see sitcoms on CBS, such as "Everybody Loves Raymond" and the just-departed "The King of Queens." On Sept. 24, CBS brings back "Two and a Half Men," "How I Met Your Mother" and "Rules of Engagement" and adds one new sitcom to the mix: "The Big Bang Theory," about two brainiacs who live across from an attractive blonde.

NBC, meanwhile, has its own geek that night in "Chuck," about a computer-geek-turned-secret-agent, at 8. "Heroes" is next, followed by one of those "Heroes"-inspired shows, "Journeyman." Kevin McKidd ("Rome") is a journalist who travels through time. Meeting his former fiancee causes trouble with his wife.

Fox is programming its own dramas against CBS' comedies and introducing them a week sooner, on Sept. 17. "K-Ville," a police drama set in post-Katrina New Orleans, airs at 9, following "Prison Break."

ABC, meanwhile, has a new comedy of its own, starting Oct. 15. In "Samantha Who?" Christina Applegate ("Married ... With Children") stars as a woman with amnesia.

Tuesdays mostly feature old drama favorites: CBS' "NCIS" and "The Unit," Fox's "Bones" and "House," NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" and ABC's "Boston Legal." Add one of the most promising new dramas to the mix: CBS' "Cane," premiering Tuesday. Jimmy Smits stars as the heir to a Cuban-American family's rum and sugar empire.

On Sept. 25, the CW premieres one of its new series, "The Reaper," which is about a young man who discovers his parents sold his soul to the devil, played by the busy Ray Wise ("24" and "The Closer"). Another bows Oct. 1: Premised on the culture shock that ensues when a Wisconsin family gets a Muslim exchange student, "Aliens in America" caused a lot of controversy among television critics who saw it earlier in the summer.

ABC has the comedy "Cavemen," based on those ubiquitous Geico commercials, and "Carpoolers," about a group of men who are just that. They bow Oct. 2.