Maybe it’s some leftover euphoria from the start of the baseball season, but there’s something in the air right now about the state of television. And no, it’s not a stench. It’s ... take a whiff ... optimism.

Things will get progressively darker soon enough. In May, the networks will announce their new fall shows, which means they’re going to kill a whole bunch of others. And you’re going to come whining about the loss of "American Dreams" or "Committed" or "Jake in Progress" or some such nonsense, and there will be, right here, nary a care. We’re about the future. As the Replacements once sang so philosophically, everybody on this bus is looking forward.

Unless Fox kills "Arrested Development." And then there will be an unholy hell unleashed in this space, plus lots of pathetic, sorry-ass whining. Like you care. You don’t even watch the show.

Anyway, that’s digression. OK, so we know that in May there’s this weird aura of hope among the six broadcast networks — 40 or so new shows coming up in September! — and then, following historical protocol, there’s no announcement of any kind about the dead shows. You read in the paper that some sitcom about five siblings in their 20s moving back in with their drunken troll parents is going to air Monday nights at 10 p.m. on ABC and then you suddenly — gasp! — remember that’s the "Supernanny" slot, and you weep into your now-opened honey pot of Percocet.

It’s a cruel business.

But on the other hand, this is April, and they’re making pilots in Hollywood. Lots of pilots. Tons of them. And when a new show goes into production, God help our jaded souls, it’s like baseball’s thrill of the grass all over again. Spring! Renewal! Shows that may not suck! Our job made easier!

Right now, they are filming all kinds of premises. Lame ones, familiar ones, lame and familiar ones. But also interesting ones. And some that may become the next "Desperate Housewives" or "Lost." Perhaps the best news of all is that, checking over what each of the six networks is developing, there are precious few new reality shows. There are some spin-offs and some copies, but all told, the numbers are small.

You there, rejoice. That is good news. (Fox, by the way, seems to be really, really off the reality jones.)

Part of the optimism, which is almost always misplaced but resurfaces every year without fail, is that the current season isn’t all that bad. In fact, it has yielded two hits (the aforementioned "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" on ABC), which, in addition to being popular, are also good. It’s one of those glorious rarities.

Other shows will survive that have their own merit. "House," on Fox, is a fantastic vehicle for the acting lesson that Hugh Laurie puts on every week, even though it’s not an entirely perfect hospital drama. But neither is "Grey’s Anatomy," and yet it has turned into ABC’s other drama hit, creating wonderful scheduling problems for a network that was sinking fast just one season ago (and let’s not forget that "Eyes," another entertaining drama about private detectives, is rallying hard to be a hit).

Now, remember, we’re not even taking into consideration cable here. HBO and Showtime have some swell stuff coming (not only this summer but next fall, too), and FX — ostensibly this country’s fifth network because it trounces both the WB and UPN in quality shows — is launching four new series.

This is healthy. This is positive. TV is good.

Well, wait. It’s good on paper. Maybe when we all get to see it later on, it will have morphed into something sublimely stupid and annoying, but right now everything is a glittering jewel. Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana ("Homicide: Life on the Street") are making a pilot for NBC about brain surgeons ("3 lbs."); Robb and Mark Cullen, who made the hysterically brilliant "Lucky" for FX, are making a sitcom pilot for Fox set at a car dealership ("New Car Smell"). David Mamet and Shawn Ryan ("The Shield") are making a military drama for Fox (about special forces). Frank Spotnitz, who was instrumental in "The X-Files," is updating "The Night Stalker" for ABC.

There are a lot of intriguing actors coming to television: Heather Graham, John Leguizamo, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jenna Elfman, Chris Rock, Bernadette Peters, Geena Davis and Brenda Blethyn. Plus a host of others (like Julie Bowen and Tom Cavanaugh from "Ed" and Alyson Hannigan and Nicholas Brendon from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") we’d like to see again.

Aliens are making a huge comeback next fall. Huge. There are going to be some old-fashioned variety shows, too. And yes, the schedule will continue to be littered with crime-and-punishment series, this time with an emphasis on government forces, not just forensic detectives.

Every day this month, a new pilot is getting made. In May, a good deal of them will be swept away forever. Lost. Never seen. Others will be held for midseason. It’s part of television’s cycle of life. April is a birth month. Joy is in the air.

Of course, there’s also a whole bunch of repellent sausages being made right now. But we can wait until May to get negative.