We all suspected the folks behind The Swan and The Littlest Groom were in league with the devil. So it should come as no surprise that a drama about the daughter of Satan is one of Fox’s midseason replacements.

Point Pleasant is just one of a host of new shows all four networks are trucking to hook viewers who have stubbornly resisted most of their fall offerings.

Desperate Housewives and Lost not withstanding, more new shows have tanked than succeeded, leaving programmers scrambling to bandage the sucking chest wounds left by the likes of LAX and Hawaii.

Historically, midseason replacements don’t last long — hits such as All In The Family are rare exceptions.

And maybe this makes a certain amount of sense. If the show was any good, wouldn’t it have made the more prestigious fall lineup?

Maybe, but given the sheer volume of midseason replacements — not including the army of cheaply produced reality shows — you can bet the networks are hoping something slips through the white noise and clicks with viewers. Looking to fill the svelte supernatural curves of Sarah Michelle Gellar is Elisabeth Harnois in the aforementioned Point Pleasant, premiering Jan. 19. It’s from former Buffy The Vampire Slayer producer Marti Noxon (Buffy’s creator Joss Whedon is off reportedly prepping a Wonder Woman feature film for Matrix producer Joel Silver) and it shows.

Harnois plays a young woman washed ashore the titular seaside town. Turns out her dad is Lucifer. Seriously.

Fox — which is desperate for a strong midseason after disastrously counting on reality bombs The Rebel Billionaire and The Next Great Champ in September — debuts Jonny Zero on Jan. 14.

Smart and stylish, it’s a Gen-Y Rockford Files starring Franky G as an ex-con working both sides of the law.

The network is also making a number of programming changes. Its real-time thriller, 24, debuts tonight. Then, on Jan. 16, it will boot the flop My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss for repeats of Family Guy on Sundays. New episodes will then debut later in 2005. Before that, Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane has a new cartoon, American Dad, pencilled in for February. A satire of life in George W. Bush’s paranoid America, it’s currently set to debut after the Super Bowl.

Predictably — given its CSI franchise and hits such as Without A Trace and Cold Case — CBS is counting on continuing its crime wave with Numb3rs, an intriguing drama from producers Ridley and Tony Scott. Think the cult flick Pi meets The Silence of the Lambs. Rob Morrow (Northern Exposure) stars as an FBI agent who teams with his math-genius brother (David Krumholtz) to solve crimes. It’s a fascinating premise and distinguishes this newcomer from the myriad of police procedurals out there.

Already last week NBC enjoyed success with its two new scripted entries: The psychic-themed drama Medium and the sitcom Committed.

The former, starring Patricia Arquette as a clairvoyant drew about 16 million viewers. Airing a night later, Committed drew about 10 million watchers.

Not so lucky? Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search, which got trounced by ABC’s blockbuster castaway drama Lost. Waiting in the wings, NBC has the next Law & Order spinoff Trial by Jury and an Americanized redo of the BBC hit The Office.

With Desperate Housewives and Lost, ABC has the most enviable assets of any network — buzz and primetime real estate. It’s decision to shift its underrated Sunday spy series Alias to Wednesdays — after Lost — paid off last week when the Jennifer Garner drama premiered to series-best ratings. We’ll see if the alphabet network’s winning streak continues with Blind Justice. Debuting March 8, the drama stars Ron Eldard (ER) as a blind lawyer-turned-vigilante.