The past year was cut-throat competitive, with Seven emerging from a ratings slump with mega-hits Dancing with the Stars, Lost and Desperate Housewives to challenge Nine’s "still the one" boast.

But beyond these returning series – and more CSI and Law & Order – what does the new TV year hold?

Burned by the fire of a thousand failed Australian drama series, the networks will play it safe with telemovies, miniseries and other short-run series. Australian comedy will be thin on the ground, too, but Ten is trying a couple of new formulas in the hope of kick-starting the genre. Reality TV will power on with the old (Big Brother, Australian Idol and The Mole) and the new.

As for imported drama, there will be more science fiction than there are Roswell conspiracy theories. So, here are the shows that will be competing for your attention.
Australian drama
Answered by Fire ABC (2 x 90 minutes)
Stars: David Wenham, Tara Morice.
Synopsis: The 1999 referendum in East Timor on independence from Indonesia and the bloodshed that followed.
Why it might work: Director Jessica Hobbs did the awesome Love My Way.
Why it might not: A Canadian co-production, Australians may not think it’s local enough.
Bastard Boys ABC (4 x 60)
The 1998 waterfront dispute between Patrick stevedoring and the Australian Maritime Union.
Pro: Writer Sue Smith also penned Brides of Christ and The Leaving of Liverpool.
Con: It’s politically charged, which might go either way when it comes to attracting viewers.

Before Dawn ABC (telemovie)
Geoffrey Rush (unconfirmed).
Prime minister John Curtin’s first six months in office.
Pro: Another The Dismissal?
Con: ABC drama has been mediocre of late.
Headland Seven (series)
Libby Tanner, Samuel Atwell, Rachael Taylor.
University life in the aftermath of a car accident that took the lives of three people.
Pro: A less competitive summer launch might allow it to build an audience.
Con: Except that it hasn’t.
The Joanna Lees Story Ten (telemovie)
British tourist Joanna Lees escapes when she and her boyfriend Peter Falconio are ambushed by a gunman in Alice Springs.
Pro: The case has captured national and international attention.
Con: Viewers may have had enough trauma with Wolf Creek.
The Silence ABC (2 x 55)
Richard Roxburgh, Essie Davis, Alice McConnell and Emily Barclay
A former police detective working at the Police and Justice Museum becomes intrigued by a crime photo from the 1960s.
Pro: Directed by Cate Shortland (Somersault).
Con: The enthusiasm for crime drama may have peaked.

The Society Murders Ten (telemovie)
Georgie Parker, Alex Dimitriades.
The murder of Margaret Wales-King and Paul King told from her children’s point of view.
Pro: True-crime offering My Husband, My Killer was 2001’s top-rating Australian telemovie.
Con: More recent miniseries and telemovies have not performed so well for Ten.
Stepfather of the Bride ABC (telemovie)
Noni Hazlehurst, William McInnes, Lucy Taylor, Georgie Parker, Alex Dimitriades, Garry McDonald.
A comedy about a lavish wedding in which the parents are divorced and remarried.
Pro: Creator Geoffrey Atherden wrote Grass Roots, Mother and Son, The Aunty Jack Show and Sons and Daughters.
Con: Is it possible to wring new laughs out of such well-trodden material?

Tripping Over Ten (short-run series)
A travel-themed multigenerational drama set in Thailand, Australia and Britain.
Pro: The pedigree; Andrew Knight (SeaChange) and Mike Cullen (Britain’s
Cold Feet).
Con: Knight’s CrashBurn did just that.
Two Twisted Nine (14 x 30)
Bryan Brown, Sam Neill, Vince Colosimo, Jacqueline McKenzie, Bill Hunter, Lisa McCune, Deborah Mailman.
A successor to Brown’s Twisted Tales, each episode is a self-contained thriller.
Pro: All-star cast.
Con: The original was a mixed bag.
Imported drama

Bones Seven (series)
David Boreanaz (Angel), Emily Deschanel (Cold Mountain).
Crime series following forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan.
Pro: Based on Kathy Reich’s best-selling novels.
Con: Has to steal viewers from the established crime shows.
Close to Home Nine (series)
Jennifer Finnigan (The Bold and the Beautiful).
A lawyer returns to work after having a baby, prosecuting miscreants from suburbia’s seedy underbelly.
Pro: Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.
Con: See Bones.
Commander in Chief Seven (series)
Geena Davis, Donald Sutherland.
Vice-president MacKenzie Allen becomes the first female US president.
Pro: A winner in the US.
Con: Might be too political.

Conviction Ten (series)
Stephanie March (Law & Order: SVU), Eric Balfour (Six Feet Under).
Character-driven drama following an assistant district attorney.
Pro: From Dick (Law & Order) Wolf.
Con: Wolf’s non-L & O track record is
not great.
Cracker Seven (series)
Robbie Coltrane.
Ten years on, the crime-solving doctor of psychology is back.
Pro: The original series was hugely popular.
Con: Crime shows have changed a lot in the past decade.

Criminal Minds Seven (series)
Mandy Patinkin (Chicago Hope).
Crime drama following a FBI profiler.
Pro: Less grisly forensics, more focus on why.
Con: See Bones.
Elizabeth I ABC (2 x 105)
Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons.
Virgin daughter of Henry VIII reunites nation.
Pro: It’s a historical drama from Britain with a great cast.
Con: It’s an oft-told tale.
Prison Break Seven (series)
Wentworth Miller (Dinotopia), Australia’s Dominic Purcell.
A man gets sent to jail so he can spring his brother, who claims to have been framed, from death row.
Pro: A great concept well executed.
Con: There’s no justice in this world.
Reunion Ten (11 x 60)
Chyler Leigh (The Practice)
Six friends, one 20-year high school reunion, one murder. Each episode covers a year
since 1986.
Pro: Interesting idea.
Con: It has been axed in the US and we’ll never know who the killer is.

Rome Nine (12 x 60)
Kevin McKidd (Kingdom of Heaven), Ray Stevenson (At Home with the Braithwaites).
Set before Julius Caesar’s March 15 appointment, it follows the lives of two soldiers and their families.
Pro: The HBO-BBC combination is hard
to ignore.
Con: Post-Gladiator sword-and-sandal epics have not set the world alight.
Invasion Nine (series)
William Fichtner (The Longest Yard).
Along with carnage, a hurricane brings some strange happenings.
Pro: Science fiction with a heavy emphasis on family and a touch of thriller.
Con: Sci-fi has not been a hit with Australian viewers of late.
Supernatural Ten (series)
Jared Padalecki (Gilmore Girls), Jensen Ackles (Smallville).
Brothers attempt to solve their mother’s death and solve a few urban legends along the way. It’s Mythbusters with hunkier leads.
Pro: US critics loved it.
Con: Aimed at younger viewers, who are not that big on drama.

Surface Ten (series)
Lake Bell (Boston Legal).
The beasts from 20,000 fathoms are on land and the government doesn’t like it.
Pro: Ten’s trying to build an audience by showing it in the summer.
Con: It has performed OK, but viewers who have missed it so far may be disinclined to catch up.
Threshold Ten (series)
Carla Gugino (Sin City), Brent Spiner.
Aliens invade and this time the government folks are the good guys.
Pro: One of the strongest of the sci-fi crop.
Con: See Surface or, for that matter, Invasion.
West Wing ABC (series)
Martin Sheen, et al.
Life for the US president’s staff, free from Nine’s erratic scheduling.
Pro: Suits the ABC demographic to a T.
Con: Starts from season four, not the strongest of its seasons.

Australian comedy
The Wedge Ten (series)
Ian McFadyen.
Sketch comedy set in a fictitious suburb.
Pro: McFadyen was involved in the successful The Comedy Company.
Con: Sketch comedy is not exactly flavour of the month.
Thank God You’re Here Ten (series)
Well-known personalities are thrown into a scene and asked to improvise.
Pro: The Working Dog team (The Panel, Frontline) is in charge.
Con: Improv is inherently risky.
Imported comedy
Everybody Hates Chris Ten (series)
Voice of Chris Rock.
Loosely based on Rock’s childhood, it’s like an edgy Wonder Years meets Malcolm in the Middle.
Pro: It’s hilarious.
Con: That’s no guarantee of success.

The Jenna Elfman Show Ten (series)
Jenna Elfman, Dabney Coleman.
A lawyer is looking for love.
Pro: Elfman was endearing in Dharma & Greg.
Con: Lawyers and love didn’t work for Miss Match.
How I Met Your Mother Seven (series)
Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan.
A father explains to his kids . . . well, the title says it all.
Pro: It’s got Doogie Howser in it.
Con: Rest of country possibly not as excited by Doogie as I.
Old Christine Nine (series)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
A divorced woman’s ex dates a woman with the same name as her.
Pro: Louis-Dreyfus, Elaine in Seinfeld, is innately funny.
Con: The Seinfeld curse: all the stars have bombed in their own sitcoms, including Louis-Dreyfus in Watching Ellie.

My Name Is Earl Seven (series)
Jason Lee.
Petty crook discovers karma and decides to right past wrongs.
Pro: One of the most successful new comedies in the US.
Con: Not all successful US comedies work here.
Out of Practice Ten (series)
Jennifer Tilly, Henry Winkler, Stockard Channing.
Focuses on a family of doctors.
Pro: Frasier star Kelsey Grammer directed
the pilot.
Con: It’s on "hiatus" in the US.
The War at Home Nine (series)
Michael Rapaport.
With teenagers, family is a battlefield.
Pro: Squabbling worked for Everybody
Loves Raymond.
Con: Risque themes have outraged conservative groups in the US.
Australian reality
TV documentary
The Biggest Loser Ten (40 x 30)
A. J. Rochester.
Sixteen people compete to lose weight.
Pro: The US version was popular.
Con: Changing it to a nightly 30-minute series is risky.

Going Bush SBS (4 x 30)
Cathy Freeman, Deborah Mailman.
Australian travelogue from an indigenous perspective.
Pro: Popular hosts.
Con: Will their audience travel to SBS?.
Growing up in Australia ABC (two-part series)
Ten thousand children are observed for their first seven years to determine what makes a happy child.
Pro: Michael Apted’s 7-Up and his seven-yearly follow-ups are a landmark in documentary making.
Con: What makes an interesting study doesn’t always make good TV.
History Initiative ABC (10 x 60)
A three-year, $7.5 million joint project with Film Australia to examine our significant people and events.
Pro: Australia needs someone to tell its stories.
Con: Reunion, anyone?
Honey, We’re Killing the Kids Ten (series)
Based on a British series, parents get a glimpse of what bad dietary habits may do to
their children.
Pro: You Are What You Eat is still popular.
Con: But is that enough to offset the cost of making it?

Jamie’s Kitchen Australia Ten (series)
Jamie Oliver
Based on the British show in which Oliver trains 15 unemployed youths.
Pro: The original was riveting viewing and
rated well.
Con: Is the Naked Chef on the wane?.
jtv ABC (series)
Interactive, cross-platform, half-hour series with Triple J featuring interviews and
live performance.
Pro: ABC TV has long been the champion of youth music.
Con: But that was before all the pay-TV
music channels.
Missing Persons Unit Nine (series)
Real-life Without a Trace with the NSW Police missing persons unit.
Pro: True-crime imports work well on late-night TV.
Con: Prime time might be a different story.
Nerds FC SBS (8 x 30)
Fourteen self-confessed nerds have three months to learn the beautiful game.
Pro: It’s based on a Danish reality series; Europe gave us Big Brother.
Con: Do Australians love soccer enough to watch reality shows about it?.

The Pet Show ABC (series)
Johnny Young.
The Young Talent Time host fronts a 30-minute pet infotainment show.
Pro: Lots of people have pets.
Con: Aren’t they all walking the dog or feeding the cat at 6.30pm?
Police Patrol Seven (series)
Follows the West Australian police.
Pro: From the producers as the successful Border Security.
Con: Will it travel to the eastern states?
The Real Seachange Seven (series)
Follows city slickers who go bush.
Pro: The fictional version was huge.
Con: Fact may be stranger than fiction, but is it better?
Star Portraits ABC (4 x 30)
Rolf Harris.
Four Australians who have contributed to the ABC are interviewed by Harris and painted by three artists.
Pro: It was a hit in Britain.
Con: Might be like watching paint dry.

Suspicious Minds Nine (series)
Real-life forensic scientists.
Pro: US forensic shows are popular.
Con: Seven’s Forensic Investigations only averaged a million viewers last year.
Where Are They Now? Seven (specials)
Stop wondering whatever happened to Manuel from Fawlty Towers or Hot Lips from M*A*S*H
Pro: Nostalgia rates.
Con: Dependent on the calibre of the subjects.
Overseas reality TV

Worst Jobs in History ABC (6 x 50)
Tony Robinson
Looks at less appealing jobs over time, such as powder monkey.
Pro: History with humour is usually an entertaining mix.
Con: Yet the genre can be irritating.
Game shows
Australia’s Brainiest Specials Ten (8 x 60)
Australia’s Brainiest Kids celebrity spin-off sees sports stars, musicians and others quizzed.
Pro: We like to see celebrities in competition.
Con: Aside from Dancing with the Stars the ratings for such shows have not been huge.
Family Feud Nine (series)
Bert Newton.
Celebrity version of the game show.
Pro: Old Moonface.
Con: It’s up against Deal or No Deal.

Friday Night Games Ten (series)
Mike Goldman, Bree Amer, Ryan Fitzgerald.
Big Brother Friday Night Live without the Big Brother angle.
Pro: Against the odds, Friday Night Live was highly amusing.
Con: May not pack the same punch with contestants less familiar than the housemates.
Head to Head ABC (42 x 30)
Ashley Bradnam(The Fat).
Sports trivia quiz.
Pro: Might attract The Fat’s old audience.
Con: The timeslot will be key. As The Fat discovered, if it has to compete against actual sport, it will lose.

Wheel of Fortune Seven (series)
An old favourite back from the dead.
Pro: A TV staple for decades.
Con: Um, it was axed not long ago.