FALL FLASH: TNT and TBS step up

The TV motherlode was waiting last week when I returned home after two weeks away, and started sifting through a piled-up mountain of press kits that practically blocked the door. Amid the DVDs of upcoming reality shows, documentaries and made-for-TV movies, one little pile of series gold lay glittering -- a half-dozen pilot episodes and season-return screeners from one of TV's most savvy and reliable hit-producing outlets.

No, not CBS, not Fox, not ABC or NBC. Not even HBO or Showtime.

These shining nuggets arrived courtesy of the Turner entertainment empire's TNT and TBS:

My Name Is Earl star Jason Lee as a funky police detective in TNT's new Memphis Beat [photo at right]. TBS' take-it-literally animated comedy Neighbors From Hell [image above], hatched by longtime South Park producer Pam Brady. Sitcom faves Terry Crews (Everybody Hates Chris) and Essence Atkins (Half and Half) heading TBS' family movie spinoff Are We There Yet? And new-season samples of TNT's edgy copfest Saving Grace, con romp Leverage and hospital drama HawthoRNe.

No wonder the Turner folks crashed the broadcast networks' upfront week Wednesday, throwing a big Manhattan presentation touting their summer/fall slate to advertisers. You can read about that here, or check out the shows yourself at the websites for TNT and TBS.

TNT will have more screeners dropping at my door soon, with Kyra Sedgwick's bona fide blockbuster The Closer coming back for its sixth season July 12, followed by the new Rizzoli & Isles, starring Angie Harmon as a Boston police detective. Dylan McDermott's Dark Blue is back Aug. 4. And the returns of acclaimed series Men of a Certain Age and Southland are just months around the corner.

TBS' big news, of course, is Conan O'Brien, sliding into the 11 p.m. weeknight slot Nov. 8 -- take that, networks, during sweeps month! -- followed at midnight by George Lopez' pushed-back party. That's two fresh talk hours a night, on top of original sitcoms like the returning gem My Boys (July 25) and the Tyler Perry pair of House of Payne and Meet the Browns.

Who needs networks?

What's interesting is that TNT and TBS seem to be becoming networks, while the broadcasters frantically ape complex-drama cable innovators like HBO and FX. The Turner channels, along with USA, have returned to a more traditional drama emphasis on strong stars over ensembles, and mainstream-aimed laugh-along sitcoms that widen beyond pretty young casts and cinematic single-camera showoffs.

Call 'em crowdpleasers. Because, increasingly, they're the ones drawing the crowds the networks are now floundering to find.