CBS is something of a mixed bag these days. On the one hand it has the usual slew of reality shows and third-tier procedurals like the many-headed beast that is CSI. On the other hand it has fair-to-good comedies like How I Met Your Mother and inventive, woefully underrated programs like Numb3rs. With a full docket of laughers, CBS has decided to pile on the drama this Fall (with one exception). Here's what's new.

Accidentally On Purpose

There are two kinds of doomed shows on TV. One is the series too good to survive in a network setting, the other is the idea that never should have seen the greenlight in the first place. Accidentally On Purpose is the very definition of the latter. It's as if a hack writer or a hopelessly out-of-touch executive rented Knocked Up and decided it would make a good TV show (which it wouldn't). Accidentally On Purpose has essentially the same plot, minus the pot humor or any chance of being funny. By that same token, I suppose Jenna Elfman is the cut-rate version of Katherine Heigl and Jon Foster is the thinner, somehow more scruffy and probably less funny version of Seth Rogen.

The Good Wife

Between this new legal drama and Fox's upcoming comedy Sons of Tucson I think Fall 2009 has officially embraced white-collar crime as a preferred topical plot point. The Good Wife has a lot of potential, especially considering the headlining cast. I lost interest in ER after a couple seasons, but her surprising turn on The Sopranos brought Julianna Margulies back into focus as a fine TV actress. She stars as Alicia Florrick, a mother of two who returns to her career as a defense attorney after her husband (Chris Noth!) gets caught up in a scandal and sent to prison. I'm also happy to see Josh Charles get a headlining role again. He was excellent in the first season of In Treatment.

Three Rivers

Because we apparently need another medical show, CBS has decided to launch Three Rivers, a series whose extremely specific premise may make it into a refreshing spin on the already tired genre, or may sink it early. This show focuses on organ transplants from all angles; donors, recipients and operating doctors. It has a cast so young and pretty they practically twinkle, which doesn't bode well for any prospect of emotional depth. Three Rivers is getting a Sunday slot, so we'll have to see if it flounders or flourishes given the lack of direct competition.

Medium (network swap)

Between this show and Scrubs, it looks like network-hopping has become downright trendy. Medium spent several seasons doing a decent job of being creepy but somehow non-threatening on NBC, though it stumbled in the ratings in its last season there. CBS has picked it up to run on its surprisingly loaded Friday lineup sandwiched between The Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs. If Medium keeps doing what it has always done well, there's no reason to believe it won't deliver in its new digs.