A contestant in Fox's new show Hole In The Wall
Fox

Hole In The Wall: Is this the best new offering of Fall 2008?

The fall season's new TV shows are starting to make their debuts: this week brought 90210 (unfortunately), and there are more premieres to come. This weekend, Alan Ball (of Six Feet Under and American Beauty) brings his vampire drama, True Blood, to HBO's traditional Sunday-night "good show" slot. (For more about that, check out David Bianculli's review, or hear from Alan Ball himself, about both this project and his upcoming film, Towelhead.)

But if you stick with the networks, there aren't as many new shows as you might expect. While it was easy to focus on the immediate effects of last year's writers' strike — the seasons interrupted at midpoint; the seasons not completed at all — there are perhaps even more pronounced effects just showing up now.

There are only four new network comedies this fall — two on CBS, one on Fox, and one on NBC. That's consistent with the general disappearance of half-hour prime-time comedies, of course.

But there were more than 50 such comedies on the fall schedule five years ago, on what were then six prime-time broadcast networks (before the WB and UPN merged to form the CW). The five surviving networks will air fewer than 20 this fall.

There are maybe 10 new dramas (numbers depend somewhat on how you count, and somewhat on how far into the season you consider "fall"). And there's basically nothing new happening in reality programming (though there are a couple of game shows coming down the pike) — so America's symphony orchestras and major museums had better buckle up for the coming flood of patrons who stayed home only because