Next week in Los Angeles, several new network honchos will offer glowing presentations of their primetime wares for 2004-05 before a gathering of TV critics. Each network chief can be expected to explain - with help from charts, graphs, TelePrompTers and Hollywood star power - why his or her shows are superior.
   In their inaugural news conferences, the incoming network presidents will celebrate their new comedies and dramas as sales tools, if not as entertainment offerings. And they will praise their recently dumped predecessors.
   At ABC in particular, where the pilots look better than they have in years, the executives crowing about their lineups can't take credit for them. The current ABC bosses inherited the schedules they are now selling.
   If they do not improve the ratings, they too will be history by the time the 2005-06 season is unveiled.
   Here's a network-by-network look at the suit shuffle.
   ABC
   ABC's two top executives were booted by parent Disney this spring, sending a message of continued chaos at the lagging network. Chairman Lloyd Braun and president Susan Lyne were fired. His departure was expected, hers was not.
   Lyne's claim to fame was keeping "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" running after John Ritter's death. She acknowledged putting too many reality shows on the air, admitted she was embarrassed about "Are You Hot?" and left the network in a distant fourth place.
   ABC Cable Networks president Anne Sweeney steps in to lead the struggling ABC Television Network. Steve McPherson of Disney's Touchstone Television becomes president of ABC Primetime Entertainment.
   ABC has some of the most promising pilots this year, notably the clever soap "Desperate Housewives," from the writer of "Melrose Place"; a drama called "Lost," a sort of "Lord of the Flies" concept about the survivors of a plane crash, from J.J. Abrams ("Felicity," "Alias"); and "Blind Justice," from Steven Bochco ("NYPD Blue"). All were developed on the Lyne-Braun watch.
   Additionally, the reality series they launched, "Wife Swap," is touted as ABC's next possible franchise. "Husband Swap" and "Boss Swap" are already in development.
   Best pilot: "Lost."
   SOURCE: The Denver Post Permanent Link | 10:43 PM