First impressions of the fall TV lineups

Another May, another series of 'upfronts.'

Nowadays, just about all the networks are staging these spring events, designed to entice advertisers and media buyers to commit ad dollars to their next-season shows up front. Many cable networks made their presentations in April. But the official Upfront Week, which just ended, mainly belonged to the gang that started the tradition - the major English-language broadcast networks. Last week, they presented their respective 2014-15 prime-time schedules to media buyers, advertisers and the working press in New York City.

As usual, the lineups unveiled by the 'Big Four' - ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox - include yet more scary series (such as ABC's 'The Whispers' and CBS' 'Stalker,' whose very titles are creepy), more conspiracy-laden dramas (for example, NBC's midseason 'Odyssey,' in which the terrific Anna Friel plays an American soldier caught up in a global coverup) and lots of concepts that sound suspiciously like existing hits on competing networks. (Kudos to Fox for coming up with the most original, if odd premise: 'Red Band Society,' a nighttime soap about a group of teenagers who meet as patients in a hospital's pediatric ward. And ABC is runner-up with 'Selfie,' a 'very modern' retelling of 'My Fair Lady,' in which a mentor named Henry is trying to teach a 'vapid, social-media-obsessed narcissist' named Eliza Dooley how to act like a human being.)

Although it's hard to really tell at this point what might stick, based on first impressions, here are some trends to watch out for next season.

* MORE LIMITED-RUN TELEVISION 'EVENTS': For this trend, you can thank - or blame - CBS' 'Under the Dome,' last summer's surprise ratings success. FX's 'American Horror Story' had revived the anthology series before that, and since then, cable has successfully launched 'True Detective' (HBO) and now, 'Fargo' (FX). These limited-run series not only create an urgency for viewers to watch, but offer an attractive option for big-name actors (like Matthew McConaughey and Martin Freeman), who'd be unlikely to make the usual multi-year series commitment.

And so, the broadcast networks are now following suit. NBC has a whole slew of events, including 'Heroes Reborn,' a 13-episode miniseries that will 'reconnect with the basic elements' of the first season of its late series 'Heroes'; 'A.D.,' a 12-hour miniseries that's a follow-up to History's mega-successful 'The Bible,' from Roma Downey and her husband, 'Survivor' creator Mark Burnett; and 'Emerald City,' a 10-hour modern and scary retelling of 'The Wizard of Oz.'

In March, ABC will air 'Secrets and Lies,' an intriguing-looking thriller in which Ryan Phillippe plays a murder suspect and Juliette Lewis is the detective who's on his trail. If successful, ABC said, the series could be back with 'a whole new case and a whole new suspect.' ABC also has 'American Crime,' from John Ridley ('12 Years a Slave'), which will tackle race and class issues during its 11-episode arc.

Fox has two event series: 'Gracepoint,' a 10-episode American remake of the British hit 'Broadchurch,' about the police investigation into the death of a young boy. The American version stars Anna Gunn ('Breaking Bad') and David Tennant, who reprises his role from the British series as the veteran lead detective. And in 2015, Fox will launch 'Wayward Pines,' described as an 'intense, mind-bending' 10-episode thriller from M. Night Shyamalan ('The Sixth Sense'), in which Matt Dillon plays a Secret Service agent investigating the disappearance of two federal agents in a strange Idaho town.

* MORE LIVE MUSICALS: NBC had great success last December with 'The Sound of Music Live,' which drew 19 million viewers. And so, as previously announced, NBC will do a live 'Peter Pan' (Dec. 4) - a musical that the Peacock network produced live (with Mary Martin as Peter) in 1955. That production drew 65 million people, but today, '19 is the new 65,' NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt said from the stage of the Javits Center on Monday. He also announced that NBC had just 'closed a deal' for another musical - 'The Music Man.'

'We're obsessed with trying to event-ize everything we can,' said Greenblatt, noting that Feb. 15, NBC will air a live, three-hour prime-time special that celebrates the 40th anniversary of 'Saturday Night Live.'

Not to be outdone, Fox announced that it will be doing 'Grease Live,' a three-hour live production of the Broadway musical. Fox Entertainment Chairman Kevin Reilly also spoke of the need for 'event-izing our programming.'

* BIG NAMES GO SMALL SCREEN: Oscar nominee Viola Davis will play a brilliant law professor who teaches a course called 'How to Get Away With Murder,' in ABC's same-named legal thriller from Shonda Rhimes. In NBC's midseason 'Allegiance,' Tenafly's Hope Davis and Scott Cohen play a couple who had been covert Russian spies decades ago, whom the Kremlin reactivates for duty - just as their son becomes a CIA analyst specializing in Russian affairs.

And on July 9, CBS will launch the 13-episode serialized mystery thriller 'Extant,' in which Oscar winner Halle Berry plays an astronaut trying to reconnect with her family after spending a year in outer space.

* FINAL-SEASON ANNOUNCEMENTS: Wisely, the networks have been giving more one-season warnings to both viewers and show-runners, which should allow the latter to devise terrific series finales. (Theoretically at least. Lots of viewers didn't like the long-awaited, and planned, ending of 'How I Met Your Mother.') Last week, CBS announced that next season will be the last for 'Two and a Half Men,' Fox announced the final season of 'Glee' and NBC said that 'Parenthood' and 'Parks & Recreation' would return for their final 13 episodes next season.

* BIG TV NAMES RETURNING: Téa Leoni will be back this fall, as the newly appointed U.S. secretary of state, in CBS' 'Madam Secretary'; Scott Bakula will lead the Big Easy team that investigates criminal cases affecting military personnel in CBS' 'NCIS: New Orleans.' Felicity Huffman will reappear in ABC's 'American Crime.' And on NBC, Katherine Heigl will play a high-level CIA analyst in 'State of Affairs.' (It's slated to start Nov. 17, after 'The Blacklist' finishes its fall run in that slot.)

* OVERSEAS INFLUENCE: A number of series were adapted from or inspired by ones from other countries. In addition to 'Gracepoint' (Britain), 'Allegiance' (Israel) and Debra Messing's new NBC cop drama 'The Mysteries of Laura' (based on a show from Spain), there is 'Utopia,' an unscripted 'social-experiment' Fox series, from John de Mol, inspired by a same-named Dutch hit. It will move 15 everyday Americans to an isolated, undeveloped location - for an entire year.

* SPINOFFS/EXPANDING FRAN- CHISES: In addition to the aforementioned 'NCIS: New Orleans,' there is ABC's 'Marvel's Agent Carter,' an 'origin story' for 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,' and for midseason, CBS has 'CSI: Cyber,' in which Patricia Arquette will play a 'cyber-psychologist' tackling Internet crimes.

* TRIPLE THREAT ON THURSDAY NIGHT: On ABC, Rhimes will have prime time all to herself next fall, when her new show, 'How to Get Away With Murder,' will follow 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Scandal' - also Rhimes' creations. 'I call her the Charles Dickens of the 21st century,' ABC Entertainment Group President Paul Lee told the audience at Avery Fisher Hall on Tuesday.

* MORE CRIME/LESS COMEDY: Though the pickings are slim, a few comedies look promising, including ABC's family-centric 'Black-ish,' starring Anthony Anderson and Laurence Fishburne, ABC's midseason 'Fresh off the Boat,' based on the life of chef Eddie Huang and his immigrant family, and NBC's midseason 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,' from Tina Fey and her '30 Rock' partner Robert Carlock, in which Ellie Kemper ('The Office') plays a young woman who's rescued after 15 years of living in a cult.

Email: rohan@northjersey.com