David Bianculli

Co-executive producers Barry Sonnenfeld and Bryan Fuller of the new comedy/drama “Pushing Daises” on ABC. The show combines romance, fantasy and mystery and is about a guy who can bring the dead back to life with a mere touch. Fuller created the series and also created the TV series “Dead Like Me” and was a writer and executive producer on “Heroes.” Sonnenfeld directed the “Men in Black” films and the “Addams Family” films. He also was executive producer of the TV show “The Tick.” (THIS INTERVIEW WAS CONDUCTED BY DAVID BIANCULLI).

Actor Ray Wise (Good Night, and Good Luck) portrays the devil in Reaper, a new series from Clerks writer-director Kevin Smith.

The show centers on a 21-year-old slacker, Sam, who discovers that his parents sold his soul to the devil when he was born. Sam must now serve as the devil's bounty hunter, helping return evildoers to hell.

Reaper premieres on the CW network on Sept. 25.

Comedian and actor Andy Richter's new sitcom is Andy Barker, P.I. Richter plays an accountant who is mistaken for the detective who formerly occupied the office he is renting. He reluctantly takes on the role of private investigator and discovers he likes it.

The show just premiered on NBC and airs Thursdays at 9:30 p.m.

Henry Winkler plays a doctor on the new CBS sitcom Out of Practice, which premiered last month and can be seen Mondays at 9:30 p.m. Winkler also spent two seasons playing a lawyer on the TV series Arrested Development.

Mitch Hurwitz is the creator and executive producer of the TV series Arrested Development. The FOX show, which has won critical praise for its irreverently dysfunctional family, airs on Monday nights.

As May draws to a close, fans of some of television's biggest shows -- American Idol, CSI, Desperate Housewives, among others -- are being treated to season-ending finales. At the same time, TV is testing the waters for its fall season.

Abrams is the executive producer and creator of the ABC series Lost about a group of survivors from an airplane crash marooned on an island. He also acts as the creator and executive producer of the series Alias. And he wrote the screenplays for the films Armageddon, Forever Young, and Regarding Henry.

He stars as maverick cop Vic Mackey in the FX channel drama series The Shield. Last year, in the first year of the series, Chiklis won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Now it's year two. The Shield is a major departure from the sunnier roles Chiklis had in his past TV shows, The Commish and Daddio.

Lewis Gould is a professor of American History at the University of Texas at Austin. He’s edited the new book, “Watching Television Come of Age” (University of Texas Press) a collection of the New York Times reviews by his father, Jack Gould who covered TV for the Times from 1947 until 1972. Jack Gould died in 1993.

TV critic David Bianculli on the desperate way the networks try to attract viewers, and The Anna Nicole Show, E! cable channels new reality show.