CBS plans to introduce a second reality series along with two new comedies and five new dramas for the upcoming autumn season.
CBS stole the coveted Thursday night ratings crown from NBC with Survivor and will hope the same trick works once again as it introduces a third edition of the survival gameshow, this time set in Africa. The second series of Survivor, set in the Australian outback, has just finished its run.
Survivor, which is set to begin in the UK on ITV on Monday, will return to the 8pm Thursday night slot to do battle with the once all-powerful NBC hit sitcom Friends.
This season, Viacom-owned CBS managed to tie with Walt Disney-owned ABC for total numbers of viewers but, more importantly, CBS made gains thanks to programmes such as Survivor in the key 18-49 demographic so beloved by advertisers. However, it is here that it remains behind rivals Fox, NBC and ABC.
CBS's new reality TV show, which could also make its way to the UK, is The Amazing Race, slated for Wednesdays at 9pm. Viewers will watch 11 teams race around the world in 30 to 40 days for a $1m (£699.5m) prize.
To attract more of the 18-49 audience, CBS is lining up science-fiction drama Wolf Lake, about wolves who live in the form of humans. It is hoping that this teen show will do for it what Buffy the Vampire Slayer did for AOL Time Warner's WB network. Another new show to air will be Citizen Baines about a US senator who returns home after losing an election battle. To combat consistent NBC ratings winner ER, CBS has The Agency, a CIA-based drama about life among the world of spooks.
These programmes replace older-orientated programming such as dramas Walker, Texas Ranger with Chuck Norris and Diagnosis Murder starring Dick Van Dyke which have been axed.
The network also unveiled new Friday night comedies: The Ellen Show starring Ellen DeGeneres of Ellen fame and American Wreck, starring City Slickers and Home Alone star Daniel Stern. The ABC network has returning comedy The Drew Carey Show and new a sitcom staring comedian Denis Leary called The Job.
DeGeneres returns to TV screens after a three-year break when she famously came out on American TV in 1998 on ABC, which quickly dropped her show as ratings plummeted.
In addition, CBS revealed a new hour-long drama, The Education of Max Bickford, starring Richard Dreyfuss and a law drama The Guardian, which will take on NBC's hit Frasier and ABC's new comedy Bob Patterson, starring Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame.
Fox and UPN are due to announce their autumn line-up tomorrow.