A funny thing happened … on the way to the fall TV season

Are you looking for laughs?

The broadcast networks sure hope so, despite the fact that comedies have not, overall, been ratings winners in recent seasons.

ABC is jumping in the deep end of the pool — four new half hour comedies airing back-to-back-to-back-to-back on Wednesdays. At the other end of the spectrum, The CW has given up on half-hour comedies altogether.

CBS, NBC and Fox are all launching new comedies, however. There are comedies about an unwed mother; battling brothers; a divorcee; a fallen mogul; an extended family; middle Americans; animated idiots; and a community college.

Of course, there are also three medical dramas; two spinoffs; a pair of soaps; a couple legal dramas; a pair of science fiction shows and not one but two supernatural comedy/drama/romances.

And a lot of them also include a good bit of humor.

It's the fall launch for the five broadcast networks.

Here's what to expect from ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. (The CW's new shows, "Melrose Place," "The Beautiful Life" and "Vampire Diaries," were previewed on Sept. 4.)

SUNDAY

THE CLEVELAND SHOW (Sundays, 7:30 p.m., Fox/Ch. 13): In this animated spinoff of "Family Guy." Cleveland and his son move to his hometown, where he runs into the girl he loved in high school. A couple of commercial breaks later, they're married, and he's the stepfather to her kids.

The neighborhood is populated by a loudmouth redneck and a family of talking bears. Really.

The lowdown:This show is better than "Family Guy," but that's faint praise. It does, at least, have something that is more like a plot.

But Fox is misrepresenting this as a family show. It's replete with crude sexual jokes and vulgarity.

The bottom line:If "Family Guy" can be a success, why not "Cleveland"? More's the pity.

Debut date:Sept. 27

THREE RIVERS (Sundays, 9 p.m., CBS/Ch. 2):The title of this medical drama has two meanings. First, it's set in Pittsburgh.

Second, it's three stories coming together. The story of the medical team that performs organ transplants; the person who donates the organ; and the person who receives the organ.