NBC adds 6 shows

If "Coupling" isn't the next "Friends," NBC is in real trouble.

The network announced a relatively conservative fall schedule this week, adding just six new shows — three comedies and three dramas — moving four returning shows to new time slots and cutting back on the number of weekly editions of the newsmagazine "Dateline" to two.

The biggest surprises may be the shows that didn't get canceled. "Ed" not only survived for another season but was restored to its Wednesday-night time slot. And the critically acclaimed "Boomtown" was also renewed, moving to Fridays in the fall, when Vanessa L. Williams will join the cast.

Despite NBC president Jeff Zucker's hype for the advertisers, his network is in desperate need of a hit comedy, something it hasn't developed since "Will & Grace," five years ago. This year's big hope is "Coupling," which Zucker obviously wants to replace "Friends" when that show exits next year.

The sexy "Coupling" is based on a British series, and that series was based on "Friends."

In other Thursday news, "ER" has been renewed for an additional two years, which will carry the show through the end of the 2005-06 season.

NBC is also pinning its hopes on "Whoopi," assigning Whoopi Goldberg's new sitcom the lead-off slot on Tuesdays — another night that will need help if reports are true that "Frasier" will retire in 2004.

NBC's new comedies:

Whoopi (Tuesdays, 7 p.m.) casts Whoopi Golderg as a has-been singing diva who runs a small New York hotel and offers her opinions (loudly, no doubt) to everyone.

Happy Family (Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m.) stars John Larroquette ("Night Court") and Christine Baranski ("Cybill") as a couple whose twentysomething kids refuse to leave the nest. From the producers of "Mad About You" and "Just Shoot Me."

Coupling (Thursdays, 8:30 p.m.) is sort of a sexed-up "Friends," about six, um, friends who have been, are or will be intimately involved with each other. The cast includes Rena Sofer and Colin Ferguson.

NBC's new dramas:

The Lyon's Den (Sundays, 9 p.m.) stars Rob Lowe ("The West Wing") as the "maverick, idealistic son from a political dynasty," who is a lawyer based in Washington, D.C., and whose firm "may or may not be hiding some dark secrets." (I'm guessing it is.) The cast includes Kyle Chandler, Matt Craven, David Krumholtz and Frances Fisher.