Prepare to laugh this fall with new CBS sitcoms

CBS, for the past decade a network built around “CSI” and its gory crime-drama clones, Wednesday unveiled a fall schedule intended to make its viewers laugh as well as gag.

The network added two sitcoms, renewed a couple of others that seemed near cancellation just a few days ago, and expanded comedy programming from one night to two.

“One of the things we wanted to get across is how important comedy is for us,” said CBS programming chief Nina Tassler.

“Comedy has been significant for the network for many years. We had a fantastic comedy year.”

To make room for the comedies, the network canceled three notable dramas, including “Cane,” its groundbreaking nighttime soap about Cuban exiles in South Florida.

Also biting the video dust were the vampire-detective cult favorite “Moonlight” and “Shark,” which won James Woods rave reviews for his portrayal of an ethics-schmethics district attorney.

The new comedies are “Project Gary,” with Jay Mohr (“Ghost Whisperer”) and Paula Marshall (“Out of Practice”) as dueling ex-spouses, and “Worst Week,” a remake of a British series starring about a top-notch magazine editor who’s a domestic bungler.

CBS renewed the sitcoms “How I Met Your Mother” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” which had been dangling in the wind for the past several weeks.

“How I Met Your Mother” got a boost from a pair of Britney Spears guest spots. Her second appearance, on Monday, was watched by 9 million viewers, up from the show’s season average of 8.5 million.

Spears’ first turn on March 24, drew wider attention, with 10.7 million tuning in.

Adding in two previously renewed sitcoms, “Two and a Half Men” and “Big Bang Theory,” CBS will open both Monday and Wednesday nights with slates of comedies.

Not that the network is turning away from its crime-show corpsefests.

The latest of the CSI clones is “The Mentalist,” starring Simon Baker (“The Guardian”) as a phony psychic turned cop whose hot-dogging ego bugs his colleagues.

CBS also is adding “Eleventh Hour,” which stars Rufus Sewell (“The Illusionist”) as a government agent who investigates cases of weird and threatening science.

Another new CBS series, “The Ex List,” is a comedy-drama hybrid, with Elizabeth Reaser (“Grey’s Anatomy”) frantically re-dating former boyfriends after a psychic tells her one of them is her future husband – and she must marry him within the year or wind up alone.

Two other CBS shows in the ratings twilight zone, the military drama “The Unit” and romantic-discord sitcom “Rules Of Engagement,” were renewed but won’t return until midseason.

The network also formally canceled sitcom “Welcome To The Captain,” musical drama “Viva Laughlin!” and cutthroat-kiddie reality series “Kid Nation,” none of which have aired in months.

The cancellation of another cult favorite, post-apocalyptic drama “Jericho,” was announced several weeks ago.