Welcome to the new broadcast television season, same as the old season…pretty much.

True, some 36 new scripted additions are due to join the primetime schedules of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and The CW over the course of the 2012-2013 primetime season.  Fifteen of those are comedies, seven of which will be coming to us (assuming they even see the light of day) from NBC. Surely within those ranks are a few shows we’ll come to love.

As we compare and contrast the schedules of the Big Four, here are a few bright spots — and glaring problem areas — that stand out.

ABC Serves Up “Revenge” on Sunday Nights

Clearly ABC is done with housewives. “Desperate” is dead, and “GCB” has passed on. Instead, the sleeper hit “Revenge” is ABC’s new Sunday night anchor, followed by the devilish thriller “666 Park Avenue,” which could work beautifully together or come off as strangely as Emily Thorne attending high tea with the witches of “Eastwick.”

Tuesday Night: Comedy Feast, or Fustercluck?

Rare are the seasons when nearly every network does not have the same bright idea. And the big one for 2012-2013 appears to be Tuesday nights as a comedy destination. You can thank “New Girl” and “Glee” for lighting that candle.

Fox is capitalizing on that small victory by building a full night of comedy, slotting the new series “Ben and Kate” after the underrated “Raising Hope,” with Mindy Kaling‘s new comedy “The Mindy Project” following “New Girl” in the 9 o’clock hour, and shifting “Glee” to the Thursday night battleground.

ABC is offering some competition in the form of “Happy Endings,” switching from Wednesday nights to 9pm Tuesdays followed fellow Hump Day comedy “Don’t Trust the B—” at 9:30pm.  Like “New Girl” and “Mindy,” the ABC comedies are compatible, female-friendly and, even more daunting for “The Mindy Project’s” prospects, road tested.

Then NBC is jumping into the fray with the Matthew Perry vehicle “Go On” and executive producer Ryan Murphy‘s comedy “The New Normal.” Having Matthew Perry headline a sitcom does not guarantee success (“Mr. Sunshine,” anyone?), but what it and “Normal” have in their favor is higher testosterone levels. Something has to counteract all of that “adorkableness” (and yes, we’re as sick of that stupid pop-culture term as you are).

But Tuesday is not necessarily the new “must-see comedy” night. ABC has a full sitcom block on Wednesdays from 8pm to 10pm,with “Modern Family” at its core, and is adding “The Neighbors,” which gives us another round of “aliens next door” humor. “The Neighbors” is already looking like the show critics can’t wait to hate on. But remember, critics also hated “3rd Rock from the Sun” — which  aired for six seasons.

NBC still has brand-recognition its Thursday night comedy block, which continues to exist only because nobody can remember a time when it didn’t. Instead of giving up on sitcoms the network is doubling down for 2012-2013. The only nights on NBC’s schedule without any sitcom presence are Sundays and Mondays.

So yeah, lots of comedy options.  Maybe even too many. But we’re guessing the field will thin out by the holiday season. If not, you can color us pleasantly surprised.

The 10 o’clock Slots:  The most important timeslot for network affiliates, a badly-under-performing 10pm series can  be ratings poison for local newscasters. And while some networks have the 10pm slot locked down on most nights, others remain very much up-for-grabs. Keep an eye on these.

10pm Mondays: ABC’s got “Castle.” CBS has “Hawaii Five-O.” With crime drama territory thoroughly staked out here, NBC is going a different direction with “Revolution,” executive produced by J.J. Abrams. Counter-programming with a genre-flavored series that a network can pass off as a regular drama (with a twist!) so as not to scare off the average viewer seems like a smart move, on the face of it. And “Revolution” could also do a lot worse than having “The Voice” for a lead-in.

Then again, NBC has tried this tactic many times before with shows like “Journeyman” and “My Own Worst Enemy,” and both of those had more compatible Monday night companions than this new series.

10pm Tuesdays: A tough timeslot for several seasons now, 10 o’clock Tuesday is the home of the barely renewed “Parenthood” and that cancelled Poppy Montgomery show whose name we’ve already forgotten…what was it called…? (Just kidding, “Unforgettable“), and the place where ABC sent “Private Practice” off to hide.

“Parenthood” and “Private” will be back at 10, but are now going up against CBS’s new period piece “Vegas,” about a cowboy sheriff (played by Dennis Quaid) taking on the mob as the city began its rise in the 1960s. “Vegas” may end up being one of those series that only critics love, but count on it to make a noisy entrance.

10pm Wednesdays: Another soft night for any network who isn’t CBS (and even it needs to start thinking about a reasonable replacement for the aging “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation“), it will be interesting to see which series comes out on top in the battle between “Nashville,” which looks like ABC’s grittier answer to “Smash,” and Dick Wolf’s latest drama “Chicago Fire.”

10pm Thursdays: With “The Mentalist” leaping to Sunday at 10pm, the Thursday night pimp slot is anyone’s game again. Theoretically. ABC’s midseason keeper “Scandal” is remaining there, and its primary nemesis is the new Sherlock Holmes update “Elementary” on CBS. Tough to call a winner here, since both are fairly new and pretty much precisely the kind of shows that are evocative of their networks. Oh, and NBC? It has decided to roll over and play dead take a different approach by keeping “Rock Center with Brian Williams” in that hour.

And last but not least…

The Friday Night Conundrum

Other than CBS which, between “CSI: NY,” new show “Made in Jersey” and “Blue Bloods,”  has devoted its Friday nights to a version of New York that makes many a Midwesterner forgo a visit to Broadway for the safer streets of Branson, MO., nobody has figured out Fridays. Network executives may insist they have a strategy, but then, so do a lot of defeated and forgotten “Survivor” contestants.

Instead, Friday is the place where the networks decided to stick all of the shows with passionate audiences and low ratings, and “Whitney.” Will somebody please help them out?  Help them, and you’ll be helping all of us.

But don’t kill yourself over that project. Tuesday night alone ensures that our DVRs will be full of stuff to watch at the end of a long work week instead.

In many ways, The CW is broadcast television’s version of high school.

Every programming move is made with its main targets in mind: the coveted 18-to-34-year-old demo (females in particular), and genre geeks, a.k.a. viewers drawn to shows with heroes, action and an intricate mythology.

Hence every new CW schedule has plenty of content that caters to each camp, and in a few rare and magical instances, a single show that hits both sweet spots simultaneously.  And, well, some other stuff that represents the network’s attempt to break out of its well-established mold but ultimately just won’t fit in. The popular kids, the nerds and the misfits.

There’s also a couple of shows that, for reasons not apparent to most, take their sweet time to graduate and move on. But out of the two long-in-the-tooth CW sudsers remaining on the sked only one, “Gossip Girl,” is actually coming to an end. The final season’s episode order has yet to be established, but the plan is to end it before Christmas. (“90210,” meanwhile, continues to evade the network’s reaper.)

Otherwise, the CW’s five additions to its 2012-2013 line-up — “Arrow,” “Emily Owens, M.D.” and “Beauty and the Beast” for fall, with midseason bringing the highly anticipated “Sex and the City” pre-quel, “The Carrie Diaries,” as well as the odd thriller “Cult” — fit snugly into the network’s lockers. Click here for the official descriptions of each show.

The new fall series allow The CW to experiment with compatibility within its existing line-up, which is most beneficial to veteran series “Supernatural.” Relegated to Friday nights for the past two seasons, Sam and Dean Winchester are getting pulled free of primetime’s ratings purgatory and seated on Wednesday nights at 9, paired with “Arrow.”

“Emily Owens” is a perfect match for “Hart of Dixie” on Tuesday nights for obvious reasons, thematically speaking.

“America’s Next Top Model,” meanwhile, will move to Fridays — not exactly an endorsement of the reality show’s longevity, following this season’s ratings decline and Tyra Banks‘ public firing of  long-standing judges Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel and J. Alexander. Worse off in that bargain is “Nikita,” which returned by the skin its teeth and now is saddled with a highly incompatible lead-in.

But even a weird timeslot is better than no slot at all: The network gave a strawberry-flavored farewell kiss to “Ringer” and “The Secret Circle“…and “One Tree Hill,” which said its final goodbyes earlier this spring.

The official CW line-up follows.

Monday

8pm “90210″

9pm “Gossip Girl”

(“The Carrie Diaries” premieres in January 2013.)

Tuesday

8pm “Hart of Dixie”

9pm “Emily Owens, M.D.” (New Series)

Wednesday

8pm “Arrow” (New Series)

9pm “Supernatural”

Thursday

8pm “The Vampire Diaries”

9pm “Beauty and the Beast” (New Series)

Friday

8pm “America’s Next Top Model”

9pm “Nikita”

When you’re winning, why change? That’s been CBS’s attitude for most of the last decade because it has had more series at the top of the Nielsen ratings, consistently, for nine years running. Mind you, nobody is going to call the bulk of CBS’s programming innovative — indeed, some embody the very definition of “killing time.” That is, they exist for the sole purpose of getting a person from the top of any given hour to the bottom with the speed and efficiency of a Japanese economy car.

Clearly there’s something to that, because people continue to watch by the millions — many more millions that most of its competition. Yes, CBS has a schedule that works, and not much room for additions or failures. But the network is not above a little tinkering from time to time.

This is why “Two and a Half Men,” the comedy that has served as the network’s Monday night tentpole since 2005, is moving to Thursday nights at 8:30pm, where it will hopefully retain “The Big Bang Theory’s” sizable audience.  “2 Broke Girls” will take over its 9pm Monday slot.  Meanwhile, “The Mentalist” is moving from Thursday nights to Sundays at 10pm.

CBS is going into the fall season with only four new series on the schedule, and two waiting in the wings for midseason. New series include “Vegas,” starring Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis; the perhaps unfortunately named “Made in Jersey” (although the original title was worse); and the Sherlock Holmes update “Elementary” starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. The network is adding just one new comedy this fall, “Partners.” Click here to read descriptions of CBS’s new series.

Midseason will bring the drama “Golden Boy” and the comedy “Friend Me.”

Cancelled series include “CSI: Emoting With Sunglasses“, “A Gifted Man“, “How to Be a Gentleman“, “NYC 22“, “Rob” and “Unforgettable“. The fate of comedy pinch-hitter “Rules of Engagement” has yet to be determined.

Keep reading for the complete CBS fall 2012 schedule, taken from the network’s press release.

Monday

8pm “How I Met Your Mother”

8pm “Partners” (New Series)

9pm “2 Broke Girls”

9:30pm “Mike & Molly”

10pm “Hawaii Five-0″

 Tuesday

8pm  “NCIS”

9pm  “NCIS: Los Angeles”

10pm “Vegas” (New Series)

 Wednesday

8pm “Survivor”

9pm “Criminal Minds”

10pm “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”

Thursday

8pm “The Big Bang Theory”

8:30pm “Two and a Half Men”

9pm “Person of Interest”

10pm “Elementary” (New Series)

Friday

8pm “CSI: NY”

9pm “Made in Jersey” (New Series)

10pm “Blue Bloods”

Saturday

8-10pm “Crimetime Saturday” (Repeats)

10pm “48 Hours Mystery”

Sunday

7pm  “60 Minutes”

8pm “The Amazing Race”

9pm “The Good Wife”

10pm “The Mentalist”

Emily Thorne’s “revengenda” now includes a move to Sunday nights. The sleeper hit “Revenge” will slide into the 9pm Sunday timeslot formerly occupied by heavy-hitter “Desperate Housewives,” which just ended its eight-season run on Sunday. The move was perhaps the largest shift evident on ABC’s 2012-2013 schedule, revealed Tuesday during the network’s upfronts presentation in New York.

While “Revenge’s” move to Sundays was unexpected, it is not entirely surprising, even though earlier this spring it seemed as if “GCB” was being groomed to pick up “Desperate’s” audience next season. Apparently ABC entertainment president Paul Lee has decided to take his network’s Sunday line-up to a new place: “Desperate” may be the series that lifted ABC out of its ratings pit eight seasons ago, but Lee has endorsed “Revenge” as the kind of show to move ABC forward.  (The aforementioned “GCB,” meanwhile, has been shuffled off to TV heaven.)

ABC has picked up 10 series for the new season, five of which will premiere on the fall schedule. Coming in the fall are the dramas “Nashville,” “Last Resort” (from executive producer Shawn Ryan) and “666 Park Avenue“. New comedies include “The Neighbors,” about a human family that discovers it is living among aliens, and “Malibu Country,” which will be paired with “Last Man Standing” when it returns to the schedule in November. You can view trailers for all of ABC’s new series, including its midseason comedies and dramas, by clicking here.

ABC also intends to strengthen its comedy presence across the schedule by moving “Happy Endings” and “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23“  off of Wednesday nights, and pairing them up in the 9 o’clock hour on Tuesdays.

Waiting in the midseason dugout are the comedies “How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)” and “The Family Tools,” which will replace the Tuesday night results episode of “Dancing with the Stars” in January. Timeslots for midseason dramas “Mistresses,” “Red Widow” and “Zero Hour” are yet to be determined.

As for “Dancing with the Stars,” the coming season will feature an “All-Star” cycle populated with favorite contenders from seasons past. No word on casting at this point.

The list of the dead includes “Charlie’s Angels,” “GCB“, “Man Up“, “Missing“, “Pan Am“, “The River” and perhaps the most horrible series to appear on television this year, “Work It.”

Below is ABC’s official primetime schedule, taken from the network’s press release:

Monday

8pm: “Dancing with the Stars”/”The Bachelor” (in midseason)

10pm: “Castle”

Tuesday

8pm: “Dancing with the Stars: Results Show”/ “How to Live With Your Parents) For the Rest of Your Life” (midseason; new series)

8:30pm: “The Family Tools” (in midseason: new series)

9pm: “Happy Endings”

9:30pm: “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23

10pm: “Private Practice”

Wednesday

8pm: “The Middle”

8:30pm: “Suburgatory”

9pm: “Modern Family”

9:30pm: “The Neighbors” (new series)

10pm: “Nashville” (new series)

Thursday

8pm: “Last Resort” (new series)

9pm: “Grey’s Anatomy”

10pm: “Scandal”

Friday

8pm: “Shark Tank”/ “Last Man Standing” (in November)

8:30pm: “Malibu County” (in November; new series)

9pm: “Primetime: What Would You Do?”

10pm:  “20/20”

Saturday

8pm:  “Saturday Night College Football”

Sunday

7pm: “America’s Funniest Home Videos”

8pm: “Once Upon a Time”

9 pm: “Revenge”

10pm: “666 Park Avenue” (new series)

Two dramas and three new comedies, including one created by “The Office‘s” Mindy Kaling, will join Fox’s primetime schedule for the 2012-2013 season.

Kaling’s comedy,  “The Mindy Project,” (formerly known as “Mindy” and “It’s Messy”) will be paired with Fox’s comedy hit “New Girl” on Tuesdays, and new comedy “Ben and Kate” (formerly known as “Ned Fox is My Manny” — we know! Fox gets wacky with the title changes!) will be hammocked between “Raising Hope” and “New Girl” at 8:30. A third comedy, “The Goodwin Games” (from the executive producers of “How I Met Your Mother,” Carter Bays, Craig Thomas and Chris Harris) is scheduled to arrive in midseason.

As for the new dramas, “The Mob Doctor” will follow “Bones” on Mondays, with new thriller “The Following” — executive produced by Kevin Williamson, starring Kevin Bacon — sliding into the Monday night line-up in midseason. For details on Fox’s new shows, click here.

The public unveiling of these new series at the network’s Tuesday afternoon upfront presentation may have been somewhat eclipsed by the announcement that “Glee” is being bumped to one of the most competitive timeslots on the broadcast schedule: New episodes will air at 9pm Thursdays starting this fall. Midseason drama “Touch” will now be paired with “Fringe” on Friday nights.

According to a teleconference with reporters on Tuesday morning, the fourth season of “Glee” will feature a “show within a show,” with the plot following some of McKinley High’s graduates as they navigate a performing arts school in New York. Among the guest stars due to appear next year are Kate Hudson, who has signed on for a six-episode arc, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Lastly, Fox executives confirmed the rumor circulating last week that Britney Spears and Demi Lovato will join L.A. Reid and Simon Cowell at the judges table on “The X Factor.” Yep, that’s really happening.

Cancelled series include “Alcatraz“, “Allen Gregory“, “Breaking In“, “The Finder“, “I Hate My Teenage Daughter“, “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Terra Nova” and “House.”

What follows is Fox’s complete fall schedule, taken from the network’s press release.

Monday

8pm “Bones”

9pm “The Mob Doctor” (New Series)

Tuesday

8pm “Raising Hope”

8:30pm “Ben and Kate” (New Series)

9pm “New Girl”

9:30pm “The Mindy Project” (New Series)

Wednesday

8pm “The X-Factor” (fall)/ “American Idol” (midseason)

Thursday

8pm  ”The X-Factor: Results” (fall)/ “American Idol: Results” (midseason)  

9pm “Glee”

Friday

8pm “Touch”

9pm “Fringe”

Saturday

7-10:30pm “Fox Sports Saturday” (fall)

Sunday

7:30pm “The OT”(fall)/”The Cleveland Show”

8pm “The Simpsons”

8:30pm “Bob’s Burgers”

9pm “Family Guy”

9:30pm “American Dad”

Upfronts, the week during which the broadcast networks present their schedules for the coming season to advertisers, is in full swing in New York. First to unveil its primetime line-up for 2012-2013 is NBC, which hosted a live presentation of its new series on Monday morning.

Coming in the fall are four new comedies, including the Matthew Perry vehicle “Go On,” “The New Normal,” “Animal Practice” (which stars Justin Kirk of “Weeds“) and “Guys with Kids,” as well as two dramas: “Revolution,” from executive producer J.J. Abrams, and “Chicago Fire,” from E.P.  Dick Wolf. Granting a boost to the new line-up is the addition of a fall cycle of NBC’s hit singing competition “The Voice.”  Click here to read detailed descriptions of all of the new series coming to NBC.

NBC is also moving beyond its traditional Thursday night comedy block, offering sitcom competition to ABC and Fox on Tuesdays (good luck with that) and, even more of a risk, trying out comedy on Friday nights… which  is where “Community‘s” fourth season, consisting of 13 episodes, will probably die run.

NBC also confirmed that “30 Rock’s” 13-episode seventh season will be its last, and that Tina Fey‘s workplace comedy will exit with a one-hour finale.

On deck for midseason are the comedies “Save Me,” “1600 Penn” and “Next Caller” (starring Dane Cook) and the dramas “Do No Harm,” “Infamous” and “Hannibal.”  Again, you can find out more information about all of the new series coming to NBC by clicking here.

The list of shows that the Peacock has molted includes “Are You There, Chelsea?“, “Awake“, “Bent“, “Best Friends Forever“, “Chuck“, “Free Agents“, “Harry’s Law“, “The Playboy Club“, “Prime Suspect” and “The Firm“.

Currently mired in fourth place among the big broadcasters, the Peacock is in a position that’s both utterly undesirable and somewhat enviable. Its executive roster has been tossed around and changed numerous times over the last decade. As a result, nobody has been in a position for enough time to establish a fresh vision for NBC or to build a solid foundation upon which to grow a stronger schedule.  Can you remember the last time NBC was truly competitive against ABC, CBS or Fox on any night of the week?

…Take your time, we’ll wait …

On the other hand, that old saw about seeing opportunity in chaos really does hold some truth. The only way for NBC to go is up, and Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt, the man who made Showtime into the cable powerhouse that it is today, has a chance to recreate that magic on a grander scale and re-shape NBC into a network that’s worth watching again.

That said, it’s unclear whether these new series and schedule shifts are going to provide the jumpstart the network desperately needs. And if NBC is banking on unscripted to boost its comedies and dramas — other than “The Voice,” its other most successful series happens to the “The Biggest Loser” — it’s doubtful that new alternative series “Stars Earn Stripes,” “Howie Mandel’s White Elephant,” “Ready for Love,” and “Surprise with Jenny McCarthy,” will be up to that job.

Here is NBC’s fall schedule as it currently stands, copied from the network’s press release. Be advised that all schedules are malleable at this point, which means any of these programs can shift to another timeslot before the new season premieres. (In some cases, that could be a good thing.)

MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Voice”
10-11 p.m. – “Revolution” (New Series)

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. –”The Voice”
9-9:30 p.m. – “Go On” (New Series)
9:30-10 p.m. – “The New Normal” (New Series)
10-11 p.m. – “Parenthood”

WEDNESDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “Animal Practice” (New Series)
8:30-9 p.m. – “Guys with Kids” (New Series)
9-10 p.m. – “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
10-11 p.m. – “Chicago Fire” (New Series)

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “30 Rock”
8:30-9 p.m. – “Up All Night”
9-9:30 p.m. – “The Office”
9:30-10 p.m. – “Parks and Recreation”
10-11 p.m. – “Rock Center with Brian Williams”

FRIDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “Whitney”
8:30-9 p.m. – “Community”
9-10 p.m. – “Grimm”
10-11 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”

SATURDAY
Encore programming

SUNDAY (Fall 2012)
7- 8:15 p.m. — “Football Night in America”
8:15-11:30 p.m. — “NBC Sunday Night Football”

SUNDAY (Post-football/Winter 2013)
7-8 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
8-9 p.m. – “Fashion Star”
9-10 p.m. – “The Celebrity Apprentice”
10-11 p.m. – “Do No Harm” (New Series)

Time to bust out Big Carl and pass around slices of Krazy Kake, because “Cougar Town” fans have something to celebrate. TBS has officially swooped in to save the fiercely loved but barely watched ABC comedy, granting it a 15-episode fourth season scheduled to begin airing in early 2013.

Additionally, TBS nabbed the encore rights to the first three seasons of “Cougar Town,” consisting of 61 episodes.

“Cougar Town” joins a growing stable of originals at TBS, including the soon-to-debut “Men at Work” (premiering at 10pm on May 24), “Sullivan & Son” (joining the schedule at 10pm July 19) and “Wedding Band” (premiere date TBD).

While not quite an 11th hour rescue — ABC will reveal its official lineup for the 2012-2013 season next week, and decisions about series renewals for network shows have been known to go down the wire — it does put any cancellation fears surrounding “Cougar Town” to rest for the time being.

Currently in its third season, “Cougar Town” premiered on ABC in 2009 to a bit of controversy over its title, which referred to the adventures of Courteney Cox’s character, divorced real estate agent Jules Cobb, as she explored dating younger men. The show evolved into a quick-witted ensemble comedy about her “cul-de-sac crew,” which includes her slacker ex (Brian Van Holt); best friend Ellie (Christa Miller); Ellie’s sweetheart of a hubby Andy (Ian Gomez); Grayson (Josh Hopkins), Jules’ former nemesis who became her fiancé; Jules’ younger girlfriend Laurie (Busy Philipps) and her college-aged son, Travis (Dan Byrd). Alas, the name has not changed, but the show’s creators Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel make the best of that unfortunate situation by making light of the title’s oddity during each episode’s opening credits.

While “Cougar Town” performed adequately enough to live on for a second season, its ratings suffered when it was uncoupled from ABC’s successful sitcom “Modern Family.” Fans were distressed when “Cougar Town’s” third season did not premiere in the fall, and downright angry when it was initially left off of the network’s midseason line-up so that the disastrous “Work It” could premiere. Although “Cougar Town’s” producers and cast embarked on a city-by-city tour (entirely paid for by Lawrence) in a grassroots effort to promote the show, this season’s ratings have been anemic by broadcast standards, averaging fewer than 4.8 million viewers each week. Compare this to “Modern Family,” which rakes in about 10 million pairs of eyeballs each week and ranks in the Nielsen ratings’s Top 20.

In spite of this, Lawrence always had faith that his show could live beyond the current 15 episode season. From a business perspective, he had good reason to be hopeful: “Cougar Town” is an ABC Studios production, meaning the network stands to make more money by producing enough episodes to syndicate it.

The standard qualifier for syndication is 100 episodes, so provided “Cougar Town” succeeds on TBS, we might be looking at a few more seasons with the gang.  As long as the 4.8 million fans who showed up for “Cougar Town” on ABC seek it out TBS, the show prospects should be bright. Right now TBS’s highest-rated offering happens to be syndicated reruns of “The Big Bang Theory,” which average around 3 million viewers per airing.

Sam and Dean Winchester have been to hell and back, rebelled against angels and demons, taken out countless beasties and deterred a few more with, um, cleaning products. But their fans can now rest a little easier, knowing that the world is not finished with them yet.

The CW announced that veteran series “Supernatural” will return for an eighth season, as will the network’s top-rated drama “The Vampire Diaries” and the primetime soap “90210“.

Note that the announcement specified that each of these series have been renewed for additional seasons – the fourth for “The Vampire Diaries” and a fifth for “90210″ – not final seasons.

Although the “Supernatural” news broke earlier on Thursday morning when producer Todd Aronauer posted a gleeful announcement on Twitter, the tweet was quickly deleted, leading to a bit of nervousness on the part of fans. Soon after, The CW sent official word via a press release.

While “Supernatural’s” renewal was not a given, its survival odds became a bit better following the early April announcement that the thriller’s former co-showrunner Sera Gamble was stepping down, but would be replaced by Jeremy Carver (co-executive producer of Syfy’s “Being Human“) for its (theoretical, at the time) eighth season.

The renewal of “The Vampire Diaries” comes as no surprise at all, whereas an early pick-up for “90210″ might strike some as a bit odd, until one considers that one more season will bring the series past 100 episodes, the magic number for syndication possibilities.

Meanwhile, the fates of other CW series, including “Nikita,” “Hart of Dixie,” “The Secret Circle,” “Ringer,” and “Gossip Girl,” remain uncertain.

The CW will present its official 2012-2013 line-up to advertisers at its upfronts presentation in New York on May 17.

CBS has renewed 18 series currently airing on its primetime schedule, granting some relief to viewers concerned about the fates of their favorite shows.

The renewals listed here –  four comedies, nine dramas, three reality series and two newsmagazines — will likely come as no surprise to most. For example, “NCIS” is the top rated scripted program on television, and its spinoff, “NCIS: Los Angeles,” ranks among Nielsen’s top 10 highest-rated programs for the season.

Neither should the absence of two freshmen titles, “Unforgettable” and “A Gifted Man,” shock anyone. CBS has the most stable schedule of all the broadcast networks and is not known for granting patience to under-performers.

Worth noting, however, is the fact that “CSI: NY” and “CSI: Emoting With Sunglasses Miami” are not on the renewal list. This does not necessarily mean that the “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” spinoffs have been cancelled; CBS’s final 2012-2013 primetime schedule will not be announced until May. But it’s not great news, either. (Also missing, for that matter, are “Rob” and “Rules of Engagement“.)

Additionally, “Two and a Half Men” is not listed among CBS’s early renewals — but for an entirely different reason than its absent brethren. CBS and Warner Bros. Television have just started negotiations to order additional seasons. Series star Ashton Kutcher made a successful transition into the comedy this season, and has publicly alluded to his desire to remain with the show.

What follows is the full list of CBS’s renewals:

Dramas

• “Blue Bloods“
• “Criminal Minds“
• “CSI”
• “The Good Wife“
• “Hawaii Five-O“
• “The Mentalist“
• “NCIS”
• “NCIS: Los Angeles”
• “Person of Interest“

Comedies

• “2 Broke Girls“
• “Mike & Molly“
• “The Big Bang Theory” (already renewed as part of a previously announced multi-year pick-up deal)
• “How I Met Your Mother” (already renewed as part of a previously announced multi-year pick-up deal)

Unscripted/ News Magazine

• “48 Hours Mystery“
• “60 Minutes“
• “The Amazing Race“
• “Survivor“
• “Undercover Boss“

During the Fox executive session, entertainment president Kevin Reilly set critics back on their collective heels with this shocking, truly alarming news:

“Allen Gregory” has been canceled. So have previously announced plans for a “Glee” spinoff.

You were perhaps expecting definitive word on the fates of “Fringe,” “House,” or “Terra Nova“?  Ha. No such luck.

Reilly admitted to reporters attending Fox’s portion of the Television Critics Association’s Winter Press Tour that executives have been actively avoiding coming to final decisions on all of these shows. Really, though, he’s just putting off the inevitable. His office will be bombarded by tons of baked custard mailed by irate “Fringe” fans if (or when) the bad news comes down. It’s going to be a heck of a carpet cleaning bill.

“I’m not quietly doing the soft cancel here, I’m just telling you where it stands,” Reilly continued, pleading with us to refrain from urging the letter writing campaigns to begin.

As much as he could, Reilly attempted to reassure “Fringe’s” devoted fans that he took pride in the fact that Fox did not drop the ball with the show too early, something the network has been criticized for doing to past genre programming. Having said that, he also added that “Fringe” has been consistently losing a lot of money on Friday nights and executives are going to have to take a hard look at whether the numbers are continuing to make sense.

“We’re not in the business of losing money,” Reilly reminded us.

On whether this would be the final season of veteran drama “House,” Reilly explained that he had yet to sit down with the show’s producers, but if this were to be its final season, he was certain executive producer David Shore would bring it to an ending that will satisfy fans.

As for “Terra Nova,” Reilly said the show was “an exciting bet to take,” and pointed out that in the larger scheme of things, it garnered better ratings than most new series. It’s also more expensive, hence his hesitation.

Following this string of non-news, Reilly did have something to tell us about “Glee.” He explained that New Directions’ seniors will be  graduating, but show creator Ryan Murphy will keep them with the show next season and has a few “cool” developments in store. (Meaning there may yet be a spinoff, in a sense. It’ would just be within the existing plot.) Reilly also specifically confirmed that Lea Michele is not going anywhere.

In other news…

–Fox is developing a slate of animated series, shorts and “user-adapted material” in the vein of Adult Swim. This will culminate in a block of Saturday late-night programming anchored by four shows, scheduled for a January 2013 debut. The unit developing this block, headed by former Adult Swim head of program development Nick Weidenfeld and producer Hend Baghdady (“Warren the Ape“), is also developing content for a new digital channel accessible via multiple platforms, including mobile apps, game consoles, Video on Demand and online, start later this year.

–During a panel for his new series “Touch,” Kiefer Sutherland said that he expects shooting on the theatrical version of “24” to begin in late April or early May.

–Fox also announced dates for the 11th season of “American Idol,” which has its two night premiere Wednesday, January 18 and Thursday, January 19.  Hollywood Rounds start on February 9. Semifinalists will be revealed on February 23, performing for the first time on the 28th and the 29th. The first vote of the season is revealed on March 1.

As for “The X Factor,” Reilly said that the show would experience a few tweaks between now and its second season and would not specifically confirm that dropping Steve Jones would be part of the tinkering. He did mention Jones by name, however, which is not a good sign.

–The 500th episode of “The Simpsons“, titled “At Long Last Leave,” airs Sunday, Feb. 19.