ABC:

One much-talked about show that is drawing some jeers is “Cavemen,” which features characters from popular ads for Geico insurance. “Cavemen just wasn’t that funny, and it is not good satire,” says Brian Terkelsen, executive vice president at MediaVest, an ad-buying firm owned by Publicis Groupe.

How TV savvy are you? Click to test your skills

CW: “Reaper,” a program about a young slacker who has to work for the Devil, has some media buyers excited, as does “Gossip Girl,” which is based on the popular books for teens. “Gossip Girl is the perfect show to reach that 18-to-34-year-old,” says MediaVest’s Mr. Terkelsen.

NBC: Some buyers are intrigued by “Journeyman,” a drama about a man who can travel through time and change people’s lives. But many are also scratching their heads about “Age of Love, ” a reality-based program that pits women in their 40s and older (referred to in the show as the “cougars”) against women in their 20s (the “kittens”) in a contest to land a handsome male tennis star.

CBS: Ad buyers are also buzzing about “Cane,” a drama starring Jimmy Smits as the heir to a sugar cane-and-rum empire. But they are divided on the prospects for “Kid Nation, a reality show that has kids doing “Survivor”-like tasks in a frontier-town setting. The show “would send me screaming from the room,” says Kevin Maclean, a senior vice president at MediaVest. “It looks overly emotional and staged.”

FOX: Media buyers are very upbeat about “Canterbury’s Law,” an edgy legal drama starring Juliana Margulies. “The show has anger and a dark side — it could be really good,” says Chris Dorne, a vice president at MediaVest. They also gave a warm reception to “K-Ville,” a police drama set in New Orleans, as the city emerges from Hurricane Katrina.

Readers: Are you looking forward to the fall season? Do any of these shows seem like hits? How about bombs? Post your comments.

We checked in with Brazilian soccer legend Pelé, considered the best player in soccer history, about the state of the game in the U.S. and who he thinks might win. Pele worked to negotiate the Copa deal for GolTV and attended the channel’s upfront this week.

Enzo Francescoli, CEO and founder of GolTV (left) and soccer great Pelé. Credit: Henny Ray Abrams/GolTV-HO

WSJ.com: What’s the best way to popularize world-class soccer in the U.S.?
Pelé: Leagues need more freedom to choose players. You can only have two foreigners per team. Maybe if you had six, for example. The competition would be stronger and investors will want to put money in teams that win.

WSJ.com: Do you think soccer could be as popular as baseball or American football?
Pelé: It will never be more popular, but it will reach the same level soon. Soccer’s popularity as a pastime in the U.S. and in other parts of the world is already equal. The only problem is financial. The competition with football, baseball — the sponsors are already linked to other sports. At the top level, the [competition for] money is harder.

WSJ.com: Is it harder to play when politics between the two teams’ countries are tense?
Pelé: Listen, I stopped a war with my team Santos [in Nigeria, where warring factions once agreed to a short cease-fire to watch him play]. Brazil played in Colombia when the drug traffic was very bad. Football has a passion and magnetism that can stop war.

WSJ.com: Who’s taking home the Copa America?
Pelé: Normally, Brazil and Argentina play at the finals. But Mexico has a good team. They did very well in the World Cup.

Best-received drama: “K-Ville,” about the cops who remain in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and cope with life in the devastated city.

Biggest brewing fight: Fox characterizing the title for the sister comedy “The Return of Jezebel James” as likely to change. Amy Sherman-Palladino, who also created “Gilmore Girls,” said afterwards: “Um, zero chance it’s going to change. Zero.”

Most improved use of time: Fox’s presentation last year clocked in at two hours and five minutes. This year: 56 minutes.

Show most likely to get moved: “Canterbury’s Law,” a gripping legal drama starring Julianna Margulies and produced by Dennis Leary, drew the unlucky time slot of Thursday at 9 p.m. — against monster hits “CSI” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” With media buyers hot on the show, Fox may soon be hunting for a new time slot.

Network least likely to play nice: Fox, known for its bare-knuckled approach, barely utters a peep about its rivals.

Show concept most open to ridicule from media buyers and critics: “New Amsterdam” about a New York detective who never grows old … unlike the premise.

o Question of the Day: Which broadcast network will have the best primetime ratings this fall?

This week, TV networks presented fall lineups that feature a remake of a 1970s classic, a drama about a slacker whose parents sell his soul to the devil, and a reality show that leaves 40 kids to build their own society.

While several ratings blockbusters will see a return to the schedule, networks ramped up their new offerings. ABC will devote an entire night to unproven shows, and NBC has lined up sci-fi shows the network hopes will build on the success of “Heroes.”

How well do you know the upcoming TV schedule? Test your knowledge with our match game, pairing networks with their new shows.

This season’s ratings decline for Fox’s “American Idol” — which caused some to issue dire predictions for the future of over-the-air television — doesn’t reflect the talent show’s enduring popularity, said Peter Liguori, Fox entertainment president, during a call with reporters. Liguori said “Idol’s” ratings in the lucrative 18-49 age group are only down 1% from the previous season when counting viewers who used digital video recorders to watch the show at a later date. In total households, ‘Idol’s’ ratings are up slightly when including DVR users, Liguori said. “The one great thing about ‘Idol,’” Liguori went on, “is that it reboots every year.” New personalities and contestant vs. contestant storylines provide unique hooks each year, the executive said.

Most dramatic entrance: CW president Dawn Ostroff taking the stage at Madison Square Garden amid an eruption of fake fog.

Biggest surprise: Holding the hit show “One Tree Hill” until at least January — and speeding up the storyline by four years: When the show returns, the teen characters will have finished college, skipping straight from high-school graduation to professional life.

Most cringe-worthy moment: During a performance, the scantily clad lead singer of “The Pussycat Dolls” shouting to the audience, “I want to hear all my girls out there sing.” The response: Silence. (A CW publicist says she was referring to the “girls” on stage dancing with her.)

“Reaper” will serve as lead out for “Beauty and the Geek.”

Best response to a new show: “Reaper,” a drama about a slacker who finds out that his parents sold his soul to the devil when he was born. He must act as a bounty hunter for the devil, tracking down evil people who have escaped from hell. Think “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” meets “Clerks” meets “Ghost Busters.”

Best reality-show version of “Green Acres”: The new series “Farmer Wants a Wife,” about a rural guy seeking a glamorous companion.

Most blatant attempt to be MTV: Pitching a new show with the Natasha Bedingfield song “Unwritten” — the theme song for the MTV hit “The Hills.”

Best evidence that CW is surpassing MTV as the destination network for young adults: An especially strong slate of new and returning reality programs, including “Crowned,” about mothers and daughters competing in beauty competitions, and “America’s Next Top Model.”

Case closed for “Veronica Mars”

Sadly, it’s true. The CW network, created by Time Warner and CBS from the former WB and UPN networks, is canceling the teenage detective show following a disappointing year for the network. In its fall schedule, released today, the CW unveiled new shows include “Gossip Girl,” about a group of prep school kids in Manhattan. The CW plans “Gossip Girls” for Wednesdays at 9 p.m. after Tyra Banks’s reality show “America’s Next Top Model,’ which wrapped up last night. Also returning, besides “Top Model,” are “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Smallville.”

Other new shows include comedy “Aliens in America,” about a high school student trying to adjust to a Pakistani exchange student; and “Life is Wild,” a drama about a New York City family spending a year at a game reserve in South Africa.

CW already has media buyers in a good mood, and the network’s upfront presentation hasn’t even started. Everyone entering Madison Square Garden got a big Jamba Juice strawberry guava smoothie.

The AP reports that Univision plans a miniseries “Como Ama una Mujer (How a Woman Loves)” inspired by Jennifer Lopez’s new album and a Spanish version of “Desperate Housewives” among its 30 new programs announced for the new season. Other programs announced by Univision include “RBD: La Familia,” a miniseries on the successful Mexican pop group. Rival Telemundo presented five new melodramas Tuesday, including “El Otro Lado del Amor (The Other Side of Love),” a modern version of the story of Romeo and Juliet.