toledoblade.com --

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - It's a Hollywood maxim that the pilot of any TV show has a bigger budget than any of the episodes that follow. But a strong pilot can lead to a mediocre series (the opposite happens less often).

While critics are buzzing about UPN's Everybody Hates Chris, narrated by Chris Rock, I'm not yet convinced it's a slam dunk. Much as I liked the pilot, I wonder what future episodes will be like? Can the writers/producers maintain the quality of the pilot?

Everybody Hates Chris is loosely based on comedian Chris Rock's experience as a middle-school student in Brooklyn in the early 1980s. Tyler James Williams, 12, plays young Chris, while Rock narrates the series.

At the press conference for Everybody Hates Chris, Rock said although he's not the show runner, he will remain involved in the series beyond lending his voice to its narration.

"I'm going through all the scripts and making sure I like all the jokes," he said. "I'll be around."

Everybody Hates Chris isn't an exact reproduction of Rock's life. In reality, he's one of seven siblings. In the comedy series, there are just three kids.

"I changed it just enough so I couldn't get sued," he joked. "They love you, but they're gonna get your money."

Another difference: "Tyler's character on the show is an exaggeration of me. If I just got my [rear end] beat in real life … waaah! I cried until I went home, but that's not as funny an episode. "

Co-creator Ali LeRoi said the show will deal more with class than race issues.

"This is a classicist society. It's not 'black folks don't get along with white folks,' it's 'which black folks don't get along with which white folks and why,'●" LeRoi said. "It's broke people trying to get along with what they have and we're going to show them doing it."

Viacom co-president Leslie Moonves, who oversees UPN as part of his duties, credited UPN Entertainment president Dawn Ostroff with developing the show. She brought it to UPN sister studio Paramount after Fox lost interest in making the show, possibly out of fear that Rock wouldn't stay involved in the series.

"I don't think there's any evidence I'd done anything and walked away," Rock said. "My name's Rock and not [Dave] Chappelle. Do they have me confused for another skinny black man?"

Moonves invoked The Cosby Show to describe Chris, saying that research shows it appeals to viewers from age 8 to 80.

"There's something very universal about that family, " he said. 'It's the best original family comedy in a long, long time."

Rock was wary of comparisons to The Cosby Show.

"It's flattering and it puts more pressure on us," he said after the press conference. "Bill Cosby is the greatest comedian of his generation, of all time really. Nobody else can come close."

TV's balance will continue to tip in favor of dramas this fall (18 new dramas, 10 new comedies), but for the first time in several years, the comedies are a better bet.

Based on a viewing of its pilot episode, CBS's How I Met Your Mother is as close to a sure thing as TV can come. It's scheduled in CBS's successful Monday night comedy block, features talented, young, familiar stars, and this sitcom is actually - prepare to be shocked - pretty darn funny.

It's the story of a group of friends, nar-rated 25 years in the future by 27-year-old Ted (Josh Radnor) as he recounts his life to his children. The narration scenes are brief (Bob Saget does the voiceover narration), and the show is mostly set in the present as Ted's best friend, Marshall (Jason Segel, Freaks and Geeks), proposes to his longtime girlfriend, Lily (Alyson Hannigan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). He gets advice from his pal, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris, Doogie Howser, M.D.).

For Hannigan, Harris, and Segel, the series marks a dramatic departure from the type of shows viewers are used to seeing them in. All three grew up starring in single-camera shows that were more dramas with comedy than out-and-out yukfests.

"On a one-camera show, you spend most of the day in your trailer until you're called to the set, " Harris said. "We get to do a little playlet and rehearse it and present it every day, which is great fun. … We were having so much fun, [Alyson] was worried there was no way this pilot will ever go. "

In addition to a more appealing schedule - making a three-camera sitcom takes much less time than a single-camera drama - Hannigan said she liked the opportunity to try something closer to stage acting.

"It's like doing a play with training wheels," she said. "If you mess up, it doesn't matter, you just do it again."

The pilot for How I Met Your Mother ends on a surprising note that fails to resolve clearly a portion of the show's premise, but the cast isn't worried about leaving viewers in the dark.

"You never found out who the boss really was on Who's the Boss?," Hannigan joked.

Moonves seemed less certain than he was in January that The CBS Evening News will be remade into something radically different from what viewers see today. At the time, he seemed to be leaning heavily toward a multiple-anchor format. Now he's more circumspect.

"I really don't know what it's going to be like," he said, but he added, "I don't think there's an 'oh, wow' name out there [to install as solo anchor]."

Moonves said with Bob Schieffer in place, there's "no gun to our head" to make changes quickly.

"The good thing about having a show on the air is you can try things on the air on a daily basis that you guys won't even notice."

Moonves said there's no timetable to launch the revamped Evening News, but he's comfortable with where things stand.

"Schieffer is doing a great job, he's enjoying himself, the ratings have stabilized," Moonves said. "We're still in last place, but we've gotten our credibility back."

In the fall season premiere of CSI: Miami, Horatio Caine (David Caruso) will have a dark secret from his past come to light.

"We'll discover Horatio killed someone in a non-line-of-duty capacity," said Barry O'Brien, a new producer on the crime drama. "That secret and his search for penance will be the engine [that drives] season four."

Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter), last seen hanging up her sidearm, will begin the season working unsolved crimes before she's drawn back to ballistics. O'Brien promises she'll also get an edgy personal story.

A sexy Latina DNA criminalist also will be added to the cast.

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