ABC's Lineup: 4 'Millionaires' And Some Other Stuff

By Lisa de Moraes -- One more "Millionaire," two fewer "20/20s" and Andre Braugher returning to series TV--does it get any better than that?

Yes, ABC's new prime-time schedule, announced today at Radio City Music Hall, is a humdinger. With four nights of game show sensation "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" ensuring the network will win next season, the rest of its prime-time schedule doesn't really matter much, now does it?

Four "20/20s" or two "20/20s" and a "PrimeTime Live"? Whatever. "Sports Night" canceled, while "Two Guys and a Girl" gets to come back? Why not? Talented actors Gabriel Byrne and Roy Dotrice stuck following "Norm" on Fridays at 9:30? Excellent. Sela Ward's drama "Once and Again" once again warming the Tuesday 10 p.m. slot for "NYPD Blue" till next year? Right.

Braugher's drama series is taking one of the time slots--Wednesday at 10 p.m.--vacated by "20/20." The former "Homicide: Life on the Street" star will play a doctor at a teaching hospital. Thursday's "20/20 Downtown" is being moved to Monday, so that ABC News can resuscitate "PrimeTime Live" for Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson. And ABC News really went wild and is calling that Monday "20/20" just "Downtown."

Film and theater star Gabriel Byrne will play a divorced New York architect who gets dating tips from his teenage son and cantankerous dad, played by Dotrice, in the new sitcom "Madigan Men." And Geena Davis, last seen on TV when she crashed and burned as the host of ABC's pre-Academy Awards program, will play a New Yorker who marries a suburban widower in "Geena," Tuesdays at 9:30.

But the main thing--maybe the only thing--is that "Millionaire" is coming back one night stronger this fall, adding Wednesdays at 8 to the hours it dominates on the prime-time field. (rest of the article "snipped")