Only last year, the ABC TV network was programming several female-driven new dramas.  As a result, “Revenge” scored big time, seemingly across the board in several demographic categories.

On the other hand, the reboot of “Charlie’s Angels” and the retro appeal of “Pan Am,” both shows featuring attractive female leads, flopped big time.

That the TV business is fickle and unpredictable could not be underscored more than by the failure of last year’s network shows geared to 1960s nostalgia, popularized by the cable show “Mad Men.”  I am referring to NBC’s “The Playboy Club” as well as “Pan Am.”
 
These evocative series sought to grab the essence of “Mad Men’s” gold standard for drama, ignoring the fact that AMC’s popular cable show generated the number of viewers that would sink a show on a network.

Speaking to a gathering of the nation’s TV critics last summer, Paul Lee, president of ABC Entertainment, proclaimed himself as willing to take “some risks in broadcast.”

Fast forward a year, and Lee is singing the same tune for the TV critics once again, going so far as to remind everyone that “we took risks last year, and it’s really, really fun.”

Expounding on the risk-taking theme, Lee also observed that he loves “the idea that this is a network that can really take risks with the different genres.  You see risks up there this year with the shows that we are doing.”

Well, the network executive’s claims may be valid, but one thing for sure is that there are no remakes of vintage TV series that once held appeal because of the original actors.

This year’s fall schedule on ABC has the look of everything for everybody, with a range of genres from comedy to drama, suspense to thriller, and romance to fantasy.

Having this pointed out by a critic, Lee responded that “ABC has a brand,” and that the network tends to “tell great emotional storytelling.”

“We do provocative shows,” Lee professed, going on to say that ABC does “shows that are really driven by character and emotion.”  This may be as good a reason as any for the new series “Last Resort.”

To be sure, as submarine captain Marcus Chaplin, Andre Braugher brings character and emotion to his role in “Last Resort” when he is relieved of duty for failure to follow a command.

But then, his replacement officer (Scott Speedman) is also conflicted about following orders.  The U.S. ballistic missile submarine was told, over a radio channel limited to a doomsday scenario, to fire nuclear weapons at Pakistan.

Unable to obtain confirmation of the orders, the submarine and its crew find themselves under attack and then declared rogue enemies of their own country.

The show’s co-creator, Shawn Ryan (“The Shield”) told critics that “Last Resort” is not the kind of show that would seek cooperation from the Navy in order to get script approval from the military.  Yeah, this show doesn’t sound like John Wayne and “The Green Berets.”

Reba McEntire has become her own cottage industry of country music superstar and actress on the screen, large and small, and the Broadway stage.

Now Reba returns to a sitcom as a woman who moves her children away from her cheating husband in Nashville and seeks to revive her singing career in the foreign land of sunny California.

In “Malibu Country,” Reba is joined by her sharp-tongued mother Lillie Mae (Lily Tomlin), a surefire bet for comic relief.

Reba learns that relocating to Malibu is quite a challenge to her traditional southern values, while her offspring have their trials and tribulations of fitting in.
     
Sticking to the country music theme, ABC’s new drama “Nashville” explores the battle for popularity between a fading country legend and a rising star.
     
Connie Britton’s chart-topping Rayna Janes finds her popularity is waning.  Fans still line up to get her autograph, but she’s not packing arenas anymore.
     
Rayna’s record label suggests a concert tour where the legend opens for up-and-comer Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere), the young and sexy future of country music.
     
But the scheming Juliette can’t wait to steal Rayna’s spotlight.  Meanwhile, Rayna doesn’t want to share the stage with the untalented little vixen.  Hence, the inevitable power struggle ensues.
     
The title of new drama “666 Park Avenue” is somewhat revealing.  Does this mean Satan has a penthouse in the ritziest part of Manhattan?  No, not exactly.  But it is still troubling, nonetheless.
     
The seductive address is for The Drake, a fancy apartment building owned by the mysterious Gavin Doran (Terry O’Quinn) and his wife Olivia (Vanessa Williams).
     
Unsuspecting new tenants, an idealistic young couple (Rachel Taylor and Dave Annable), are given the opportunity to manage the historic building in which supernatural forces endanger the lives of its residents.
     
In “666 Park Avenue,” The Drake, home to an epic struggle of good versus evil, maintains a dark hold over all of its tenants in this chilling supernatural drama.
     
A very different sort of neighbors is found in a gated New Jersey townhome community with its own golf course in the new comedy “The Neighbors.”
     
Debbie and Marty Weaver (Jami Gertz and Lenny Venito) buy the first townhome in Hidden Hills to come on the market in 10 years.  
     
From day one, it is clear the residents of the community are a little different.  For starters, the new neighbors all have pro-athlete names like Reggie Jackson, Dick Butkis and Larry Bird.
     
The Weavers soon learn that the entire community is comprised of aliens from Zabvron, where the men bear children and everyone cries green goo from their ears.
     
With the exception of an early November date for “Malibu Country,” new ABC series launch in late September and early October.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.