Frasier star makes sitcom return

Grammer plays a newsreader based in Pittsburgh

Kelsey Grammer, who played psychiatrist Frasier Crane for 22 years in Cheers and Frasier, is to return to sitcoms.

The actor will star as a local news reader trying to rebuild his career in the Fox TV show Back To You.

His co-star is another sitcom veteran, Patricia Heaton, who appeared in nine seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Announcing its 2007-2008 schedule, Fox also unveiled a legal drama starring ER actress Juliana Margulies and a series based on the Terminator movies.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which follows on from the second film in the trilogy, will star British actress Lena Headey in the title role.

Margulies, also known for her roles in The Sopranos and Snakes On A Plane, plays a rebellious defence lawyer in Canterbury's Law.

Advertising avalanche

Fox's schedule was revealed in the same week as rival US broadcasters CBS, NBC and ABC announced their autumn line-up.

The week-long showcase will kickstart the annual round of advertising sales, known as "upfronts", which are expected to raise about $9bn (£4.6bn) for the main commercial networks.

Kiefer Sutherland won best actor at last year's Emmy awards for 24

Fox confirmed that three of its biggest hits, American Idol, 24 and House will return for the new season - and promised bigger and better things from its shows.

"None of us were satisfied this year," said Fox entertainment president Peter Ligouri of Kiefer Sutherland's crime thriller 24.

"I think we heard what the loyal audience was telling us. It has really fuelled the show to be more daring next year."

The network also announced K-Ville, a police drama set in post-Katrina New Orleans and an American Idol spin-off, The Search for the Next Great American Band.

Spin-offs

Other shows announced in the past week include Private Practice, an offshoot of popular medical drama Grey's Anatomy, which will run on ABC.

NBC is remaking cult 1970s show Bionic Woman - starring former EastEnders star Michelle Ryan - and has cast Brooke Shields in Lipstick Jungle, a series based on the writings of Sex And The City creator Candace Bushnell.

Its biggest hit of last year, Heroes, gets a 24-episode run for the new season as well as a spin-off programme, Heroes: Origins, featuring a new cast of superheroes.

The most-watched US network, CBS, continues to rely on its big hitting crime dramas, CSI and Without A Trace.

But it also announced a series centred around a private investigator who happens to be a vampire, Moonlight, and a vehicle for West Wing and LA Law star Jimmy Smits, called Cane.

Shows noticeable by their absence from the new line-ups include Donald Trump's Apprentice, which has struggled in ratings compared to its UK counterpart, and teen drama Veronica Mars, which has been dropped by The CW network.

The CW, owned by CBS and Time Warner, is instead pinning its hopes on a new drama from the creators of The OC, called Gossip Girl, and the hit reality show America's Next Top Model.