But there were also familiar connections to CBS’s great success in the last decade, led by yet another new comedy from that network’s prime hit-maker, Chuck Lorre, and a long roster of stars with pedigrees, like Robin Williams, Will Arnett, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Josh Holloway and Toni Collette.

CBS will add two new dramas, both breaking CBS’s recent mold by relying on either serialized storylines or sci-fi elements.

The comedies will be highlighted by the new entry from Mr. Lorre (“Two and a Half Men,” “The Big Bang Theory”). This is one is called “Mom,” and Anna Faris (“Entourage”) plays a newly sober young women who moves back to Napa Valley to live with her mother, Allison Janney (“The West Wing”).

Mr. Williams returns to television for the first time since “Mork” to star with Ms. Gellar in a comedy called “Crazy Ones,” about a father-daughter team at an ad agency. It is created by David E. Kelley (“Ally McBeal”).

CBS also has a new comedy from Greg Garcia of “My Name is Earl.” Called “The Millers,” it stars Mr. Arnett as a recently divorced man with parent problems; J.B. Smoove and Beau Bridges are also in the cast.

A fourth new comedy — CBS is clearly looking to expand its strength in comedy — is called “We Are Men” and it’s about a young guy learning the ropes from older male friends in a rental complex. It stars Kal Penn (“House”) and Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”).

Mr. Holloway of “Lost” returns in a new drama called “Intelligence” about a United States cyberforce that makes use of one man’s special gifts: he has a microchip in his brain that allow him access to the “entire electromagnetic spectrum”; Marg Helgenberger (“C.S.I.”) is co-star.

The other CBS drama, which surely sounds like a serialized show, is “Hostages” which focuses on a family caught in a giant conspiracy. It stars Ms. Collette (“Tara”) and Dylan McDermott (“American Horror Story.”)

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/business/media/cbs-to-add-4-comedies-including-another-from-chuck-lorre.html?partner=rss&emc=rss