May 10 (Bloomberg) -- ``The Bionic Woman'' is probably coming back to television next season. Then there's ``Chuck,'' a series about a computer geek who becomes a spy, and ``Journeyman,'' a fantasy drama about a man who travels back in time to alter events.

These are among the new shows for September that NBC is hoping will end a dubious streak: three straight fourth-place finishes in primetime viewing behind CBS, ABC and Fox, a humbling predicament for a network that once set the standard for comedy and edgy drama.

Since 2004, when NBC was second to CBS in total viewers and first in the age group -- 18 to 49 -- that determines the highest ad rates, NBC has churned out enough clunkers and duds to spur investor speculation that its parent, General Electric Co., might be better off without it.

``NBC is in a bad position,'' says Lisa Quan, a vice president at the New York-based ad agency Magna Global, echoing a view shared by other ad executives as NBC prepares to unveil its lineup of shows for the 2007-2008 season Monday in New York.

The other networks follow -- ABC on Tuesday, CBS on Wednesday, Fox and the year-old CW on Thursday -- to complete presentations known as the upfront, which advertisers use to set their spending.

After last year's upfront, advertisers agreed to spend about $9.1 billion, an amount that several ad executives say would be hard to match this year because viewership is down 3 percent and none of the four leading networks has increased its audience of 18 to 49 year olds over last season, according to Nielsen Media Research.

GE Stands Firm

Brad Adgate, director of research for the New York-based agency Horizon Media Inc., projects about $9 billion in spending, a figure that Jack Myers, who publishes a media industry newsletter, the Jack Myers Report, says might be ``slightly high.'' David Joyce, an equity analyst for the New York securities firm Miller Tabak & Co. LLC, was more optimistic, projecting $9.5 billion.

For now, GE, based in Fairfield, Connecticut, has no intention of selling its entertainment unit, which includes the Universal Television studio, says Cory Shields, an NBC Universal spokesman. On April 13, GE reported that NBC Universal's first- quarter profit gained 6 percent after a 22 percent decline in sales because the Olympics were part of the same period a year earlier. GE shares, through yesterday, had risen 7.4 percent in the last year, half the 15 percent gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Nor is NBC's tough luck affecting Jeff Zucker, who presided over the audience decline as head of NBC television and was promoted last October to president and chief executive officer of NBC Universal.

Focus on Quality

Nonetheless, the pressure is building on the network to regain some of its former luster, a challenge that falls chiefly to the management team Zucker installed to run the network.

No one is feeling the crunch more than Kevin Reilly, the network's president of entertainment since 2004, whose contract was extended in February, reflecting Zucker's confidence in Reilly's oft-stated programming strategy that quality shows will attract large audiences. It hasn't always worked.

At a pre-upfront meeting with advertisers in March, when NBC showed clips of shows in development, Reilly cited some of NBC's current bright spots, including ``Heroes'' and the game show, ``Deal or No Deal,'' and said, ``This season, I'm sure we've done a lot more things right.''

Before concluding, though, he acknowledged, ``Clearly, we still have a long way to go. We're lacking breadth across the schedule, but breadth is going to be achieved with one more development cycle, and I believe we have the goods.''

Lagging Share

With three weeks left in the current season, NBC has averaged 9 million viewers a night, compared with 12.6 million for CBS, 9.8 million for ABC and 10.3 for Fox. The audience for the CW, a joint venture of CBS and Warner Brothers Entertainment, has been about half of NBC's.

NBC's position in the 18-to-49-year-old group is also fourth, with an average nightly audience of 3.1 million, to 4 million for Fox, 3.5 million for ABC and 3.7 million for CBS.

To climb out of the hole, NBC ordered 16 pilots this year, the same number as last year and fewer than any of the other major networks for a second-straight year. ABC ordered 30 this year, Fox 25 and CBS 22. For NBC, the low number reflects confidence that some of them will spur a ratings surge even in the midst of a $750 million cost-cutting effort that Zucker announced last fall.

In any case, NBC is facing a raft of critical decisions beyond which pilots to turn into series. Not least is whether to drop one or both of producer Dick Wolf's long-running police dramas, ``Law and Order'' and ``Law and Order: Criminal Intent,'' which are losing audience. ``Law and Order: SVU,'' Wolf's other show on NBC, has been renewed.

`Many Holes'

``Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'' and ``Friday Night Lights,'' shows that appealed more to critics than a broad audience, may also be in trouble, testing Reilly's theory. An assessment of network needs by Horizon Media concluded that NBC could have ``many holes'' to fill for the coming season.

Besides ``The Bionic Woman,'' ``Chuck,'' and ``Journeyman,'' -- all of which require the same suspension of disbelief that made ``Heroes'' so popular this season -- NBC is also considering a drama called ``Life,'' which follows a cop who returns to the force after serving prison time for a crime he didn't commit, and a series from Candace Bushnell, creator of ``Sex and the City,'' called ``Lipstick Jungle,'' about three high-powered women in New York City.

Juggling Schedules

Predicting replacements, though, is difficult. Networks try creating ``buzz,'' Hollywood's currency of high expectation, by showing advertisers early clips, yet some scheduling decisions are made a day before presentation and even then aren't irreversible.

Last year, NBC announced its primetime schedule, only to juggle it a week later after ABC moved ``Grey's Anatomy'' from Sunday to Thursday.

Further, network executives now approach scheduling as a puzzle with two parts. The first half, starting in September, takes into account baseball playoffs on Fox and Sunday night football on NBC. The second half, starting in January, is defined for all networks by ``American Idol'' on Fox, the most- watched series on television by more than 2-to-1 in many cases, and the most expensive for advertisers, as much as $620,000 for 30 seconds this season.

Quan, who attended NBC's March presentation, says the network had ``interesting ideas'' even if she found it odd to see ``The Bionic Woman,'' a remake of the short-lived 1970s spinoff, as the first show highlighted.

`Older' Dramas

``They want to try to have something with the potential to reach a younger audience,'' she says. ``But many of their dramas seemed older, not exactly the kind to bring in the 18 to 34 year olds.''

Bill Carroll, vice president of Katz Television Group, which sells advertising to affiliates, says CBS, which is on target to be the most-watched network for a fifth consecutive year, has the most stable schedule.

Leslie Moonves, chief executive officer of New York-based CBS, told investors in a first-quarter earnings conference call last week that CBS has ``very few holes to build on,'' adding that he implored his creative team ``to think outside the box'' in filling them.

It looks as if it did, based on the network's descriptions of its pilots: ``Twilight'' is about a private investigator who was bitten by a vampire. ``Swingtown'' is about spouse-swapping. In ``Babylon Fields,'' corpses rise from the grave, eager to regain their former lives.

Fox Gains

Fox, a New York-based division of News Corp., is about to finish the season first as the only network that increased its overall audience, by 4 percent, and as number one in the 18-to- 49 group for a third-straight year -- rankings largely based on the strength of ``Idol,'' which returns each season in January.

Fox's needs for the new season are obvious: Stronger shows in the months prior to ``Idol's'' return.

ABC, a unit of the Burbank, California-based Walt Disney Co., has lost more viewers since last season -- 10 percent overall and 13 percent among 18 to 49 -- than the other networks, according to Nielsen, despite airing such popular shows as ``Grey's,'' ``Desperate Housewives,'' ``Dancing With the Stars'' and ``Ugly Betty.''

Even though ABC's biggest need is comedies, several dramas have generated more industry talk, including a still-unnamed spinoff to ``Grey's Anatomy'' and ``Dirty Sexy Money,'' in which an idealistic young lawyer inherits his late father's ethically challenged law firm.

One comedy that ABC is likely to put on the schedule is ``Cavemen,'' based on the hairy characters featured in insurance commercials for Chevy Chase, Maryland-based Geico Corp.

If it's anything like ABC's last caveman show, it'll be a hit: ``The Flintstones'' ran seven seasons, through 1966.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Janofsky in Los Angeles at mjanofsky@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 10, 2007 09:11 EDT