Most shows will produce five to nine new installments, set to begin airing in March or April. Until then, expect plenty of repeats.
Some newer series will sit out until fall, and others remain contenders for next season, including Friday Night Lights and Las Vegas.
ABC's Lost is expected to save the last of six remaining episodes to air after a four-week break with five new ones starting in mid-April, moving the show to 10 pm ET starting April 24.
The alphabet net has also decided to go out with a bang on May 22, airing the season finales of Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy and Lost one day after the official end of the season.
The latest word on what's coming back, when, and how many new episodes are planned:
CBS
How I Met Your Mother (back March 17, 9 episodes planned)
The Big Bang Theory (March 17, 9 episodes planned)
Two And a Half Men (March 17, 9 episodes planned)
CSI: Miami (March 24, 8 episodes planned)
Cold Case(March 30, 5 episodes planned)
Criminal Minds (April 2, 7 episodes planned)
CSI: NY(April 2, 7 episodes planned)
CSI (April 3, 6 episodes planned)
Without a Trace (April 3, 6 episodes planned)
Ghost Whisperer (April 4, 6 episodes planned)
Numb3rs (April 4, 6 episodes planned)
NCIS (April 8, 7 episodes planned)
Moonlight (April 11, 4 episodes planned)
Rules of Engagement (April 14, 6 episodes planned)
Shark (TBA, 4 episodes planned)
NBC
My Name is Earl (April 3, 9 episodes planned)
30 Rock (April 10, 5 episodes planned)
The Office (April 10, 6 episodes planned)
ER (April 10, 6 episodes planned)
Scrubs (April 10, 5 episodes left)
Law & Order: SVU (April 15, 5 episodes planned)
Law & Order (April 23, 5 episodes planned)
Medium (keeps airing, 6 additional episodes planned)
Heroes (fall, 22 or more episodes planned)
Chuck (fall, 13 episodes planned)
Life (fall, 13 episodes planned)
Las Vegas (possibly fall)
Friday Night Lights (possibly fall)
ABC
Samantha Who? (April 7, 6 episodes planned)
Boston Legal (April 8, 6 episodes planned)
Desperate Housewives (April 13, 7 hours planned including 2-hour finale)
Brothers & Sisters (April 20, 4 episodes planned)
Ugly Betty (April 24, 5 episodes planned)
Grey's Anatomy (April 24, 5 episodes planned)
Lost (keeps airing; April 24, 5 additional episodes planned at 10 ET/PT)
Private Practice (fall, 13 episodes planned)
Pushing Daisies (fall, 13 episodes planned)
Dirty Sexy Money (fall, 13 episodes planned)
Fox
Bones (April 14, 2 episodes left plus 4 additional episodes planned)
'Til Death (March 25, then 5 additional starting April 16 episodes planned)
Back to You (Feb. 26 and 27, then 5 additional starting April 16 episodes planned)
House (April 28, 4 new episodes episodes planned)
24 (January 2009, 24 episodes planned)
CW
The Game (March 23, 9 episodes planned)
Smallville (April 17, 5 episodes planned)
Gossip Girl (April 21, 5 episodes planned)
Reaper (April 22, 5 episodes planned)
Supernatural (April 24, 4 episodes planned)
One Tree Hill (keeps airing, 5 left plus 6 additional episodes planned)
Everybody Hates Chris (March 2, 12 episodes left)
Aliens in America (March 2, 8 episodes left)
Pornography. It is the secret sin we don’t like to talk about. Yet it is single handedly corrupting our society—destroying marriages, families, careers, and even churches. A startling survey* recently revealed that 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women admit they are addicted to pornography. Not just struggling…addicted. That’s 84 million Christians. *ChristiaNet.com 6/6/07
• Chuck Swindoll calls it “The #1 secret problem in your church.”
• Of the 10,000 calls, emails and letters Focus on the Family receives daily, this represent their number one incoming request for help overall.
• New Man Magazine’s most frequent request from readers is to refer them to a service or ministry that can help them with their sexual temptation. “New Man readers NEED this product.” - from a New Man representative
• Oprah calls it “America’s #1 addiction.”
There are events going on this weekend in Merrillville and Naperville, around the NEWSBOYS GO TOUR concerts, and one of the guys from Rush of Fools is involved in this. Check out http://www.freeddombeginshere.org
By Peter Jaret
Secrets of long life from around the world
Four decades ago, researchers from the Seven Countries Study concluded that the monounsaturated fats in olive oil were largely responsible for the low rates of heart disease and cancer on the Greek island of Crete. Now we know that olive oil also contains polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that may help prevent age-related diseases.
In the 1970s, Soviet Georgia was rumored to have more centenarians per capita than any other country. Reports at the time claimed that the secret of their long lives was yogurt, a food ubiquitous in their diets. While the age-defying powers of yogurt never have been proved directly, yogurt is rich in calcium, which helps stave off osteoporosis and contains “good bacteria” that help maintain gut health and diminish the incidence of age-related intestinal illness.
Thirty years ago, researchers began to study why the native Inuits of Alaska were remarkably free of heart disease. The reason, scientists now think, is the extraordinary amount of fish they consume. Fish is an abundant source of omega-3 fats, which help prevent cholesterol buildup in arteries and protect against abnormal heart rhythms.
The Kuna people of the San Blas islands, off the coast of Panama, have a rate of heart disease that is nine times less than that of mainland Panamanians. The reason? The Kuna drink plenty of a beverage made with generous proportions of cocoa, which is unusually rich in flavanols that help preserve the healthy function of blood vessels. Maintaining youthful blood vessels lowers risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and dementia.
Studies of Seventh-Day Adventists (a religious denomination that emphasizes healthy living and a vegetarian diet) show that those who eat nuts gain, on average, an extra two and a half years. Nuts are rich sources of unsaturated fats, so they offer benefits similar to those associated with olive oil. They’re also concentrated sources of vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals, including antioxidants.
In a landmark study published in 1999, researchers at Tufts University’s Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging fed rats blueberry extract for a period of time that in “rat lives” is equivalent to 10 human years. These rats outperformed rats fed regular chow on tests of balance and coordination when they reached old age. Compounds in blueberries (and other berries) mitigate inflammation and oxidative damage, which are associated with age-related deficits in memory and motor function.
To obtain billions of hamburger patties for a few cents each, America's fast-food restaurants buy much of their meat from Central and South AMerican farmers. These farmers clear-cut forests, often starting a cattle-raising process that can be sustained for only a few short years. The loss of rain forests in South America means that the clouds they once made no longer blow across the Atlantic to drop their water on Africa. As a result, the Sahara grows by thousands of acres a year. What is the bottom line for Africans? More starvation. And the bottom line for Americans? Cheap burgers and growing waistlines.
