Full orders in order at fall mart. High hopes for series.

This year's fall season series have come out of the studio lot gates with many expectations. After a summer of sluggish U.S. TV network ratings, an overabundance of copycat game shows and numerous reality flops, the U.S. nets have been given another chance to wow the pants off U.S. and, indirectly, international viewers.

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While the jury's still out on many fall shows (as some have yet to premiere), the studios are using MIPCOM to plan out their international strategies, a process that began with the L.A Screenings in May.

"At the Screenings we found that international buyers were looking for non-continuous storylines," said Marion Edwards, president, International Television at Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution. "They want shows with greater repeatability," she explained. "More than anything, broadcasters want shows that can stick to the U.S. schedule for 13 episodes. It's becoming more difficult to justify spending the money on shows when everything's become chop-chop." Edwards is referring to the fact that many international broadcasters got burned last year after investing in expensive, highly serialized series that never got off the ground in the U.S.

Keith LeGoy, evp of Distribution at Sony Pictures Television International recognized that this is, unfortunately, "an element of the business we're in, which is by nature risky." But, he said, "international buyers have become much more aware of how a show will be launched, marketed and scheduled in the U.S. to best understand its chances for long-term success. Obviously, international broadcasters could decide to wait until the end of the U.S. TV season to better know the winners and losers at that point, but the competition for the winners will be so much fiercer," he said.

Edwards added: "Unless the U.S. networks schedule, promote and stand behind a series it won't have longevity internationally." Edwards pointed specifically to Fox's Journeyman (which has been sold to Sky in the U.K.)--about a man who can travel back in time--as an example of how a networks scheduling can help boost a new series. NBC gave the series a Heroes lead-in, "which is a great thing," she said, thanks to the popularity of Heroes and the likelihood that someone will stay tuned in afterwards.

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As for the Screenings, Edwards was pleasantly surprised by the interest international broadcasters showed in K-Ville, a series that takes place in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans (the series was sold to Channel Five in the U.K.). "We thought it might be difficult to attract international interest, but it's gotten their attention, probably in part because New Orleans is such a legendary city."

As far as the Latin territories were concerned, Disney-ABC International Television's Fernando Barbosa said: "All of the series got great attention. "But," he predicted, "The most popular will probably be Dirty Sexy Money--it is a fresh and sexy drama, reminiscent of Dallas and Dynast, that uses razor-sharp satire to illustrate how scads of money can create a great family ... and demolish it. Also, it has a storyline that bears a certain resemblance to the telenovela plotlines."

For Sony, the must-have series at the Screenings was Glenn Close-starring Damages, which successfully premiered on cabler FX over the summer. "We have great hopes for Damages internationally," said LeGoy. "The list of broadcasters who have acquired the show reads like a 'who's who' of top tier networks," he said.

As far as other series he expects to see gobbled up by international broadcasters, LeGoy pointed to Viva Laughlin, which is "so different and distinctive that it creates a different ray of sunshine on a broadcaster's schedule. Cashmere Mafia has a cast list and an energy that international broadcasters, advertisers and audiences love; Julianna Margulies' return to a major network TV series is massively anticipated." When asked whether he fears that Mafia--which is helmed by Sex and the City's Darren Star, and revolves around a group of successful NYC women--is too similar to NBC Universal's Lipstick Jungle, which is also about successful women and co-created by Star's Sex anal the City cohort Candace Bushnell, LeGoy was unabashed. "ER and House are both medical dramas; CSI and Law & Order are both cop shows. You can have multiple shows in the same overall genre. The key question is 'are they good?' Fortunately with Cashmere Mafia we have an amazing show. Plus it's on the network in the U.S. [ABC] that has been the place to launch successful women-oriented shows--from Desperate Housewives to Grey's Anatomy." He added, "the level of quality that a show needs in order to succeed is staggering."

Like Sony, CBS Paramount International Television is also banking on the power of celebrity for two of its new shows. The first is Cane, a Florida-based family soap starring and executive produced by NYPD Blue's Jimmy Smits. Additionally, former X Files star David Duchovny stars in Californication, part of the CBS Paramount-distributed Showtime catalogue, which is increasingly gaining attention and respect in the international marketplace. One CBS Paramount executive called Californication "a major attraction at the L.A Screenings." The racy series, which has been sold to the U.K.'s Five and Australia's Ten Network, has caused its own buzz thanks to the Australian Christian Lobby and other groups' protests and urges to boycott advertisers. An even bigger brouhaha took place in America surrounding CBS Paramount's reality series Kid Nation, in which a group of kids takes over an uninhabited U.S. town. The same CBS Paramount exec said Kid Nation is already eliciting formatting rights requests from some territories.

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Though dramas and reality series tend to be surer things than comedies overseas, one laffer with international potential is Fox's Back to You, which features well-known comedy veterans Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Kelsey Grammer (Cheers, Frasier), and has already been sold to Channel Four in the U.K. "The response in the U.K., Canada and Australia has been really positive," said Edwards. "In the rest of the world, if the networks need a comedy (which they usually do), they'll take this. It helps that our company has one of the biggest international comedy hits of all time in The Simpsons."

Another sitcom with international hopes is Warner Bros.' The Big Bang Theory, about two physics geniuses who befriend a blonde bombshell neighbor. According to showrunner and writer Chuck Lorre (who also produces Two and a Half Men, which airs just after Big Bang on CBS), the show, which he insists transcends the stereotypes of pocket protectors and ditzy blondes, "has a universal theme. It appeals to anyone who's felt disenfranchised; like they're on the outside looking in--anyone who's felt like they didn't get a copy of the rule book of life." While early reactions have been positive, Lorre thinks his sitcom may be able to achieve the impossible: "We're getting a response from people who don't watch TV shows--young males." And while this could be attributed to the 20-something cast, Lorre said it's a combination of writing and casting, "the sum is greater than its parts," he said. "This is not designed to simply pass the time," Lorre said. "People have so many other things to do."

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One genre that has almost guaranteed success overseas is the light entertainment/competition format. And there's no shortage of those on American television this fall. One series that was reordered after a summer launch is The Singing Bee, which, according to Phil Gurin, the show's producer, "is a [self-contained] variety show meets game show," with a flail band and a dozen dancers performing alongside contestants who try to sing the right words to any given song. Gurin said it would be the perfect "one-two program punch" with another popular format like Dancing with the Stars. The Gurin Company sold the paper format to ITV in England even before selling it to NBC in the U.S. "It's extremely rare to sell a paper format internationally, and I can't remember the last time it happened in the U.K," Gurin said. Zeal Entertainment has signed on to distribute the format internationally. Gurin said he hopes to create a brand around Bee, similar to his own The Weakest Link, and will do that through a U.S. merchandising campaign that will roll out around Christmas. His upcoming fall/winter formats include Wanna Bet? (based on long-running and highly popular German series Wetten dass ... ? and starring British comic duo Ant and Dec), which is being internationally distributed by ZDF, and reality/game show hybrid Do you Trust Me?, which CBS Paramount is distributing.

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Undoubtedly there will be big hits, embarrassing flops and a handful of surprises in the U.S.'s fall schedule. Now the trick is predicting which will be which.