As Playback goes to press, the private networks are putting on their annual dog-and-pony shows, trotting out stars of their programs and trumpeting the new series they picked up at the recent L.A. screenings. The occasion, of course, is upfronts season, and, as always, this year contains its share of subplots, the main focus again being the CTV-Global rivalry.

Guessing which new series are going to stick is a crap shoot at best, but the initial sense from some media buyers is that CTV fared better in L.A. by a nose, but may start to pay a price for its aggressive acquisition strategy, allowing Global to narrow the gap.

The race between the two nets was once more heated, but by last year CTV was miles ahead, capturing 18 of the top 20 shows. CanWest MediaWorks, under new stewardship, chose wisely last year for its Global and CH stations, picking up hits Prison Break and My Name Is Earl, and is inching its way back toward respectability. The company was very active again this year, picking up 14 dramas and eight comedies.

The score card on new U.S. programs from one media buying firm that attended the U.S. nets’ fall launches in New York indicates that CTV got five potential hits (out of a total haul of six dramas and five comedies), compared to four for Global, and one – the post-apocalyptic drama Jericho – for CHUM. CTV’s best bets among dramas are thought to be The Nine and Justice, with the highly touted Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip a maybe.

Global picked up buzz drama Shark, starring James Woods as a lawyer who joins the DA’s crime unit. The dial is already crowded with legal series, but Shark stands to take a Thursday night bite out of CTV’s flagging ER, the medical soaper that has drifted pretty far afield to sustain itself after 13 seasons, and has become downright humorless.

Global also has a good chance with the ensemble family drama Brothers & Sisters, featuring the return of Calista ‘Ally McBeal’ Flockhart. Then there is the thriller Kidnapped, starring Dana Delany. Global and U.S. net NBC are bullish on this one, noting that ‘each season’ – as in, there will be several – will focus on one abduction, from the perspective of all involved. In a further show of confidence, the show will air on Wednesday at 10 p.m. against CSI: NY on CBS and CTV.

CH’s heavy hitter is ‘Til Death, the new marital sitcom featuring Everybody Loves Raymond’s Brad Garrett. Global used to be on top with its powerhouse comedy lineup, and hopes this new show can help recapture some of that past glory. Sitcoms in general have been at a low ebb lately, and one would think audiences are dying for a couple of yuks over the course of half an hour.

CTV clearly thinks likewise, going heavy with comedy on its fall schedule. Its new acquisitions include the high-profile laugher 30 Rock, the brainchild of Saturday Night Live’s Tina Fey, who also stars along with Alec Baldwin. It’s about the backstage shenanigans at – what else? – a TV show. Also on the CTV sked is Let’s Rob…, featuring the nutty premise of a dreamer who enlists a motley crew to rob Mick Jagger’s New York apartment. The show’s lowbrow humor and actual cameos by Jagger had guests at ABC’s fall launch in stitches.

But here is where the red flags in CTV’s schedule begin. Because the net’s sked already reached the saturation point with U.S. shows last year, it has had to make some strange moves. Just to keep Global beaten down, it has bought more shows than it could possibly air, and then either shelved them or sold them to a minor competitor, as when it off-loaded The West Wing, Scrubs and Less than Pefect to Sun TV.

And for several of the shows that it has actually decided to air, CTV has had to shuffle its lineup, passing up simulcasts with originating U.S. casters, to the chagrin of media buyers and advertisers – and certainly not to the benefit of viewers, either.

ABC will air Let’s Rob… Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m.and NBC has 30 Rock on Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. And where does CTV have them? In a one-hour block on Saturdays at 9 p.m. That’s traditionally not been an enviable slot for scripted programming. And doesn’t CTV realize that hockey is back and it’s better than ever?

And even more to the point, shunning simulcasts divides CTV’s audience. If, say, one million Canadians are interested in watching these shows, why wouldn’t more than half of them, if they have cable, not tune into the U.S. broadcasts in better timeslots during the week? And then how do you justify to advertisers that you are fracturing the potential viewership for some of your season’s hottest pickups? As for audiences, these scheduling decisions just create confusion.

Global is similarly unable to simulcast new drama series Standoff and Six Degrees, although expectations are not particularly high for either. But when a network acquires shows anticipated to be hits, what good are they when you’re not exploiting them as much as possible? With some strong pickups of its own that will be simulcast this fall, Global/CH is primed to crawl a little further up the charts.