CBS really tries to be hip, you know. For next fall, it has a drama from a producer and co-star of "Lost"; it has the first medical show in which a surgeon confers with his late ex-wife. And its two new comedies will both be about mis-matched friends in the city.

Still, don't expect any head-long plunge into "Lost" madness. This is still CBS, which knows its audience and stays steady, at the top of the ratings. This morning, it announced its fall schedule; here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

The sets for some TV dramas offer grit and grime. Things are muddied, to seem realistic.

Don't expect any of that on the "CSI" set. "This isn't a police station or an ER," said Louis Milito, one of the show's producers. "These people are scientists."

Scientists like neat and clean. That's how the "CSI" set looks.