New York TV Festival unveils lineup

'Mars,' 'Fringe,' 'Tim' join Premiere Week

By SAM THIELMAN

J.J. Abrams' 'Fringe' will be showcased at the New York Television Festival.

CBS' 'Worst Week' will also be featured at the fest.

The New York Television Festival has announced its lineup for the 2008 edition of Premiere Week, featuring shows from ABC, Fox, CBS, the CW, NBC and HBO.

Highlights include ABC’s American remake of “Life on Mars,” J.J. Abrams’ Fox show “Fringe,” and HBO’s “The Life and Times of Tim.” Screenings will take place at Gotham’s New World Stages, located in Midtown.

• “Life on Mars,” ABC’s hourlong show about an NYPD detective (Jason O’Mara) pulled back in time to 1973, will premiere on Sep. 12. O’Mara’s costars include Harvey Keitel, Gretchen Mol and Michael Imperioli.

• “Fringe,” a Fox drama from “Lost” and “Alias” creator J.J. Abrams, will bow on Sep. 13. The show’s description is appropriately vague — “A fantastical thriller about an unlikely trio who uncover a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events that may be part of a larger, more disturbing pattern that blurs the line between the possible and the impossible.” Also part of larger, more disturbing pattern: “Fringe” is Abrams’ second consecutive show to feature an airplane catastrophe in the pilot.

• Sep. 14 will see the premiere of CBS comedy “Worst Week,” a show starring “Jericho” thesp Kyle Bornheimer as a clumsy but well-meaning entertainment magazine editor who extravagantly embarrasses himself whenever he’s around his girlfriend’s parents.

• Media Rights Capital is set to premiere its CW show “Easy Money” on Sep. 14, as well. The hourlong dramedy, about a family that runs a high-interest loan business, will feature Emmy-winner Laurie Metcalf, “The O.C.” thesp Jeff Hephner, and Judge Reinhold, among others.

• “Life” begins, again, on Sep. 15: the CBS cop drama will have its second season preem at the fest, open to the public with free admission.

• A debut screening HBO’s new animated comedy half-hour “The Life and Times of Tim” will be held on Sep. 17, followed by a conversation with exec prod Steven Dildarian. The toon follows a normal 20-something guy “whose instincts repeatedly lead him down the wrong path” as he tries to climb up the corporate ladder. “Tim” is also produced by MRC, and will star Mary Jane Otto as Tim’s girlfriend Amy and Dildarian himself at Tim.