Read on for details of the new shows in the CBS lineup for 2007-08.


Cane

Genre: Drama
Airs: Tuesdays at 10pm
Cast: Jimmy Smits (The West Wing), Hector Elizondo (Chicago Hope), Nestor Carbonell (Lost), Paola Turbay (Bailando por un Sueo), Eddie Matos (General Hospital), Rita Moreno (West Side Story), Michael Trevino (The Riches), Lina Esco (CSI: NY), Sam Carman (Bones), Alona Tal (Veronica Mars), Polly Walker (Rome)
Description: An epic drama about the external rivalries and internal power struggles of a large Cuban-American family running an immensely successful rum and sugar business in South Florida. When the family patriarch, Pancho (Elizondo), is offered a lucrative but questionable deal by his bitter adversary, the Samuels, to purchase thousands of acres of sugar fields, he's faced with a tough choice: Should he cash out of the sugar business and focus solely on rum, which would please his impulsive natural son, Frank (Carbonell), or protect the family legacy that he built from the ground up by not selling, and side with his adopted son, Alex (Smits), who mistrusts the Samuels and still sees value in sugar. Alex and Frank's approach to business is as different as their approach to life. While Frank might lose focus chasing women, Alex is deeply in love with his beautiful wife, Isabel (Turbay), who is also Pancho's daughter. Married when she was just 17 years old, Isabel balances Alex by choosing not to involve herself in the business, focusing instead on their three children, who are determined to forge their own paths outside the family. For the Duques, will family allegiance come first or will their secrets and acrimonious conflicts over love, lust and control of the family fortune be their downfall?


Kid Nation

Genre: Reality
Airs: Wednesdays at 8pm
Cast: N/a
Description: 40 kids will have 40 days to build a new world - in a ghost town that died in the 19th Century. These kids, ages 8-15, will spend more than a month without their parents or modern comforts in Bonanza City, N.M., attempting to do what their forefathers could not - build a town that works. They will cook their own meals, clean their own outhouses, haul their own water and even run their own businesses - including the old town saloon (root beer only). They'll also create a real government - four kid leaders who will guide the group through their adventure, pass laws and set bedtimes. Through it all, they'll cope with regular childhood emotions and situations: homesickness, peer pressure and the urge to break every rule they've ever known. At the end of each episode, all 40 kids will gather at an old fashioned Town Hall meeting where they will debate the issues facing Bonanza City. They'll show wisdom beyond their years and the unflinching candor that only kids can exhibit. There are no eliminations - you only go home if you want to. And in every Town Hall meeting, kids may raise their hands and leave. Will they stick it out? In the end, will these kids prove to adults everywhere (and their own parents!) that they have the vision to build a better world than the pioneers who came before them? And just as importantly, will they come together as a cohesive unit, or will they abandon all responsibility and succumb to the childhood temptations that lead to round-the-clock chaos?


Moonlight

Genre: Drama
Airs: Fridays at 9pm
Cast: Alex O'Loughlin (White Out), Amber Valletta (Hitch), Rade Serbedzija (24)
Description: Mick St. John (O'Loughlin) is a captivating "undead" private investigator who uses his acute vampire senses to help the living... instead of feeding on them. In an agonizing twist of fate, Mick was "bitten" 60 years ago by his new bride, the seductive and beguiling Coraline (Valletta). Immortal and eternally as young, handsome and charismatic as he was then, Mick is sickened by Coraline and other vampires who view humans only as a source of nourishment. With only a handful of undead confidantes for company, including deceitful ally Josef (Serbedzija), Mick fills his infinite days protecting the living, and trying not to think about how his life would have been if he hadn't followed his heart. However, after six decades of resisting, he wonders if it's time to pursue the love of a mortal. He has his eyes on Beth Turner, a beautiful, ambitious reporter who has been covering the ongoing plague of unusual murders. But would Beth even consider giving up a normal life to be with him, and can Mick risk the pain of seeing himself as a monster in her eyes? As Mick lives between two realities, fighting his adversaries among the undead and falling in love with Beth, he knows he needs to figure out a reason to keep "living."


Swingtown

Genre: Drama
Airs: Midseason
Cast: Molly Parker (Deadwood), Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest), Grant Show (Melrose Place), Lana Parrilla (24), Miriam Shor (Big Day), Josh Hopkins (Brothers & Sisters), Shanna Collins (Wildfire), Aaron Howles, Brittany Robertson (Freddie)
Description: A peek into the shag-carpeted suburban homes of the 1970s to find couples reveling in the sexual and social revolution that introduced open marriages, women's liberation and challenged many conventional wisdoms. During this heady era of provocative change, Susan (Parker) and Bruce Miller (Davenport) move their family to an affluent Chicago suburb in search of a different sense of community, and they look forward to barbecues and get-togethers with their new neighbors, as well as a change of pace for their teenage daughter and pre-teen son. Enter Tom (Show) and Trina (Parrilla) Decker, a striking, outgoing couple on the hunt who redefine the term "neighborhood watch." After a mind-blowing evening with them, Susan and Bruce realize that couples in this town share much more than recipes, local gossip and a view of Lake Michigan, and are worlds apart from their former conservative neighbors, Janet (Shor) and Roger (Hopkins) Thompson. Susan's loyal friend Janet is appalled by what she witnesses in this new neighborhood, while Roger, though dutiful to his wife, may be more intrigued than she knows. In a changing social climate - defined by its music, fashion and style - everyone in Swingtown is confronted with personal choices, experimentation and shifting attitudes.


The Big Bang Theory

Genre: Comedy
Airs: Mondays at 8.30pm
Cast: Johnny Galecki (Roseanne), Jim Parsons (Judging Amy), Kaley Cuoco (8 Simple Rules...), Simon Helberg (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), Kunal Nayyar (NCIS)
Description: Brainy best friends Leonard (Galecki) and Sheldon (Parsons) can tell you anything you want to know about quantum physics, but when it comes to dealing with everyday life here on earth they're lost in the cosmos. Neither fully understands that scientific principles don't always apply in matters of the heart - until they meet their sexy new neighbor Penny (Cuoco), a friendly screenwriter/waitress from the midwest who also happens to be newly single. She quickly makes an impression on the other members of Leonard and Sheldon's geek squad - Howard Wolowitz (Helberg), who portrays himself as the Casanova of Cal Tech, and fellow whiz kid Rajesh Koothrappali (Nayyar), who is rendered speechless around anyone unprepared to converse about the Theory of Relativity or other scientific jargon. The chemistry between this gaggle of geniuses and a delightful damsel is about to undergo a stimulating series of inter-personal experiments.


Viva Laughlin

Genre: Drama
Airs: Sundays at 8pm
Cast: Lloyd Owen (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles), Hugh Jackman, Madchen Amick (ER), Ellen Woglom (The O.C.), Carter Jenkins (Surface), Eric Winter (Wildfire) and D.B. Woodside (24)
Description: A mystery drama with music about eternal optimist and freewheeling businessman Ripley Holden, whose sole ambition is to run a casino in Laughlin, Nev. Occasionally using upbeat contemporary songs to accentuate the drama and humor and advance the story, the series is based on the hit BBC show Viva Blackpool. Ripley (Owen) is the ultimate gambler with an infectious personality who is on the brink of making a killing... just as soon as he opens his casino that's nowhere near completion. When his financing suddenly falls through, the fearless and tenacious Ripley approaches his enemy - dashing, sarcastic, wealthy casino owner Nicky Fontana (Jackman) for help. Though the odds are stacked against him, Ripley doesn't miss a beat, even when he becomes embroiled in a murder investigation after the body of his ex-business partner is found at his club. At home, Ripley uses his dry wit to adjust to the demands of his family: his gorgeous wife, Natalie (Amick), wants more attention; his teenage daughter, Cheyenne (Woglom), wants his approval; and his son, Jack (Jenkins), wants to help him at work. All of this adversity would defeat a lesser man, but for the outgoing and passionate Ripley there's no such thing as bad news, only deals to be struck and wagers to be won in the intoxicating neon glow of Laughlin, where the cards are on the table, romance is in the air and lively music is on the stage.