The floats are different, but the parade is the same.

It's time for the annual media hype for the fall television season.

The networks grandly announced their new fall lineups in May. Preview tapes were shipped to critics in June, and now network executives and producers are lining up to hawk their wares to the nation's TV critics.

In dark, dimly lit ballrooms at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, news conferences will introduce the stars of new shows that will either become part of our must-see viewing schedule or (statistically much more likely) be gone by Christmas.

With more and more cable networks clamoring for attention, the Television Critics Association summer media tour stretches out for three solid weeks. A gazillion cable weblets started things off last week, followed by PBS, CBS and broadcast weblets WB and UPN.

Like many other newspapers, we're attending one-third of the parade. So, Holloway is heading to Hollywood on Saturday to begin a one-week submersion in hype from NBC, ABC and Fox. Next year we'll probably flip the agenda and go for the front-end of the tour instead of the rear. Or maybe the middle, just to be wacky.

Based on advanced previews, we know that the 2005-06 season is going to be drama-heavy, with 19 of 31 new prime-time shows on the six broadcast networks falling into that genre. Look for ghosts, aliens and assorted creepy monsters. With only 10 new comedies (and we use that term lightly) and two new realities, the schedule is looking pretty darn serious.

But don't worry. The media tour itself is never terribly serious — unless you consider a trip to Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum to promote a reality show of the same name to be serious. That happened in 2003, and shrunken heads were the most popular attraction.

Network executives will try to sound serious when they put on their best happy faces and pontificate about the state of broadcast television. The reality is not so happy, and there is speculation among some experts that not all six broadcast networks will be around in two years.

Producers and stars will try to convince critics, and by extension the viewing public, that their new shows are the best ever — even though evidence to the contrary is revealed in previews. It's especially sad when stars beg to be liked.

For example, Fox's new sitcom "The War at Home" is possibly the worst I've seen in years, but I fully expect Michael Rapaport (formerly of "Boston Public") to try to convince me otherwise. Won't work, but I'll let him try.

In order of appearance, the floats scheduled for our portion of the parade include NBC stars Benjamin Bratt (pentagon drama "E-Ring"), Steve Carell (American version of the BBC sitcom "The Office"), Angie Harmon (fertility clinic drama "Inconceivable"); ABC stars Freddie Prinze Jr. (the new sitcom "Freddie"), Eddie Cibrian (sci-fi drama "Invasion"), Stuart Townsend (updated "Night Stalker"), Geena Davis (drama "Commander in Chief"); and Fox stars Hugh Laurie (medical drama "House"), Emily Deschanel (the new drama "Bones"), Chris O'Donnell (new sitcom "Head Cases"), Bradley Cooper (sitcom "Kitchen Confidential").

That's just a smattering. Each new show will be represented by a herd of actors, writers and producers.

Plus, there will be "star parties" at the end of each network presentation, during which old and new series' casts will attempt to mingle casually with reporters. These usually turn into feeding frenzies when, say, the cast of "Desperate Housewives" arrives, but we all pretend to be casual about it.

Much is riding on the buzz generated by the summer tour. It's a full-court press that the networks sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into every year. Good buzz — like that which accompanied "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" last summer — is critical to a successful fall launch.

I'll be gathering material for future features and news stories for the paper, and I'll be writing online columns (aka blogs) twice a day, starting Saturday night with a report from the Television Critics Association Awards ceremony. This is the one time during the media tour when TV critics, aka The Swarm of Unkempt Locusts, attempt to dress up like glamorous adults.

So stay tuned and stay with me. It should be an amusing adventure.

dholloway@statesman.com; 445-3608