Midseason TV Preview

Jake in Progress

ABC, March

STARRING John Stamos, Ian Gomez (Felicity), Rick Hoffman, Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me)

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Ten years after Full House signed off, the 41-year-old Stamos plays a guy that Jesse could have been — if he'd been the Olsen twins' publicist instead of their uncle: Jake follows a hotshot New York City PR whiz who's trying to shed his lothario ways.

WHAT TO EXPECT As all the networks struggle to find fresh approaches to comedy, Jake is ABC's first attempt at a single-camera, laugh-track-free sitcom in three years. The show is, in fact, so different from the rest of ABC's comedy lineup that execs are even considering running it two episodes at a time because the network currently doesn't have a compatible half hour with which to pair it. ''We really liked the idea of doing almost a little romantic-comedy movie every week,'' says Stephanie Leifer, ABC's senior VP of comedy programming. ''It feels like the kind of half hour that fans of shows like Desperate Housewives or Lost would want to watch.''