LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- ABC announced its fall premiere dates today at its annual affiliates meeting, making it the first of the broadcast networks to do so. In addition, the Alphabet confirmed it has given a midseason order to its untitled John Stamos comedy project.

Both announcements were detailed via press release this afternoon:

ABC ANNOUNCES PRIMETIME PREMIERE DATES FOR THE 2004-05 FALL SEASON

Speaking before executives of ABC's owned and affiliated stations, Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Primetime Entertainment, today announced premiere dates for the network's 2004-'05 fall schedule.

The dates are as follows (all times are ET):

Monday, September 13

8:00-9:00 p.m. "The Benefactor" (new series premiere)
9:00-11:00 p.m. "Monday Night Football" (season premiere)

Tuesday, September 21

8:00-8:30 p.m. "My Wife and Kids" (season premiere; new night)
8:30-9:00 p.m. "George Lopez" (season premiere; new night and time)
9:00-9:30 p.m. "According to Jim" (season premiere)
9:30-10:00 p.m. "Rodney" (new series premiere)
10:00-11:00 p.m. "NYPD Blue" (season premiere)

Wednesday, September 22

8:00-9:00 p.m. "Lost" (new series premiere)
9:00-11:00 p.m. "The Bachelor" (two-hour season premiere)

Thursday, September 23

8:00-9:00 p.m. "Extreme Makeover" (season premiere; new time)
9:00-10:00 p.m. "Life as We Know It" (new series premiere)

Friday, September 24

8:00-8:30 p.m. "8 Simple Rules" (season premiere; new night)
8:30-9:00 p.m. "Savages" (new series premiere)
9:00-9:30 p.m. "Hope & Faith (season premiere)
9:30-10:00 p.m. "Less than Perfect (season premiere; new night)

Saturday, September 25

8:00-11:00 p.m. "Wonderful World of Disney" - "The Rookie" (season premiere)

Sunday, September 26

7:00-8:00 p.m. "America's Funniest Home Videos" (season premiere)
8:00-9:00 p.m. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (season premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. "Desperate Housewives" (new series premiere)
10:00-11:00 p.m. "The Practice: Fleet Street" (new series premiere)

Wednesday, September 29

10:00-11:00 p.m. "Wife Swap" (new series premiere)

ABC ANNOUNCES PICK-UP OF JOHN STAMOS COMEDY FOR MIDSEASON

The ABC Television Network has ordered a new midseason comedy series starring John Stamos as a smooth-as-silk New York publicist. Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Primetime Entertainment, made the announcement today before a gathering of executives from ABC's owned and affiliated stations.

The untitled comedy joins three previously announced new drama series ("Blind Justice," "Eyes" and "Grey's Anatomy") on ABC's midseason slate, bringing ABC's current total of new midseason shows to four.

The series stars John Stamos as Jake Phillips, a New York-based publicist-to-the-stars. Jake is sharply dressed, smart talking, smooth as silk and on call 24/7 to meet the needs of his A-list clientele. He's also a ladies' man, and one could apply the same description to his dedicated work in that area.

Also starring are M�dchen Amick ("Twin Peaks") as Kylie Clarke, Rick Hoffman ("Philly") as Patrick, Bess Meyer as Val and Ian Gomez ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "The Drew Carey Show") as Adrian.

The series is executive-produced by Brad Grey ("The Sopranos," "The Larry Sanders Show") and Peter Traugott. Tim Doyle ("Roseanne," "Andy Richter Controls the Universe") served as executive producer on the pilot. Austin Winsberg ("Still Standing") is co-executive producer and writer of the series from Brad Grey Television Productions in association with Twentieth Century Fox Television.