By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/21/2007 10:45:00 AM

During a standup routine at the ABC upfront presentation last week at New York City's Lincoln Center, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel fired a barb at rival NBC Universal in the wake of its decision to move Law & Order: Criminal Intent to USA Network.

“Law & Order is moving to cable,” Kimmel deadpanned, “And NBC itself may be moving to cable.”

If the upfront presentations were any indication, NBC is not the only broadcast network moving to cable, or at least looking a lot like a cable network.

In broadcast TV, a network's collective stable of shows defines its current brand, whereas in the cable world, networks are narrowly defined by their genre or audience profile.

But more so this year than ever, the broadcast networks are beginning to take on personalities—fitting nicely into niches. It is the inadvertent result of executives' chasing development similar to their current hits.

Not only do producers start to pitch more like-minded shows to those networks hoping to capitalize on their current successes, but the networks themselves often want similar fare as companion pieces to anything that works.

But networks have to tread carefully, as economic models demand that they command the mass audiences on which advertisers still want to bet $9 billion during the upfront spending season.

“Yes, the networks have narrowed and become more niche,” says John Rash, senior VP/director of media negotiations for media buyer Campbell Mithun. “But economically, it is imperative the broadcasters remain broad.”

Despite that warning, the nation's broadcasters are getting increasingly narrow.

With another pack of estrogen-heavy shows on the way, resurgent ABC is strengthening its increasing role as the Lifetime Television of broadcast TV.

After building its turnaround on female-targeted dramas like Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy, ABC is smartly staying in its sweet spot with development like Cashmere Mafia from the creator of Sex and the City and Grey's spinoff Private Practice.

The network is trying one male-centric drama in the form of Big Shots, a Thursday-night ensemble about four CEOs. But Entourage it is not—no surprise given ABC's current feel. “Even [Big Shots] looked like men as described by women,” says one ad buyer, noting that it may to be tough to promote a male-targeted show on ABC's female-heavy schedule.

Struggling NBC says it is betting on quality to dig itself out of the primetime doldrums, with many of entertainment chief Kevin Reilly's shows looking like they would play well on his former employer and home to some of cable's best-made shows, FX.

But while highly acclaimed shows watched by just a few million viewers may work for FX, NBC execs know they need to find another mass-audience hit like Heroes to turn things around.

Poor choices, like the recent airing of low-brow reality show Real Wedding Crashers on Mondays at 10 after Heroes, betrayed NBC's desired image of quality, new fare like dramas Bionic Woman and Chuck were well-received by advertisers.

The CW wants to be what MTV used to be, a trend-defining place for America's youth to meet. At its first upfront, in 2006, advertisers credited the fledgling CW with one of the better presentations, a short and acutely targeted message about chasing the hip and tech-savvy 18-34 demographic. But with a thrown-together hodge-podge of aging shows from two failed networks, such as 7th Heaven and Reba, the network simply didn't have the assets to back up or build that brand last year.

This year's presentation was again on target, and with its first full development season producing scripted shows like Gossip Girl and the Web-audience-targeted Online Nation, the network may finally start to live up to its brand.

Seldom is even a cable network built around a single show, and Fox is gradually adding assets to be more than the American Idol network. And those shows continue to have the irreverent and edgy feel that, with Idol, won the adult 18-49 ratings race yet again this year.

What used to be called the “Fox attitude” is still going strong with veterans like House and this year's rookie Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? fitting the bill. Now the network is adding more edgy fare like post-Katrina New Orleans drama K-Ville and Terminator spinoff Sarah Connor Chronicles.

CBS may be the exception to the rule, desperately trying to add some buzz to its crime-heavy brand, which still consistently leads the networks in viewership.

With atypical CBS fare like musical Viva Laughlin and couple-swapping drama Swingtown, the network aims to get edgier, and younger. But with a bunch of crime shows, some aging but successful reality assets, the new diverse dramas and the highest-rated comedy lineup, CBS is getting harder to paint with one brush stroke.