When most networks unveil their fall programming at their upfronts, I, being a television junkie, am passively interested. When BET does it, I'm filled with a sense of dread. What now?

I'll say this — it's not as bad as last year's. Considering last year's lineup included Hot Ghetto Mess-turned-We Got To Do Better and Hell Date, a Punk'd-type dating show featuring little people wearing dimestore devil costumes, it would be hard for them to come up with ideas that are as bad as they were last year. As it is, many of the shows sound like the creative team just tried to translate programs on other networks into "black versions," like the new, self-explanatory show Judge Karen, and the MC Lyte-hosted dating show The Boot, which sounds a lot like a combination of Elimidate and MTV's Next (a bad combination, in case you haven't seen either of them).

There are also new reality shows — an inexplicable one about Carmelo Anthony called Carmelo's Way (yawn) and one about a group of siblings struggling to make it in the music biz under the tutelage of Jermaine Dupri. Despite the way it sounds, it is not called Making the Family Band, surprisingly enough.

But nowhere is the intense amount of pressure that BET has been under from the black community in the past year to shape up and get a little social responsiblity more evident than in the networks new "serious programs:"

THE TRUTH WITH JEFF JOHNSON - Jeff Johnson takes his award-winning reporting to the talk show format with a fresh approach to news and pop culture hosted by the acclaimed correspondent. He addresses the issues facing Black America, the nation and the world as they happen, gathering comments and provoking thought with interviews and lively discussion. PREMIERING 2009

UNREPORTED - The imbalance in journalistic coverage with respect to African Americans is handed a much-needed reality check with this new investigative series. UNREPORTED hits the bulls-eye by illuminating the plight of the missing and falsely accused in our communities and in so doing, brings our truth to light unlike any news program on television. PREMIERING 2009

A show called Leading Men, about "prominent African American men who have impacted American culture artistically, socially, and politically" is also in the works. No word yet on whether it will run side-by-side with American Gangster, about prominent African American male criminals.

The thing about BET is that even if some of these shows, like Unreported, or Urban Cuisine, a cooking show starring celeb chef Marcus Samuelsson (I love cooking shows and Marcus Samuelsson!), sound good on paper, we all know that BET's execution skills are not on point at all. A good idea is nothing more than an idea if they can never figure out how to turn it into a good show. And even if they can figure it out, that one good show will still be airing on a very bad network.