PASADENA, CALIF. - TV critics can be an unforgiving lot, but UPN’s fall schedule makes compassion tough to muster.

In an effort to draw more viewers - particularly young, male viewers - the struggling network has scheduled two hours of WWF wrestling Thursday night. Critics are bound to sneer, but it’s an easy move that’s likely to boost the network’s ratings.

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UPN entertainment president Tom Nunan said the Fontana/Levinson show, once titled “Flesh and Blood,” was filmed only as a presentation. It’s being reworked as “The Beat,” keeping some of the same characters and jettisoning others (including original star Jorja Fox, who plays Maggie Doyle on “ER”).

Fontana and Levinson will be directly involved in “The Beat.” Fontana wrote the pilot, which Levinson will direct next month in Manhattan.

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