Tonight's Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, "In From the Night" (9 p.m., CBS) offers all the warm fuzzies you'd expect from this long-running brand-name movie series. But the future of made-for-TV movies on CBS Sunday night remains cloudy.

		'In From the Night' When: 9 tonight, CBS. Starring: Marcia Gay Harden.

Rumors abound that the network may scrap the "CBS Sunday Movie" as its ratings continue to diminish. With "Monday Night Football" on ABC shifting to "Sunday Night Football" on NBC in the fall, CBS may see a need for a different competitive strategy.

"CBS is obviously dealing from a position of strength," noted Brad Adgate, senior vice president and director of research at Horizon Media. "They've already renewed 14 shows, which is more than half of their prime-time schedule."

To add more than a couple of new dramas, CBS would have to scrap its Sunday night movie. Adgate said CBS, which announces its fall schedule in mid-May, will likely base its decision about Sunday nights on the strength of its series in development and whether executives believe those nascent shows can improve the network's ratings fortunes. CBS's Sunday night has taken a hit from ABC's success with "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy," not to mention competition from shows on HBO and other cable outlets.

In the past, CBS has remade other nights of its schedule to appeal to younger viewers, but Sunday remains older-skewing. The network might seek to change that, though how isn't clear.

"They've tried comedies on Sunday with disastrous results," Adgate said, pointing to the failed pairing of "Becker" and "Bram & Alice" in 2002.

"In From the Night" falls squarely in the Hallmark tradition of heartfelt dramas about families, love and redemption. Marcia Gay Harden stars as Vicki Miller, a single career woman whose life as a writer is upended by the arrival of her 16-year-old nephew, Bobby (Taylor Handley, who played nutjob Oliver on the first season of "The O.C.").

A victim of abuse, Bobby helps Vicki see outside herself, while she helps him heal.

"You can't let your nephew get in the way of your writing," one of Vicki's colleagues warns.

"I won't," she replies. "Bobby's just temporary, my writing is permanent."

Anyone who's ever watched a Hallmark movie on CBS knows Vicki will gain enlightenment as she grows to love and care for Bobby. "In From the Night" is just that kind of predictable pablum, but aside from movies on Hallmark Channel, there aren't many outlets for it on TV anymore.

Jan Parkinson, vice president of Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions, said his company has an agreement with CBS for two more seasons -- at least three movies per season -- that will keep Hallmark films on the network through May 2008.

CBS could still cancel the "CBS Sunday Movie" and use those three Hallmark films as sweeps month specials in November, February and May, pre-empting regular programming.

Adgate said the most popular Sunday night movies on CBS in recent years have been holiday-themed, so those could continue to be produced for an annual airing, too. But the days of a weekly CBS TV movie may be numbered.

"It would mean the end of made-for-TV movies on an ongoing basis," Adgate said. "It could be another TV genre to go the way of Westerns and variety shows."