NEW YORK — CBS is looking for more laughs, with the nation’s most popular network planning to double the amount of sitcoms it has on the air through new projects premiering this fall starring Kevin James, Matt LeBlanc and Joel McHale.

Former “NCIS” actor Michael Weatherly is also staying on CBS’ Tuesday-night lineup as the star of a new drama based on talk-show host Dr. Phil McGraw’s past career as a trial consultant.

CBS is introducing eight new series next season, six of them in the fall.

CBS will end the current season as the nation’s most-watched network for the eighth year in a row, and 13 out of the last 14 years.

The network has 17 series that average more than 10 million viewers per episode, more than all the other broadcasters combined.

The network will air four comedies each on Monday and Thursday nights, the latter starting in late October following a package of NFL games. James, the former “King of Queens” actor, will play a retired police officer who finds home life unexpectedly complicated in “Kevin Can Wait.”

He’ll be paired on CBS’ Monday-night lineup with LeBlanc’s “Man With a Plan,” where the star plays a contractor who stays home with the kids when his wife gets a job.

With Matthew Perry returning on “The Odd Couple,” it brings CBS’ prime-time count of former “Friends” actors to two.

On the “Great Indoors,” McHale plays a former adventure reporter who takes a desk-bound job and has to deal with a younger staff.