Fox announces winners, losers for fall
Fox will bring only two new series on the air in the fall, traditionally its slow season, the network announced Thursday.
But it plans flashy, two-hour season premieres of four programs during the same August week as the Democratic National Convention.
“Lost” producer J.J. Abrams is behind the new science fiction drama “Fringe,” about an airplane flight whose passengers meet untimely ends.
“Fringe” will be paired with “House” on Tuesdays in the fall, and “American Idol” in the spring.
A new comedy, “Do Not Disturb,” is set in one of Manhattan’s trendiest hotels. Jerry O’Connell (“Crossing Jordan”) and Niecy Nash (“Reno 911!”) star.
It replaces the canceled “Back to You,” the TV-station sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. An online petition is afoot to save that show.
“Fringe,” “Bones,” “Prison Break” and “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” will open the fall season the week of Aug. 25, the same time as the Democrats gather in Denver.
The premieres should not conflict with major moments of the convention because political planners try to time them after 10 p.m. on the East Coast, when the shows will be over, said Peter Liguori, Fox entertainment chairman.
Fox will finish the season as the nation’s most popular network among all viewers, not just young viewers, taking a title owned by CBS for the past five years.
The network says its development season was hindered by the writers strike, one reason why only two new series will launch.
Fox usually comes alive in January, anyway, when “American Idol” premieres. But network executives said they were disappointed with the ratings declines for “Idol” this season, and will cut back the Wednesday results show to 30 minutes.
Also returning in January is the political thriller “24,” preceded in November by a two-hour, stand-alone movie. Shot partly in South Africa, it takes place on Inauguration Day for the next U.S. president (Cherry Jones), setting up the show’s seventh season.
Another new sci-fi series, “Dollhouse” – from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer ” producer Joss Whedon, and featuring former “Buffy” star Eliza Dushku – will arrive in midseason, along with a new reality show, “Secret Millionaire,” about rich folks who go “undercover” in poor neighborhoods under the pretense of filming a documentary.
Two new animated comedies will fill in for “King of the Hill” and “American Dad” on Sundays starting in March.
“Class Dismissed,” about the dysfunctional faculty at a public high school, re-teams “Arrested Development” creator Mitch Hurwitz with that cult comedy’s Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Henry Winkler as voice talent.
There’s also “The Cleveland Show,” a “Family Guy” spinoff about the Griffins’ neighbors.