Fox sets fall schedule with only three new shows
The cast of "Brothers" includes Daryl "Chill" Mitchell and Michael Strahan, second and third from left.
It’s official: Fox has renewed “Dollhouse” for fall. But despite talking in glowing terms about creator Joss
Eliza Dushku
Whedon, his creativity and his passionate fan base, the network slotted Season 2 of “Dollhouse” (starring Eliza Dushku) at 8 p.m. Fridays, with the sitcom “Til Death” as its ominous lead-in.
Saying “it was important for us to keep scripted assets on the schedule,” Fox also renewed the freshman dramas “Fringe” (which gets the difficult 8 p.m. Thursday slot, after “Bones”) and “Lie to Me.” But “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” was canceled after two seasons.
”Terminator” “had a nice little run … but ultimately we made the bet on ‘Dollhouse,’” Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said in a telephone press conference featuring four Fox executives. Even if the theatrical movie “Terminator: Salvation” is a huge hit, that won’t rescue the TV series, Reilly said. “We make no apologies. We gave it a lot of support and some consistent scheduling. We tried and thought it was time to move on.”
Cleveland
Fox will introduce just three new shows for fall, all comedies. In addition to Ryan Murphy’s glee club musical-satire “Glee,” which gets a preview at 8 p.m. Tuesday after “American Idol,” the new entries are:
* “Brothers,” with Michael Strahan as a recently retired NFL player who returns to Houston to help his family, including a brother (Daryl “Chill” Mitchell) in a wheelchair.
* “The Cleveland Show,” Seth MacFarlane’s animated “Family Guy” spinoff featuring the Cleveland character. Watch a tease:
At midseason, Fox will add the dramas “Past Life” and “Human Target” and the comedy “Sons of Tucson.”
In “Past Lives,” detectives Kelli Giddish and Nicholas Bishop “investigate whether what is happening to you today is the result of who you were before.” Richard Schiff, Toby on “The West Wing,” also stars.
“Human Target,” based on a graphic novel, stars Mark Valley (“Fringe”) as a security man who integrates himself into clients’ lives. Chi McBride (“Pushing Daisies”) and Jackie Earle Haley (“Watchmen”) also star.
Three brothers “hire a charming, wayward schemer to stand in as their father when their real one goes to prison” in “Sons of Tucson,” from Todd Holland (“Malcolm in the Middle”). Tyler Labine (“Reaper”) plays the hired dad.
As previously announced, “King of the Hill” ends its run after this season. Gordon Ramsay’s “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Kitchen Nightmares” have both been renewed but as as-yet unscheduled.
Here is Fox’s fall schedule. New shows are marked with an asterisk.
SUNDAY
7 p.m. “The Simpsons”
7:30 p.m. “The Cleveland Show”*
8 p.m. “Family Guy”
8:30 p.m. “American Dad”
MONDAY
7 p.m. “House”
8 p.m. “Lie to Me”
TUESDAY
7 p.m. “So You Think You Can Dance” (two-hour performance show)
WEDNESDAY
7 p.m. “So You Think You Can Dance” (results show)
8 p.m. “Glee”*
THURSDAY
7 p.m. “Bones”
8 p.m. “Fringe”
FRIDAY
7 p.m. “Brothers”*
7:30 p.m. “Til Death”
8 p.m. “Dollhouse”
SATURDAY
7 p.m. “Cops”
8 p.m. “America’s Most Wanted”
10 p.m. “The Wanda Sykes Show”
At midseason, “24″ returns at 8 p.m. Mondays, following “House.” The new drama “Past Life” gets the 8 p.m. Tuesday slot following “American Idol.” The new drama “Human Target” will follow the “Idol” results show beginning in January, with “Glee” returning in the spring. The new comedy “Sons of Tucson” joins the Sunday lineup at midseason; the Thursday, Friday and Saturday schedules are unchanged.
Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a very
entertaining and well acted show. How can you turn your
back on a very loyal fan base? You need to see the
long term potential of good shows. Biggest of all,
all networks need to get back to regular seasons, without
the starts and stops of programs. September to May -
that is a television season.
Turn off whatever they put on instead of Terminator!
Gail:
With Tyler Lavine being cast in “Sons of Tucson”, does this spell the end for “Reaper”, or will he be able to do both shows?
Terminator was a victim of poor writing in the middle of the season and that spelled its demise. The fan base is there for Terminator, but FOX shouldn’t punish the fan base for some of the poor writing that occured. Like so many new shows, it started strong; and, unlike many new shows, ended strong too. I wonder what’s the point of getting hooked on any shows if they are going to give up on them so soon. Perhaps the model is broken in that the writers only need to submit a good pilot and outlines for a few episodes to get a show started. At least they had the sense to renew Fringe.
“Reaper” isn’t expected to return. I don’t see how Tyler Labine could do both, even though the new show is for midseason.
Does that mean “Fringe” will go up against “Grey’s Anatomy” and “30 Rock”? That’s a tough time slot. I wish they would have put it on another night.
That’s too bad. “Sock” was a great character.
8 p.m. Thursday will be really hard for “Fringe.” “Bones” may or may not be a good lead-in (I’d say not), and it will be up against “The Office”/”30 Rock,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “CSI” and (on most of the CW) “Supernatural,” which has done really well this year.
I actually liked Til Death, until last season when I thought they completely ruined what was a fairly funny show and became a complete cliche. However, I can not actually believe that Fox renewed this show. I do hope they go back to the original cast, with the original neighbors played by Eddie Kaye Thomas and Kat Foster, because with them, like I said, it was actually not that bad.
The only good thing about Fox new season is that Cops is back on for another season.The Simpsons is pretty cool,also.
Do we know anything about a new season of Kitchen Nightmares?