FOX DROPS HAROLD, MOVES "VANISHED"

Did you see what happened on "Vanished" earlier this week? Quite a major development. The main star of the FOX abduction series was killed off in a spectacular assassination increasing the Monday night FOX death toll already set high by the lead-in "Prison Break" (poor Tweener, and not-so-poor senator Tancredi).

Now, that would have been quite a revolutionary move if "24" killed off Jack Bauer. Although serialized thrillers are known for their unusually high death tolls and keeping their fans on the edge of their seats as none of the characters are ever safe, killing off the star carrying the show almost never happens.

But, "Vanished" is no "24". In fact, the preposterous FOX drama has struggled both creatively and ratings-wise in its first seven installments. Although FOX insists the decision to fire Gale Harold, known to cable audiences for his critically-acclaimed role of promiscuous Brian Kinney on Showtime's gay saga "Queer As Folk", was a creative one, rumour has it that the network was not happy with the casting decision from early on.

For this reason, the producers brought on Eddie Cibrian ("Third Watch", "Invasion") hoping his star-power would shake things up and bring higher ratings. Unfortunately, the network has just announced it is moving the drama to Friday nights at 9/8c (in place of 'Nanny 911') effective October 27.

And despite the fact that same timeslot had once made a little show called "The X-Files" a major blockbuster, Friday night is known as the phantom zone where poorly rated series are shipped off to die a slow and painful death. That means the remaining six episodes starring Eddie Cibrian may very well be the very last we see of "Vanished".