New FOX Schedules

FOX has unveiled its new schedules, one for the fall and one for January 2008 when "24" and "American Idol" return; reality shows will completely take over Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in the fall; 4 out of 7 new scripted series will premiere in 2008; the network airs Super Bowl next season.

The #1 network in the 18-49 demo which normally goes into a slump in the fall when its juggernaut "American Idol" is off air decided to keep most of the new scripted programming efforts for January when "Idol" returns to spike up the ratings.

That means we will (NOT) be watching "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" and a new show from chef Gordon Ramsey called "Kitchen Nightmares."

"American Idol" spin-off "The Search for the Next Great American Band" will precede new docu-soap "Nashville" (from the producers of MTV's 'Laguna Beach') about young talent trying to succeed in the country music business.

As always, Saturdays belong to "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted."

Hit dramas "Prison Break," "House," and "Bones" will air back-to-back with these new series:

"K-Ville" (a heroic police drama set in New Orleans two years after Katrina,) "New Amsterdam" (about an immortal New York homicide detective) and the highly-anticipated Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton sitcom "Back to You" (formerly "Action News") anchoring Wednesday nights before what FOX is now calling "The Highest Rated Comedy on All Networks" - "'Till Death."

What they are omitting is of course the fact that the comedy was on the verge of cancellation before "American Idol" gave it a last-minute ratings bump.


That means - the new Julianna Margulies courtroom drama "Canterbury's Law" which gets to battle "Grey's Anatomy" on Thursday nights; "Terminator"-inspired sci-fi drama "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" which gets to battle "Desperate Housewives" on Sunday nights; new Parker Posey comedy "The Return of Jezebel James" about two estranged sisters, polar opposites, who live together when one agrees to carry the other's baby; a single camera comedy from the Farrelly Brothers "The Rules for Starting Over" about newly single friends and sitcom "Anchorwoman" with Lauren Jones playing herself - will all be held off till midseason, the latter two do not have an airdate yet.

Unlike previous seasons, "House" gets one timeslot, it will not be switching from 8 to 9 p.m. The new drama "New Amsterdam" will therefore have to anchor Tuesday nights for FOX.

It is a little unusual that the "American Idol" spin-off gets to air on Friday nights, but this way the network will keep the expectations low, and it may just finally do some business on what is traditionally the network's dead zone.

"Super Bowl" should give the new male-skewing sci-fi drama "Sarah Connor Chronicles" a nice promotional platform. Thomas Dekker, who unceremoniously pulled out of a gay role on NBC's "Heroes" earlier this season, plays the lead.

"Prison Break's" season will once again be split into two halves. The first part is expected to get an early premiere, than the drama returns in the Spring. If K-Ville bombs, you may see "Break" back even earlier, as it happened in 2007.


Although "Bones" is again scheduled to move to Friday nights in January, if any of the midweek shows bombs (the network threatened "Bones" fans with the move to Fridays last year too, but it never happened) the show should stay put.

Here are now both schedules:


FALL 2007


MONDAY
8:00 PRISON BREAK
9:00 K-VILLE

TUESDAY
8:00 NEW AMSTERDAM
9:00 HOUSE

WEDNESDAY
8:00 BACK TO YOU
8:30 'TIL DEATH
9:00 BONES

THURSDAY
8:00 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?
9:00 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

FRIDAY
8:00 THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN BAND (working title)
9:00 NASHVILLE (working title)

SATURDAY
8:00 COPS
8:30 COPS
9:00 AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK
11:00 MADtv
MIDNIGHT TALK SHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

SUNDAY
7:00 THE OT (NFL post-game)
8:00 THE SIMPSONS
8:30 KING OF THE HILL
9:00 FAMILY GUY
9:30 AMERICAN DAD


JANUARY 2008


MONDAY
8:00 K-VILLE (January)/PRISON BREAK (Spring)
9:00 24

TUESDAY
8:00 AMERICAN IDOL
9:00 HOUSE

WEDNESDAY (January)
8:00 BACK TO YOU
8:30 'TIL DEATH
9:00 AMERICAN IDOL

WEDNESDAY (Spring)
8:00 BACK TO YOU
8:30 THE RETURN OF JEZEBEL JAMES (working title)
9:00 AMERICAN IDOL Results Show
9:30 'TIL DEATH

THURSDAY
8:00 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?
9:00 CANTERBURY'S LAW

FRIDAY (Spring)
8:00 BONES
9:00 NEW AMSTERDAM

SATURDAY
8:00 COPS
8:30 COPS
9:00 AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK
11:00 MADtv
MIDNIGHT TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

SUNDAY (Spring)
7:00 KING OF THE HILL
7:30 AMERICAN DAD
8:00 THE SIMPSONS
8:30 FAMILY GUY
9:00 THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES

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