FOX's "24" Season 7 Premiere Party

This Sunday, FOX's "24" finally returns after a strike-induced year-off (actually, 20 months off). It all begins, as always, with 4 hours of adrenalin-pumping Jack Bauer action, who is moving to Washington, D.C. this season. Actor Kiefer Sutherland and the rest of the "24" team celebrated...


...the return of the FOX clock-ticking action series a couple of nights ago at a premiere party in Hollywood. The network honchos would of course like to know if the show will manage to generate decent ratings, following a critically-panned and ratings-challenged 6th season.


This year's 2-hour prequel which aired in November under the title "Redemption" did very well (especially in comparison to the rest of FOX's prime-time, which has been rather underwhelming all fall long). Now if Jack and the gang can keep those numbers up for another 24 hours...

FOX's "24": Season 7 Production Problems

Production on the upcoming season 7 of FOX's clock-ticking action drama "24" starring Kiefer Sutherland will be shut down as of next week giving the writers 3 weeks to come up with better scripts.

The show has been plagued with problems ever since its concluded its Emmy-winning 5th season in 2006.

The follow-up season "Day 6" was a ratings and critical failure despite a very promising opening featuring such over-the-top storylines as a nuclear explosion in Los Angeles.



For this reason, "24" producers decided to refresh the series by taking Jack Bauer out of L.A. and putting him into an exotic location.

FOX executives however nixed the original choice because of an over-inflated budget required for shooting the series in Africa and ordered that the scripts be re-written and the new season set in Washington, DC instead.

This caused a costly delay in production schedule last summer. When the new season of "24" finally began filming, the writers' strike brought it to another halt after only 8 episodes had been completed.



At this point FOX decided not to air a new season of "24" in 2008, as they were no longer able to complete all 24 episodes in time for the January-May schedule, thus postponing the new season till January 2009.

After re-starting production earlier this year and filming a 2-hour prequel movie (scheduled to air on Sunday, November 23) and 10 additional episodes (for a total of 18), lights will go off again come September 15.

FOX is hoping the 3-week hiatus will help improve the quality of the final 6 scripts. When the prequel movie premieres in November, the show will have been off air for 18 months. Will the viewers be back?

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FOX's "Fringe": Best New Show of Fall 08?

With only 14 new shows premiering on broadcast TV this fall (down from an average of 30), a handful of premieres such as last week's "90210" on The CW or tonight's "Fringe" on FOX have generated quite a bit of pre-air buzz. Do they live up to the hype?

Most critics agree "Fringe" certainly does with many calling it the best new show of the fall. Created by JJ Abrams, the man behind such genre gems as "Alias" and "Lost," "Fringe" is a crime show solving science-based mysteries.



It all begins tonight with a 95-minute pilot in which an international flight lands at Boston's Logan Airport with no signs of life.

An unlikely trio of FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv); brilliant but formerly institutionalized scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble, "Lord of the Rings"); and his scheming, reluctant son Peter ("Dawson Creek's" Joshua Jackson) uncovers a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events and realizes they may be a part of a larger, more disturbing pattern.




Unlike other Abrams hits which struggled to build ("Alias") or maintain audience ("Lost), "Fringe" is expected to do well as it may be easier to follow.

The show is a blend of horror, science fiction and thriller involving conspiracies and extended car chases, all artfully packaged with abundant special effects.



As always, 13 episodes have been ordered, the first 4 air before the MLB playoffs. Encore telecast of tonight's pilot airs Sunday at 8.

The show will then air Tuesdays at 9:00pm, after an all-new "House."

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FOX's "Terminator" Returns Tonight

The producers are promising bigger stories, better FX and more drama. "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" returns to FOX tonight in its regular timeslot 8/7c for a 13-episode second season.



Despite getting blown up in the 1st season finale, Cameron (Summer Glau) will of course be back as will the rest of the cast, although a significant character is expected to die in one of the early episodes.


Also tonight, Shirley Manson of GARBAGE joins the show as the CEO of a high-tech corporation. 5 episodes will air before the MLB playoffs and then the show returns in November with the rest of the current episode order.

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FOX Unhappy About Illegal "Prison Break"

A million people have already illegally downloaded the 4th season premiere of "Prison Break" which aired on FOX on Monday and FOX is not happy about that.

The network which is known to have little patience with online piracy, has issued a warning to operators of BitTorrent sites:

"Our litigation strategy against BitTorrent in the U.S. has been successful, and we've managed to shut down the major pirate sites. We are pursuing similar strategies internationally and anticipate success there as well."



The network owned by Ruper Murdoch's News Corp. is quick to ensure its content uploaded to YouTube is taken down and has in the past year taken legal action against people uploading its content onto YouTube and BitTorrent.

Bloggers' video service Red Lasso was also recently blocked due to FOX's legal efforts.

FOX is hoping its website Hulu which streams shows like "Prison Break" will cut down the number of illegal downloads once it expands overseas. Hulu, a joint venture of FOX and NBC, is an ad-supported free of charge service.

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FOX's Dollhouse (Trailer & Preview)

What happens when you put together the great mind of Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and kick-ass appeal of Buffy alumna Eliza Dushku? One of the most anticipated shows of the 2008-2009 season. FOX's "Dollhouse" premieres in January 2009.



ECHO (Dushku) is an "Active," a member of a highly illegal and underground group who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas.

Confined to a secret facility known as the "Dollhouse," Echo and the other Actives including SIERRA and VICTOR carry out engagements assigned by ADELLE one of the Dollhouse leaders.

The engagements cater to the wealthy, powerful and connected, and require the Actives to immerse themselves in all manner of scenarios romantic, criminal, uplifting, dangerous, comical and the occasional "pro bono" good deed.



After each scenario, Echo, always under the watchful eye of her handler BOYD, returns to the mysterious Dollhouse where her thoughts, feelings and experiences are erased by TOPHER the Dollhouse's genius programmer.

Echo enters the next scenario with no memory of before. Or does she? As the series progresses, FBI Agent PAUL SMITH (Tahmoh Penikett, "Battlestar Galactica") pieces together clues that lead him closer to the Dollhouse.

Meanwhile Echo stops forgetting, her memories begin to return and she slowly pieces together her mysterious past. DOLLHOUSE revolves around Echo's blossoming self-awareness and her desire to discover her true identity.



The show will air on FOX Mondays (at 8/7c) leading into a new season of "24."

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VIDEO: "Prison Break" Hottie Wentworth Miller @ BRAVO Supershow in Germany

A man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do. 35-year old "Prison Break" hottie Wentworth Miller, assumed his promotional duties for the FOX drama last weekend in Germany posing for pictures and signing autographs for an adoring legion of loving female fans on the red carpet at the teen magazine BRAVO's annual awards bash.

Miller picked an Otto for Shooting Star of 2007 as the crowd at the event televised on German's RTL-2 channel went wild.

Miller then said "danke" to his German fans as the presenter wiped sweat off his forehead and threw the towel into the audience for a bunch of ecstatic gals to have a catfight over. The towel has not been seen since then.

Miller and the rest of the "Prison Break" gang will be reporting to work in a week to begin shooting the 4th season. FOX should premiere the new season in late summer.

After 2 seasons of filming in Dalls, TX, the production is moving this year to Los Angeles, CA. 22 all-new episodes have been ordered.

Miller said last year he believed PB has 8-9 seasons in it. A number of TV critics hope he was wrong.

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FOX's "24": Day 7 Cast

FOX has released the first promo still of the cast of 24's "Day 7" which is scheduled to begin in January 2009 after a year-long delay caused by the writers' strike.

Last fall FOX managed to film 8 episodes of "24" before the strike shut the Washington and Los Angeles based production down.

FOX may air a Day 7 prequel feature film this fall to cut the 20-month long hiatus between the 6th and 7th seasons of the show.

Pictured above: Rhys Coiro, Janeane Garofalo, Jeffrey Nordling, Annie Wersching, Carlos Bernard, Kiefer Sutherland, James Morrison, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Colm Feore, Cherry Jones and Bob Gunton.

FOX will unveil its 2008-2009 schedule at an Upfronts event next Thursday in New York City.

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"Bones" & "House" Return to FOX in April

FOX orders new episodes of hit dramas "Bones" and "House." Find out when they return, how many new episodes there will be, and what the network's revised midseason line-up looks like, after the jump.

BONES: 2 pre-strike episodes are left and FOX has ordered 4 new episodes. That means there will be a total of 6 all-new episodes, beginning Monday, April 14 at 8/7c. This will bring the 3rd season total to 16 episodes.

HOUSE: No pre-strike episodes are left and FOX has ordered 4 new episodes. They will begin on Monday, April 28 at 9/8c. Both "Bones" and "House" will air their respective season finales on Monday, May 19.

COMEDY COMBO: Back-to-back comedies "Till Death" and "Back to You" return April 16 with 5 all-new episodes. Season finales of both shows will air on May 14.

Do bear in mind there are still 2 pre-strike episodes of "Back to You" scheduled for February 27 and 28 (after a 90-minute "American Idol"). Both shows will have a total of 14 episodes this season.

MOMENT OF TRUTH: The hideous game show gets 1 episode on Monday, February 25 at 8/7c and Wednesday, March 5 at 9/8c, before moving to a new time slot Wednesdays at 8/7c on March 12. The show ends its current run on April 2, before returning in June.

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"Terminator: Sarah Connor" Premieres

Actor Thomas Dekker, who played Hayden Panettiere's straightened-out gay sidekick on NBC's "Heroes," and the rest of the cast of FOX's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" attended the premiere of their new series in Hollywood on Wednesday.

The show premieres this Sunday at 8/7c before moving to its regular time slot, Mondays at 9, after all-new "Prison Break."

Due to the writers' strike only 9 out of 13 episodes ordered have been filmed and they will air through March 3, when the series ends with a 2-hour finale.

In the series premiere, Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) struggles to keep her son John Connor safe from an enemy Terminator from the future.

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