Fox announces fall schedule: Adds two comedies and a drama
(CBS/AP) Fox announced its fall schedule Monday adding one drama and two comedies to its lineup, turning Tuesday into a sitcom night.
The network also announced it's moving "Glee" to Thursday nights and that it will be making changes to underperforming competition shows "American Idol" and "The X Factor."
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"American Idol" remains Fox's centerpiece, as it has been for the past decade, but the show has lost a startling quarter of its audience this season.
"This year was a bigger drop-off than we anticipated," said Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly. He said "Idol" made no changes from last year, and there was little "urgency to view" at the beginning of the season.
He promised changes for next season, but he wouldn't be specific.
"There's a lot of life left in it," he said.
Simon Cowell's "The X-Factor" did well last fall, but didn't live up to the creator's inflated expectations. Shortly after the season ended, judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones were dispatched.
Fox executives on a conference call Monday would not discuss persistent reports that Britney Spears will join as a judge. They have a splashier chance: the executives show off the new schedule before thousands of advertisers at a Manhattan theater later on Monday.
"Not to be negative about the people leaving, but we just felt the mix could be more effective and more entertaining," said Peter Rice, entertainment chairman for the Fox Networks Group.
"Glee," which saw ratings erosion this year, moves to Thursday and a comfortable 9 p.m. ET time slot following "The X Factor" in the fall and "Idol" in the spring. Reilly said the show is "poised for a creative renaissance" and has signed Kate Hudson and Sarah Jessica Parker for limited runs next season.
Part of the reason Fox moved "Glee" is to make Tuesday a four-sitcom night, with two new shows joining "New Girl" and "Raising Hope." Mindy Kaling, author of "The Office," creates and stars in "The Mindy Project," a romantic comedy about a doctor looking for love. The other new comedy, "Ben and Kate," is about a pair of odd couple siblings.
The fall's only new drama is "The Mob Doctor" on Monday night, about a young doctor who has to pay off her family's lifelong debt to the Chicago mob.
Actor Kevin Bacon has signed on for a drama that will air in midseason. "The Following" features Bacon as a former FBI agent asked to uncover a network of alliances between serial killers. Another comedy focused on a family, "The Goodwin Games," is due at midseason and stars actor Scott Foley of "Felicity" and "Grey's Anatomy."
Fox's long-running drama "House" is ending its run this spring, and the network is cancelling high-profile dramas "Terra Nova" and "Alcatraz."
