Remember when Fox, some buzzy and smart shows notwithstanding, was the clear-cut fourth network in a 4-network field? Well, they never did add national news or 10:00 programs or some of the other staples of the Big Three, but what they did do was keep chasing young viewers with edgy programming. Somehow, they got some big hits that appealed to everyone, and now we have to admit, yeah, they're a real network, and often the biggest by some measures.
Here are my early, uneducated, uninformed reactions to the announced fall schedule for Rupert Murdoch TV:
Monday offers the 1-2 combo of Brits playing Americans with "House" and "Lie to Me." I never did get around to watching the latter; it just looked like something I had seen before. Similarly, from what I understand, "House" has been giving its viewers something they've seen before--already on "House." Not much here to excite me. In fact, I'm gonna spoil the rest of this post right now and tell you Fox as a whole will do nothing for me till "24" returns on Mondays in January.
On Tuesdays, it's "So You Think You Can Dance," which returns the next night with a results show. I like this show much better than "American Idol," if only because I'm not bombarded with its hype every week it's on the air. New show "Glee" follows it on Wednesdays. This one looks so different than anything else on TV right now that...it's bound to fail. Fox sure as hell wants to prevent that from happening, though, continuing to plug it every 15 minutes or so. It's a long way till the fall.
Thursday is the "Bones"/"Fringe" combination, also known as "The Night of Shows People I Know Watch But I Don't." Hmm, rather unwieldy name, at that. Fox really ought to promote its Thursdays better.
On Friday, it's a new Michael Strahan comedy, "Brothers." Strahan, of course, comes from that great breeding ground known as the New York Giants. He spent last year working on Fox's NFL pregame show, which only thinks it's a comedy.
At 8:30, good gravy, it's the return of 'Til Death, the most ironically named show on TV. Thing...just...will...not...go!
"Dollhouse" is back Fridays at 9:00. Oh, great, another season of Joss Whedon nuts bitching about how Fox is killing the show by putting it there.
Saturdays is a doubleheader of "Cops" at 8:00. Want to take bets on whether "Cops" will outlast "'Til Death"? Then it's "America's Most Wanted," and I could make a similar comment, but this is as close to a public service as we get in prime time these days, and I'm not gonna complain about it.
It's animation once again on Sundays, with "The Simpsons" hanging on for its umpteenth season, and though I bailed years ago, the first (insert your own number here) seasons were so excellent, I can never make fun of this show. Now, the Seth MacFarlane shows, on the other hand...
There used to be no point in planning to watch anything on FOX Sunday nights because football would always spill over and disrupt the evening, but now that the network schedules its postgame show in the 7:00-8:00 hour, well, it has no excuse. It kind of has to really try, and in this case, "try" means, "give the keys to MacFarlane."
And that, ladies and gents, is Fox. Looks like I'll be watching zero hours of this network till January, but--and don't ask me how--I think that'll still be more than I watch NBC.
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