For some reason, both Fox and NBC scheduled their upfronts today. (Alan Sepinwall explains:For those who care, this weird double-booking came about because NBC - which traditionally owned Monday of Upfront Week, while Fox went Thursdays - had the brainstorm a few years back to do an “infront” in April instead of an upfront, at which point Fox decided to claim the vacant Monday date. Then when NBC realized this year that the infront was just as pointless as Leno-in-primetime, neither network wanted to blink on Monday, so we got them both. And boy am I tired. ) So here comes another post on my thoughts. First thought, I never thought I’d see the day when Fox was consistently the top network. Ok, now actually onto my thoughts on the schedule.
MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM House
9:00-10:00 PM Lonestar (new)
In truth, I had a grand plan of writing this while watching tonight’s finale of House. Sadly, I had DVR failure and didn’t record it. Guess I’ll have to wait 8 days until it’s streaming on Hulu. Anyway. Lonestar big picture description is: “modern-day Dallas, written by the Party of Five team”. Say what?!? I love Dallas. I love Party of Five. Without even seeing a promo I’m in. And then I watched the promo. Yep. I’m in.
It’s gonna be soapy awfulness, and I’m going to love EVERY SECOND of it.
TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM Glee
9:00-9:30 PM Raising Hope (new)
9:30-10:00 PMRunning Wilde (new)
Look who gets to put on its big boy shoes this Fall. Glee, with a solidly entrenched audience, leading off the night for a pair of live action half-hour comedies. Been a while since we’ve seen one of these succeed on Fox, hasn’t it? And I’m not sure either of these will be hits either. Raising Hope is by the creator of My Name is Earl, which I never got, and unsurprisingly, I can’t really say I’m all that interested in this either (despite having both Martha Plimpton and Garrett Dillahunt). Next is Running Wilde. Quick sell: Will Arnett re-teams with the Arrested Development writers. Should be good, right? (I said that about Sit Down, Shut Up too, and…well…we all know how well that turned out. Ugh.)
The promo has it’s moments, and quite frankly I’ll need something to replace LOST on Tuesday so this will have to be it. That being said, I’m not sure either of these shows will really benefit from the Glee lead-in.
WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM Lie to Me
9:00-10:00 PM Hell’s Kitchen
Next.
THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM Bones
9:00-10:00 PM Fringe
This day is in tact. Good for them. But, I don’t watch either of these shows (although I hear I should try to catch up on Fringe during the summer, maybe).
FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM Human Target
9:00-10:00 PM The Good Guys
So I’m really excited for this Wednesday’s premiere of The Good Guys. Buddy cop comedy starring Colin Hanks, Bradley Whitford and Bradley Whitford’s mustache. But they’re already burying it on Friday at 9? I seem to remember another show I was really excited for getting buried at Friday at 9. It was called Dollhouse. And it died. I believe in the power of the mustache. So should you. Check it out this Wednesday.
SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM America’s Most Wanted
Never gets old, does it?
SUNDAY
7:00-8:00 PM The OT (NFL post-game)
8:00-8:30 PM The Simpsons
8:30-9:00 PM The Cleveland Show
9:00-9:30 PM Family Guy
9:30-10:00 PM American Dad
The most consistent night on TV.
Fox midseason schedule
MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM House
9:00-10:00 PM Lonestar / Ride-Along (new)
Ride-Along is a cop drama by the guy who did The Shield. Yeah, I don’t really do cop dramas (except for The Unusuals which I loved, but was apparently the only one), but this could do well.
TUESDAY
8:00-9:30 PM American Idol performance show
9:30-10:00 PM Running Wilde (new) / Mixed Signals (new; spring)
Mixed Signals is a relationship comedy, so it could thrive if Idol is strong next year. That seems to be becoming a bigger if every day. Anyway, I won’t watch either.
WEDNESDAY
8:00-8:30 PM Raising Hope
8:30-9:00 PM American Idol results show
9:00-10:00 PMGlee
Don’t you do it, Fox. Don’t you have the Idol results show run over into Glee for another season. Figure that shit out this summer. Anyway, this will continue to be a very stellar day for Fox, and a very difficult day to compete with.
THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM Bones
9:00-10:00 PM Fringe
FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM Human Target
9:00-10:00 PM Kitchen Nightmares
For the record, The Good Guys disappeared because it will be airing episodes this Summer as well as in the Fall. Friday becomes irrelevant for me again.
SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM America’s Most Wanted
Yep.
SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM The Simpsons (encores)
7:30-8:00 PM American Dad
8:00-8:30 PM The Simpsons
8:30-9:00 PMBob’s Burgers (new)
9:00-9:30 PM Family Guy
9:30-10:00 PM The Cleveland Show
Animation Domination finds another contender in Bob’s Burgers, by the guy who did Dr. Katz. It’s about a man, his family, and their floundering burger joint. I’m sure my DVR will pick it up once or twice.
Anyway, Fox’s day certainly wasn’t exciting as NBC’s. Hell, they aren’t trying to save a network, they’re just trying to maintain they’re lead. Can’t say I’m all that excited by too much of what they’re bringing in, but they only need one or two to stick around, and the rest will be gravy. That and Fox seems to have a knack for sticking with shows until they become hits (I’m looking at you, Thursday night).
Oh yea, forgot to mention that Spielberg project “TerraNova”. I’m hesitant to get my hopes up for a show that relies so heavily on FX for a network show, especially in this era of reduced budgets. But I can’t really question Spielberg, can I?
