Fox's Lineup News Overshadowed by Jack Bauer's Return
Knocked off its perch as No. 1 with 18-to-49-year-olds after an eight-season run, Fox will re-load in the fall with three new comedies, two new dramas and another Gordon Ramsay spinoff.
Fox also is dropping The Cleveland Show, but its creator, Seth MacFarlane, is getting his first live-action series as compensation. Preciously announced cancelations include Ben and Kate, Fringe and The Mob Doctor. Two of this season’s newcomers, The Mindy Project and The Following, have been invited back. But the latter serial killer drama again won’t return until midseason.
The network also is planning a 2014 “Event Series” titled Wayward Pines. Starring Matt Dillon, it’s adapted from the novel Pines by Blake Crouch and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, who’s had a string of box office failures after the huge success of The Sixth Sense and lesser hits such as Unbreakable and Signs.
Fox’s most star-driven fall newcomer is a comedy fronted by Saturday Night Live alum Andy Samberg and the venerable Andre Braugher. And the network has Greg Kinnear tabbed for a midseason drama. A Season 3 episode of New Girl will get the post-Super Bowl slot next February, along with a new comedy to be named later.
Here are the six fall newcomers, clips of each show are available for viewing in Bianculli's Blog:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (comedy) — Samberg and Braugher respectively play a “talented, but carefree” detective and an authoritarian new commanding officer intent on reining him in. Terry Crews (Everybody Hates Chris) also is on hand as a police sergeant with twin daughters named Cagney and Lacey.
Dads (comedy) — MacFarlane is executive producer of this dysfunctional family sitcom starring Seth Green and Giovanni Ribisi as co-founders of a video game company whose cantankerous fathers (played by Martin Mull and Peter Riegert) suddenly move in with them.
Enlisted (comedy) — Fox describes this as “an irreverent but heartfelt” outing centered on three brothers stationed at a small Florida Army base. Together they’re “not quite good enough to be sent overseas, yet not bad enough to be kicked out.” Geoff Stults, Chris Lowell and Derrick Hill star.
Sleepy Hollow (drama) — Fox begins by asking this question: “What if you suddenly woke up from the throes of death 250 years in the future to find the world is on the brink of destruction, caused by unimaginable events, and you are humanity’s last hope?” Of course, Fox could just as easily ask, “What if you saw ABC having some success with Once Upon A Time and decided you wanted a piece of that?” Tom Mison (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) stars as the reborn Ichabod Crane.
Almost Human (drama) — J.J. Abrams (Lost, Fringe, Revolution) is behind another bizarro hour. This one originates 35 years into the future, where human police officers are partnered with human-like androids. Friday Night Lights alum Minka Kelly, back in the game after a stint in ABC’s short-lived remake of Charlie’s Angels, is the most familiar TV face.
Junior MasterChef (reality) — Kids from eight to 13 dive into the culinary arts. Ramsay, restaurateur/winemaker Joe Bastianich and chef Graham Elliott are the judges. Ramsay presumably won’t curse the kiddoes too much.
Here's a look at the fall schedule, as announced by Fox and the other major networks.
Here are Fox’s announced midseason shows:
Gang Related (drama) — A former gang member joins the L.A. police force. The series supposedly explores “how every villain has a noble cause and every hero has a dark side.”
Murder Police (comedy) — The cop show genre in cartoon form, with voices behind the camera including Chi McBride, Will Sasso and Jane Lynch.
Surviving Jack (comedy) — Law & Order: SVU alum Christopher Meloni plays the title character in this adaptation of Justin Halpern’s autobiographical book I Suck at Girls. It’s set in 1990s California.
Us & Them (comedy) — Fox describes it as “an outrageous but authentic” laugher about “a pair of young lovers whose path to happily-ever-after is complicated by the screwed-up circus of people closest to them.” Jason Ritter (The Event) and Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm In the Middle) are among the stars.
Read more by Ed Bark at unclebarky.com