-Fox in Midseason:
Fox has unveiled its first quarter 2009 prime-time line-up, which will kick-off with the two-hour return of the long-awaited 24 on Monday, Jan. 12. The network will introduce two new dramas (Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse and Lie To Me, from the producers of 24), while rolling out new seasons of American Idol, Hell’s Kitchen and the aforementioned 24. Four current series (House, Bones, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Hole in the Wall) will move to new time periods, with changes impacting six nights of the week (excluding Saturday’s perennial combination of Cops and America’s Most Wanted).

Medical drama House will anchor Mondays, leading into 24 at 9 p.m. American Idol will return to its established Tuesday 8 p.m. time period (including a two-hour season opener on Jan. 13), leading into recently introduced Fringe. But the live American Idol Results Show on Wednesday will move into the 8 p.m. hour, and into new drama Lie To Me, which follows a deception expert and his team as they assist law enforcement and government agencies to expose the truth behind the cover-ups.

Thursday will feature relocated Bones and a new season of Hell’s Kitchen, which opens on Jan. 29. Friday will consist of relocated Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse, with Buffy, the Vampire Slayer’s Eliza Dushku as a member of an illegal underground group whose personalities have been wiped clean in place of any number of new personas. The new Friday line-up begins on Feb. 13 in place of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and Don’t Forget the Lyrics, which will return at a later time.

Two episodes of the non-scripted Hole in the Wall, meanwhile, will air in the Sunday 7 p.m. hour into the established 8-10 p.m. animated rotation of The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy and American Dad. Prison Break and ‘Til Death, which are also not on the line-up, will return at a later time.

Here is Fox’s updated midseason line-up (with new shows in caps).

Monday
8:00 p.m.: House (new day, effective Jan. 19)
9:00 p.m.: 24 (two-hour season-premiere beginning at 8 p.m. ET, Jan. 12)

Tuesday
8:00 p.m.: American Idol (two-hour season-premiere, Jan. 13)
9:00 p.m.: Fringe

Wednesday
8:00 p.m.: American Idol (two-hour time period-premiere, Jan. 14)
9:00 p.m.: LIE TO ME (series premiere, Jan. 21)

Thursday
8:00 p.m.: Bones (new day, Jan. 15)
9:00 p.m.: Hell’s Kitchen (season premiere, Jan. 29)

Friday
8:00 p.m.: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (new day and time, Feb. 13)
9:00 p.m.: DOLLHOUSE (series premiere, Feb. 13)

Saturday
8:00 p.m.: Cops
9:00 p.m.: America’s Most Wanted

Sunday
7:00 p.m.: Hole in the Wall (time period premiere, Jan. 18)
7:30 p.m.: Hole in the Wall (time period premiere, Jan. 18)
8:00 p.m.: The Simpsons
8:30 p.m.: King of the Hill
9:00 p.m.: Family Guy
9:30 p.m.: American Dad

I like the schedule but worried about Bones on Thursdays, especialy once Survivor comes back in Early Feb.

Very Surprised that Lyrics and 5th Grader are left off the schedule. At the very least, 5th Grader should be on in that 7pm Sunday slot.

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:

Friday
8:00 p.m.: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (new day and time, Feb. 13)
9:00 p.m.: DOLLHOUSE (series premiere, Feb. 13)

*breaths heavily* Okay.... don't panic. Friday nights aren't necessarily a bad thing. *flash backs to Dark Angel and Firefly*

X_X

No sense in wasting 5th Grader on Sundays and those two really need a break. Hole in the Wall is nothing more than burn off. I'd say if it really bombs (sub-3 million), they'll pull it for animated repeats, which really are the best lead in for the new shows. Plus, once the new toons come on the air in say, March or April, KOTH and American Dad could fill that 7pm hour and the net could hype up a whole night of animation domination.

I'd say Bones can handle a sinkning Survivor, Ugly Betty, and Earl. My only worry is that this is just another temporary time slot. Riff is right in that this is finally the time Idol could've gone Wed.- Thur. with Thursdays weakening, but they chickened out again. House and Fringe are ruling Tuesdays (House doesn't need to be moved again either). Mondays could've been Lie to Me into 24.

quote:

Originally posted by TV-aholic:
I like the schedule but worried about Bones on Thursdays, especialy once Survivor comes back in Early Feb.

Very Surprised that Lyrics and 5th Grader are left off the schedule. At the very least, 5th Grader should be on in that 7pm Sunday slot.

I take it Fox lost all its faith in "Dollhouse" then?

I just don't get why Kitchen Nightmares and Whole in the Wall are still on their mid-season schedule!? Why?

And it would have been a smarter move to put Dollhouse on Thursdays at 9, starting February 19 and use American Idol as a locomotive for three weeks and then it would be paired with Bones, but Friday is really going to kill it. Too bad. It's a really bad move from FOX. Though, I believe it's a good thing Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles is going to Friday nights.

KN is on the schedule because they contracted a full season. They renewed it for another season on top of that.

Why HITW is on the schedule, who knows. It's FOX. They always have a few interesting moves that no one can explain. I have a feeling MOT will be sliding in that spot by March.

As for Fridays, I think FOX just made it a lot weaker. There's no way the Friday audience available to watch TV is going to be watching T:SCC or Dollhouse. Complete wrong audience. AYSTA5hG and DFTL will probably be back in those spots sooner than expected.

The rest looks good. FOX has a lot of confidence in Fringe and LTM.

PB will probably be held off and make it on their "summer" schedule. Same with whatever is left of TD.

I'm with Wlcm. I highly doubt Hole in the Wall lasts long on Sundays. If I had to guess, American Dad and KOTH repeats move there in March/April so the new animated shows can air. Moment of Truth is likely done seeing the light of day, unless they have a slot this summer open for it. I would've paired that with Hole in the Wall on Fridays this summer. Til Death could've aired a full hour on Sundays at 7 to avoid overuse of the animated repeats. Prison Break and the new Gordan Ramsey series on Mondays. House into something new on Tuesdays. Dance on Wednesdays. Bones and Dance on Thursdays. Piece of cake.

Stupid FOX idiots! Why buy a show like Dollhouse only to let it die instantaniously?!?

Monday and Tuesday are great, Saturday and Sunday don't change anyway.

But they should have programmed Wednesday to Friday like that:

Wednesday:
8 American Idol
9 Dollhouse

Thursday:
8 Bones
9 Lie To Me

Friday:
8 Hell's Kitchen
9 Terminator

quote:

Originally posted by little_big_man:
Stupid FOX idiots! Why buy a show like Dollhouse only to let it die instantaniously?!?

Monday and Tuesday are great, Saturday and Sunday don't change anyway.

But they should have programmed Wednesday to Friday like that:

Wednesday:
8 American Idol
9 Dollhouse

Thursday:
8 Bones
9 Lie To Me

Friday:
8 Hell's Kitchen
9 Terminator

This schedule makes even less sense. Its clear Fox sees nothing with Dollhouse, which to me sounds like something that won't be accessible to the general viewing public so putting it in the same boat as Terminator was a good idea. Hell's Kitchen on Fridays makes NO sense. Competition reality shows are not meant for Fridays and HK is great counter programming on Thursdays to Greys and CSI. Lie to Me would get killed there (and that show is sounding like a winner). The new Fox Wed.-Fri. makes more sense and will result in much better ratings for the network.

I agree with Mushu_jj that FOX is letting Dollhouse die on Friday. This shouldn't be too shocking as we heard about production delays and all sorts of problems. Obviously FOX just wants to rid them of the series as fast as possible.

The good thing about the schedule is that if it works correctly, FOX should have four really strong dramas in Fringe, House, Bones, and Lie To Me that could lead off Monday to Thursday nights in Fall of 2009. If they ever decide to move 24 to the fall schedule, that would just add to the strong drama pile.

quote:

Originally posted by little_big_man:
Stupid FOX idiots! Why buy a show like Dollhouse only to let it die instantaniously?!?

Monday and Tuesday are great, Saturday and Sunday don't change anyway.

But they should have programmed Wednesday to Friday like that:

Wednesday:
8 American Idol
9 Dollhouse

Thursday:
8 Bones
9 Lie To Me

Friday:
8 Hell's Kitchen
9 Terminator

I haven't seen any previews or anything, but going off of description, LIE TO ME seems like a good partner series to BONES since their both about experts in their field working with the FBI and based off of real people.

I understand House's move to Monday since they'll need a staple there in the fall and 24 could possibly need some momentum since it's been off the air for so long.

Tuesday seems perfectly logical.

In my opinion, if we've waited this long for Dollhouse, three more months won't hurt. Pair Dollhouse with Fringe on Tuesdays in the summer. Maybe have a special airing of the pilot the week of the American Idol finale.

Here's what I would recommend:


Monday
8:00 p.m.: House (new night)
9:00 p.m.: 24 / Hell's Kitchen (summer)

Tuesday
8:00 p.m.: American Idol / Dollhouse (summer)
9:00 p.m.: Fringe

Wednesday
8:00 p.m.: American Idol (Jan - Feb) / Sarah Connor Chronicles (Feb - May) / So Ya Think You Can Dance (summer)
9:00 p.m.: Sarah Connor Chronicles (Jan - Feb) / American Idol: Results (Feb - May) / Sit Down Shut Up (summer)
9:30 p.m.: Sarah Connor Chronicles continued (Jan - Feb) / Cleveland Show

Thursday
8:00 p.m.: Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader (new day)
9:00 p.m.: Secret Millionaire (new series) / So Ya Think You Can Dance (summer)

Friday
8:00 p.m.: Bones (new night)
9:00 p.m.: Lie to Me (Feb - April) / Prison Break (April - June) / REPEATS of whichever did better (summer)

Saturday
8:00 p.m.: Cops
9:00 p.m.: America’s Most Wanted

Sunday
7:00 p.m.: Hole in the Wall (time period premiere, Jan. 18)
7:30 p.m.: Hole in the Wall (time period premiere, Jan. 18)
8:00 p.m.: The Simpsons
8:30 p.m.: King of the Hill
9:00 p.m.: Family Guy
9:30 p.m.: American Dad

5th Grader is already being shopped for syndication for Fall 2009 and, unlike DOND, I can't imagine Fox trying to do both a daytime and nighttime version of the show.

I actually like Hole in the Wall on Sundays at 7p. It won't be a ratings winner, but it could be a "family-friendly" alternative to 60 Minutes and Dateline, provided that Fox promotes it as such.

Maybe it's me, but I'm eagerly awaiting the Monday night ratings wars come January, now that we have a CBS comedies vs. Bachelor/Samantha vs. House/24 vs. Chuck/Heroes fatal 4-way to prepare for

You guys should read this analysis of FOX's midseason schedule.
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2008/11/analysis-foxs-j.html
Beacuse he's kind of right I think about programming Dollhouse on Friday.

quote:

Thursday
8:00 p.m.: Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader (new day)
9:00 p.m.: Secret Millionaire (new series) / So Ya Think You Can Dance (summer)

Secret Millionaire only has an 6 episode order, and will air in December on Wednesdays and Thursdays for 3 weeks starting December 3th. And therefore Bones will temporarily move to 9PM on Wednesdays for 3 weeks and Kitchen Nightmares will only air in the 9PM slot on Thursdays in those 3 weeks.

Overall I actually think it's a good schedule, and it will only strenghten FOX throughout the week. And perhaps Fringe come January will take off with a much higher lead-in. Maybe what happened to House in its first season after AI may happen to Fringe as well.
And I reckon that Prison Break will return on whatever night a new show bombs, a (new) show's season has concluded (Lie to me, Dollhouse or T: TSSC) or in the summer.

quote:

Originally posted by TOTP:
Overall I actually think it's a good schedule, and it will only strenghten FOX throughout the week. And perhaps Fringe come January will take off with a much higher lead-in. Maybe what happened to House in its first season after AI may happen to Fringe as well.
And I reckon that Prison Break will return on whatever night a new show bombs, a (new) show's season has concluded (Lie to me, Dollhouse or T: TSSC) or in the summer.

I have to agree completely. This is perhaps the best midseason lineup centered around Idol I've ever seen at Fox. Using Idol to continue to nurture Fringe and launch Lie to Me, which Fox is apparently really hot on, is a great idea. Now all we need is a new comedy like Outnumbered taking 30 minutes of Idol results in mid to late March for 6 to 8 weeks. The Friday shows will have their work cut out for them and probably fail, but it is the best option for them because the night is so incredibly weak and I have to think the shows are going to get some promotion, maybe even a post-Idol launch for Dollhouse. The only real problem I have is burning off Hole in the Wall on Sundays. Til Death would be a more compatible option and in reality, animated repeats of KOTH and American Dad are likely to move there for a while when Cleveland and Sit Down, Shut Up make their appearances. Overall, very good schedule and Fox is poised to win the season, save for some wild card from CBS to fix their mixed up Sundays or find a real hit to air post-CSI on Thursdays and actually get some buzz (I don't see that happening). I don't think ABC has enough juice to overtake Fox, unless one of their new midseason dramas or Life on Mars really takes off or they find a new reality hit and again, I don't see any potential out of anything.