Skip to main content

FOX Reconfigures Midseason Slate Amid Extended Strike

Well, that's one less unscripted series to worry about clogging up air time this spring.

FOX has pulled reality series When Women Rule the World off its schedule, benching the series until this summer, a move which has freed up real estate on its now 24-free Monday night lineup.

According to Variety, the decision to cut When Women Rule the World "could have come down to a sales issue. On the surface, When Women Rule the World -- which follows a group of women who control a group of men -- does not sound like something advertisers would be keen on.

New midseason dramas Canterbury's Law--starring Julianna Margulies as a hard-edged attorney who takes whatever is necessary to win a case (though one to whom Damages' Patty Hewes wouldn't likely give a second thought)--and New Amsterdam, about an immortal detective (no, not Angel... or Moonlight) will now launch on Monday nights.

Both series will launch after Prison Break and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles wrap their shortened runs on Monday evenings, behind repeats of House.

Also on tap: midseason series The Return of Jezebel James, Unhitched, and Thursday night installments of American Idol, along with reality series Moment of Truth.

While I am not particularly keen on any of FOX's midseason entries, I'm at least glad that some of them are scripted series that were held over until now, rather than ghastly strike-replacement programming like When Women Rule the World.

Comments

Anonymous said…
When Women Rule the World sounded truly, truly awful and I'm happy to see it disappearing from the Fox schedule, although I can't say that the scripted programs look much better.
rockauteur said…
I think WHEN WOMEN RULE THE WORLD was moved because they actually have high hopes for the show, and will lead FOX's summer line-up. Since FOX actually wants to promote New Amsterdam and Canturbury's Law now, rather than shoving them on the graveyard Friday night shift, and hopefully see one or both of them become a hit to return in the fall. There hasn't been much talked about any of the network's summer plans, and WHEN WOMEN definitely gives something for Fox to crow about this summer rather than close up shop. THis combined with a possible additional season of Hell's Kitchen - which has already been shot - could give Fox a potent summer... and I've heard they are pretty high on this show.
John T. Folden said…
It's worth noting that New Amsterdam has it's first two episodes premiering behind American Idol on March 4th and 6th, too... they suddenly seem determined to make a hit out of it.

Popular posts from this blog

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj