Oh, you poor fans of Drive, I really do feel for you.After announcing that it would burn off the two remaining installments of failed action/mystery series Drive with a two-hour send-off this Friday, FOX has recanted its statement, yanking Drive from the schedule once again.
The network has instead scheduled a repeat of Bones for Friday at 8 pm and a new installment of fellow failed drama Standoff at 9 pm.
It had previously scheduled the two-hour "finale" of Drive for last week but pulled a switcheroo at the last second there too, opting to air feature Anger Management in its place. (Talk about misplaced anger for the remaining fans of Drive.)
As for when--if ever--FOX will air those two remaining Drive episodes, your guess is as good as mine. It's still possible that they'll get burned off during some Friday this summer, especially with Standoff wrapping up at 18 episodes instead of the planned 19.
No word on whether the missing Drive episodes will be streamed over FOX's MySpace page.
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In other scheduling news, FOX was first out of the gate when it unveiled its fall premiere schedule, announcing that it would not hold back its fall launches until after baseball. After all, this is the network that has tried everything from launching in July or August (worked for The O.C. and Prison Break) and November, so why not try actually launching during or around premiere week for a change?
Given the shorter baseball season coverage this year and the perfect opportunity in the Emmy Awards (September 16th) to heavily promote their series, FOX has opted to use that week as a springboard for several of its new and returning series launches.
Below are the fall premiere dates for FOX:
Thursday, August 30
8 pm: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Thursday, September 13
9 pm: Kitchen Nightmares (new series)
Friday, September 14
9 pm: Nashville (new series)
Monday, September 17
8 pm: Prison Break
9 pm: K-Ville (new series)
Wednesday, September 19
8 pm: Back to You (new series)
8:30 pm: 'Til Death
9 pm: Bones
Sunday, September 23
8 pm: The Simpsons
8:30 pm: King of the Hill
9 pm: Family Guy (one-hour season premiere)
Tuesday, September 25
8 pm: New Amsterdam (new series)
9 pm: House
Sunday, September 30
9:30 pm: American Dad
And there you have it. What will you be watching this fall on FOX? And which shows will inevitably get the Drive treatment from the notoriously trigger-happy network and get cancelled quickly?
What's On Tonight
8 pm: The King of Queens/The King of Queens (CBS); Most Outrageous Moments/The Singing Bee (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator? (ABC); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX; 8-9:30 pm)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); American Inventor (ABC); Don't Forget the Lyrics (FOX; 9:30-10 pm)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Last Comic Standing (NBC); Traveler (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.
After a one-week hiatus thanks to the Fourth of July, Top Chef returns with an all-new episode. On tonight's episode of Top Chef ("Cooking By Numbers"), the chefs must work together in teams of three, Joey and Lia butt heads, and Howie admits making an error in judgment.
10 pm: Traveler.
On tonight's episode ("The Reunion"), Jay and Kim are finally reunited for the first time since the bombing, while Will searches for Maya's killer in Manhattan.
Comments
I remember those early days of Prison Break when the Creator and stars both said it was a 2 season show max, and here we are entering a third season with Micheal back in Prison...No Thanks!
Plus the best reason to watch, Sarah Wayne Callies is apparently not coming back, so I'm out. (Although I'll admit the casting of Jodi Lyn O'Keefe almost got me back)
I stopped watching Drive, but I really don't get the whole air/not air the last two eps thing. Just air them. It's the middle of summer - no one really cares about repeats of Bones and Standoff. Neither new Drive eps or repeats of those two are going to get ratings, so what does it matter?
Speaking of jerking people around...I hate baseball on Fox! It always screws up the scheduling. A show will be on once or twice and then disappear for weeks. And new shows barely have a chance to survive as it is. As always, it's a recipe for disaster.
However, your point that neither of these shows is really about ratings is still valid, and after Drive fans have been jerked around so much, you'd think that airing the last two eps is the least that FOX could do...
Unfortunately, FOX seems to delight in not doing the least that they could do...
The one that got me recently was Daybreak. During the ill-advised Lost hiatus, they showed Daybreak. It wasn't during a big ratings time, but they yanked it and showed reruns of something else which didn't get better ratings anyway. Thankfully I got to finish watching the series on ABC.com.
As for what I'll watch on FOX next year, well, I'll still be watching House. I'll give K-Ville and New Amsterdam a try, but I suspect New Amsterdam will disappear in about three weeks. I might try Back to You, but I really can't stand Patricia Heaton, so maybe not.
Of course, midseason brings Jezebel Jones, Canterbury's Law and Sarah Connor Chronicles which will also all be yanked.
Can you tell I'm bitter with Fox?