It's not like I'm bitter over "Arrested Development" or "Firefly". Ahem.
Fox is coming off a brutal fall 2006. Out of their new shows from the 2006-2007 season line-up, only "Til Death" returns: made it: “Vanished”, “Justice, “Drive”, “Standoff”, “The Winner”, and “Happy Hour”all came and went. And yet “House”, “24’, and “American Idol’ still rake in enough ratings to keep Fox ahead of the other networks.
Peter Liguori, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company, described it as “the most stable and most vibrant schedule ever presented by FOX”. Last year was also described as “the broadest, most stable and most vibrant schedule we've ever presented”. Hah.
Here are the new shows being added. Be sure to watch them, love them, and then mourn them as they are moved around, under-promoted, and ultimately cancelled halfway through a story arc in favour of “Extreme Bridal Meltdowns” or something:
Fox 2007-2008 Season
The one I’m looking forward to is "K-VILLE: a cop show set in post-Katrina New Orleans, starring Anthony Anderson (“The Departed”, “The Shield”) as a cop who never deserted his post during Katrina, and now faces a largely lawless city struggling to rebuild amidst the chaos and opportunists: New Orleans as modern frontier town ala “Deadwood”. His partner is played by Cole Hauser. It’s great to see Anthony Anderson in a dramatic role (although I could see Orlando Jones in the role as well). And good to see some attention being brought around to New Orleans, where two years have passed since America’s Shame and things are still not back to normal. I don’t know if they ever will be.
"NEW AMSTERDAM": centred around an immortal New York cop, exec produced and directed by Lasse Hallström. Yes, THAT Lasse Hallström, director of “The Cider House Rules” and “Chocolat”.
Fox must be expecting big things from the comedy "BACK TO YOU", which stars sitcom heavyweights Kelsey Grammar (“Frasier”) and Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Hates Raymond”). Kelsey Grammar plays a news anchor who sees his national news career scandalized and must now return to the local Pittsburgh station he started out from, back with the co-anchor he left behind (Heaton). The show also features Fred Ward (“Best in Show”, “Anchorman”), so they must be hoping for a bit of the “Ron Burgandy: Anchorman” vibe.
"THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES" is a 10-years too late spin-off of the characters from “The Terminator” movies.
"CANTERBURY'S LAW" stars Juliana Margulies (“E.R.” ) as an attorney who stops at nothing. There must be something special about it, because it sounds like every other attorney based show I’ve seen. Think “Ally McBeal” except you actually believe she could be a lawyer.
"THE RETURN OF JEZEBEL JAMES” which see Parker Posey (“Best in Show”) and Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Under”) starring as disfuncitonal sisters (there are functional ones?). Fox has more high hopes as this is the show Amy Sherman-Palladino (“The Gilmore Girls”) is running. So expect everyone to talkveryquickly.
Hopefully “THE RULES FOR STARTING OVER’ works out, just based on a concept most of my readers can relate to:
From the creatively fruitful minds of the Farrelly Brothers comes a single camera comedy, set in Boston, about a group of newly single friends learning the painful lessons of starting over in their 30s.The cast include Shaun Majumder (Canadian comedian from “This Hour Has 22 Minutes”) and Rashida Jones (Karen from “The Office”).
FOX series returning in 2007-2008 include: 24, AMERICAN DAD, AMERICAN IDOL, AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK, ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?, BONES, COPS, FAMILY GUY, HOUSE, KING OF THE HILL, MADtv, PRISON BREAK, THE SIMPSONS, TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN and TIL DEATH.
They better hope their luck holds out. “American Idol”, despite the wishes of every other network, has yet to falter in a season, but “Prison Break” and especially “24” are dim shadows of their once buzz-worthy status. “The O.C.” followed a similar pattern and is now gone.
Double shot of chef Gordan Ramsay coming up this year. A second season of Hell’s Kitchen plays this summer, and we’ll see one of my favourite shows “Kitchen Nightmares” make the trip over from England. “Kitchen Nightmares” follows Gordan Ramsay as he tries to turn around failing restaurants. If you think the Canadian hit “Restaurant Makeovers” is good, wait until you see Ramsay rip into chefs and owners who have no business being involved with a restaurant and tries to light a spark under them. Gordan also manages to be a bit more humane in this show, especially when he finds a talent going unnoticed in the kitchen and nutures their potential. I always enjoy Gordan Ramsay’s shows. Just so long as I am not on the receiving end of his abuse.
Surprisingly, Brad Garrett’s series “Til Death” was renewed. Fox is probably hoping to pair it with “Back To You”, which stars another former “Everybody Hates Raymond” cast member, Patricia Heaton.
Funny to see “King of The Hill” coming back for another season. It’s one of those shows that’s been on forever, I don’t make an effort to watch, but enjoy whenever I catch the odd episode.
.jpg)
1 comment:
Maybe I'm just cheesed that "Drive" was cancelled after only 4 eps, but the whole Fox lineup just stinks. Family Guy is still around? King of the Hill? American Dad? 'Til Death? It's just one show pandering to the absolute lowest common denominator after another. There's not a single new show listed I'd be remotely interested in - you're right about the "Sarah Connor Chronicles", and you know a show with as much talent as Posey, Ambrose, and Sherman-Palladino won't be on air for more than five minutes.
(But I do love Ramsey, even when he's being abusive to the chefs.)
Post a Comment