Fox Picks Up Four Shows, Dumps Five

Good news today for fans of Manic Pixie Dream Girls and bad news for fans of White Sox-loving cops. With the fall season coming to a close and network upfronts on their way, Fox has picked up four new shows, including The New Girl, a Zooey Deschanel vehicle that features Mrs. Ben Gibbard as a suddenly single teacher who moves in with three guys. Also picked up were J.J. Abrams’ Alcatraz, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, and a Bones spin-off, Finder. To make room, the network is dropping poor performers Breaking In, The Human Target, Lie to Me, Traffic Light, and Sean Ryan’s cop drama The Chicago Code. Rumor is the rest of their lineup will be filled with shows with singing and Seth McFarlane. [Ed. Note: That was a startlingly accurate joke]

2010 Upfronts: Fox

Upfront week continues with our second of the day, Fox.

Monday

The network’s biggest drama, House, kicks off the week for the network at 8 on Monday nights. It will be followed by two new dramas, the first being Lonestar from “Party of Five” creators Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman, their first new show in 10 years. The show is more or less a prime time soap opera set in the Texas oil business. It will be replaced in the spring by the new show from The Sheild creator Shawn Ryan called Ride-Along, a Chicago based cop drama starring Jason Clarke (Brotherhood), Jennifer Beals and Delroy Lindo.

Tuesday

We’ll finally see just what Glee is made of, as it kicks off the comedy night without a lead-in from So You Think You Can Dance or American Idol. Instead, Fox is banking on it being a good lead in for a few new comedies. First is Raising Hope, the new comedy from My Name is Earl creator Greg Garcia, in which a slacker not only discovers he has a child he didn’t know about, but he has to raise it when the mother gets sent to jail. Next is the most anticipated new comedy of the season, Running Wilde, which features an Arrested Development reunion of Will Arnett, creator Mitch Hurowitz, and AD producer Jim Valley. The show is about an immature, rich, jerky guy (Arnett) who decides to woo the much more put together and nicer Kerri Russel, who was his childhood sweetheart. In the spring when American Idol returns, it will go on for 90 minutes starting at 8, followed by either Running Wilde or another new show Mixed Signals, a show about three guys in all sorts of wacky romantic adventures. Sounds original!

Wednesday

In the fall, the surprisingly renewed Lie to Me will kick things off at 8 and will be followed by Hell’s Kitchen at 9. In the Spring, the Idol results show and Raising Hope will serve as the lead in to Glee at 9.

Thursday

Nothing will change with the Thursday night lineup, with Bones and Fringe leading the charge.

Friday

The Human Target landed itself on virtual Death Row for Fox at 8 on Friday (see: Terminator, Dollhouse), and it will be followed up by the bland buddy cop summer series The Good Guys, which will continue through the fall. Kitchen Nightmares will take over 9pm slot in the spring.

Sunday

The Sunday Animation Bloc will return as normal in the Fall, with football coverage preceding The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show. In the Spring, a new show, Bob’s Burgers, will join them.

Other Notes

The Speilberg produced Terra Nova, which is about a family that time travels to prehistoric times to save humanity, did not get scheduled, which doesn’t bode well for the show. The rumor is that Fox wanted several 24 writers to take over the show, including Brannon Braga, who was widely unpopular when he was in charge of the Star Trek series.

Other than that, it’s hard to say what we’ll get from Fox. Their shows tend to either be successful and widely popular, or they die quickly or painfully. Running Wilde has the most promise given how awesome Will Arnett and Keri Russell are. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…