Fox is adding eight new series to its fall schedule, programming all seven nights of the week for the first time.
Fox executives are trumpeting the accomplishment. Fox Entertainment Group President Sandy Grushow proclaimed how "very proud" he is, and Fox Broadcasting Chairman Lucie Salhany said the network "is fulfilling its dream."And, indeed, it has been only six years since Fox debuted its first prime-time programming.
The fourth network has made changes in every night but Wednesday, moving five returning series to new nights and/or times and cutting its Sunday night programming from four hours to three.
As of Sept. 12, Fox will return the 9 p.m. hour on Sundays to the affiliates, allowing those with 9 p.m. newscasts - including the local Fox owned-and-operated KSTU-Ch. 13 - to program their news consistently throughout the week.
Among the new programming is the oft-delayed launching of the Monday "Fox Night at the Movies" - which premieres on June 21 - and the network's first-ever news magazine, "Front Page."
The sitcom "Roc" will be back, but it will no longer be broadcast live.
In addition, Fox is getting back into the late-night talk show business with "The Chevy Chase Show," which will air weeknights at 10 p.m. beginning Sept. 7.
NEW SHOWS
Fox's new half-hour sitcoms, and the network's descriptions of them, are:
- "Buddy Blues," is about "two police officers who are mismatched partners in a small California city."
- "Daddy Dearest" stars Richard Lewis and Don Rickles as "a father and son whose underlying love for each other is best expressed through insults and antagonism."
- "My Girls" stars rap artist Queen Latifah, Kim Coles ("In Living Color"), Kim Fields ("The Facts of Life") and Erika Alexander ("Going to Extremes") as "four upwardly mobile African-American women living in New York City and trying to make sense of their lives, their love and their careers."
- "Sinbad," not surprisingly, stars comedian Sinbad as "a successful video game designer and swinging bachelor whose life is turned upside down when he takes in two foster kids."
Fox's new hourlong shows are:
- "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." is an action/
adventure set in the Old West about the exploits of Brisco County Jr., "a rough-and-tumble adventurer with a Harvard Law degree who follows in his father's footsteps by becoming a bounty hunter."
- "The X-Files" is about an "an unconventional FBI agent . . . who takes it upon himself to investigate a group of unsolved cases . . . that he believes are the result of paranormal phenomena and supernatural activity."
- "Townsend Television" is a comedy/variety show headlined by Robert Townsend.
- "Front Page" is a weekly news magazine designed to appeal to younger viewers.
Fox's Monday movie night will include theatrical films, made-for-TV movies and miniseries.
CANCELLATIONS
The Fox shows that got the ax are "Ben Stiller," "Class of '96," "Down the Shore," "The Edge," "Flying Blind," "Great Scott," "The Heights," "Key West," "Likely Suspects," "Parker Lewis," "Shaky Ground," "Sightings," "Tribeca" and "Woops!"
MIDSEASON REPLACEMENTS
The reality show "Code 3" isn't on the fall schedule but will return sometime during the season.
Other replacement shows are:
- "City High" stars Hammer (formerly M.C. Hammer) as "a former rap artist who's traded in his microphone for a blackboard and the chance to make a difference in children's lives. He teaches history in the very high school he once terrorized as a student."
- "Monty" is a sitcom NBC turned down. Henry Winkler stars as "the host of a right-wing talk show who describes himself as `the conscience of America.' "
- "My Kind of Town" is a sitcom about "the personal and professional misadventures of a Chicago cop." Comedian Jeff Garlin stars.
- "South Central" is a sitcom that CBS rejected - "a realistic half-hour comedy that finds warmth and humor in the struggle of a single black mother to raise her family amid the challenging landscape of riot-scarred South Central Los Angeles."
- "Mantis" is an hourlong action/adventure that stars Carl Lumbly ("Cagney & Lacey," "Going to Extremes") as "a paraplegic bio-physicist who has devised technology that allows him to become - for brief periods of time - a superhero."
- "Cop Files," hosted by Richard Roundtree, is another 30-minute reality series from the creators of "Cops" and "Code 3."