The fact that Fox's "Party of Five" is about to end its third season - the season finale is scheduled for Wednesday, April 2 at 8 p.m. - has caused some to worry about the show's future.
The fact is that Fox has made supportive sounds about the show all season. And there's no need to worry at all anymore; the fourth network has picked up "Party of Five" of next season, issuing a full 22-episode order.Not that this was entirely a foregone conclusion, however. "Party of Five" is well-done, quality drama - which is hardly something Fox is known for these days. Indeed, since current Fox Entertainment President Peter Roth took over last fall, Rupert Murdoch's TV baby has become increasingly childish and vulgar.
(Think "Pauly.")
So it's not without some sense of relief that the news that Fox still has a place for "Party of Five" is reported.
The renewal is, of course, due in large part to what's been happening in the ratings. "Party" currently ranks 79th out of 138 series that have aired on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB this season, but it does much better among the young viewers that Fox so highly prizes.
The two recent episodes - "Intervention" on Feb. 19 and "Hitting Bottom" on Feb. 26 - garnered the show's highest ratings ever.
And "Party of Five," which has always been strong creatively, has been better than ever of late, concentrating on a storyline in which Bailey (Scott Wolf) slipped deeper into the depths of alcoholism before finally beginning to claw himself out.
It's wonderful when good things happen to good shows. And a full-season order for "Party of Five" is about the best possible news that could come out of Fox.
CHANGED THEIR MINDS: The folks at Fox recently announced that the new action series "Lawless" - headlined by Brian "The Boz" Bosworth - would be seen on Fridays beginning later this month. Now they've changed their minds.
Instead, "Lawless" will be seen Saturdays at 8 p.m. beginning Sept. 21.
Which means that "America's Most Wanted" is getting cut in half - again. That show, which has bounced back and forth between 30- and 60-minute versions ever since it went on the air in 1988, bounced back from cancellation not long ago. Beginning March 22, it will be seen in its half-hour format on Saturdays from 7:30-8 p.m.
And that, in turn, means that Fox will air only one episode of "Cops" each Saturday at 7 p.m., dropping the repeat at 7:30 p.m.
Behind this change of heart and change of plans is the recent upswing in the fortune of "Sliders" on Fox's Friday-night schedule.
"In its most recent broadcasts, `Sliders' has been attracting a growing number of viewers of all ages and has been delivering that audience to `Millennium," entertainment chief Roth said in a statement. "With the momentum of these two series building, we believe that it's important to keep them partnered."
In other words, Fox thinks it has a fairly good thing going on Fridays and doesn't want to mess that up by sticking "Lawless" in the time slot of "Sliders."
SUING OVER "HOME IMPROVEMENT": The executive producers of "Home Improvement" are suing The Walt Disney Co. for costing them money.
Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra and David McFadzean are accusing Disney of looking out for itself, not for them. (And we'd all be surprised by that, wouldn't we?)
According to the lawsuit, Disney forced its production arm (Buena Vista) to cut a deal with ABC (yet another Disney-owned company) to keep the highly rated "Home Improvement" on that network for two more years. This despite the fact that Wind Dancer Productions, which produces the show for Buena Vista, reportedly bid more than the $3 million per episode ABC will be paying.
Wind Dancer was obviously interested in getting more money for "Home Improvement," either from ABC or another network.
This is what vertical integration - where one company owns production companies, distribution companies and networks - has wrought.
"BABYLON" REBIRTH? Despite some attempts to stir up support on the Internet, the fact is that "Babylon 5" is about as close to dead as it could possibly be.
We are dealing with television, so an 11th-hour reprieve is always a possibility. But a fifth season in syndication is about as likely as the Centauri Republic agreeing to a takeover by the Narn.
Cable-subscribing fans of the series won't be entirely cut off from "Babylon 5," however. Not only has TNT ordered a pair of made-for-TV movies, but the cable channel also will begin airing the entire series from beginning to end in January 1998.
Actually, TNT is going to begin before the beginning. The first of the two-hour movies it has ordered is a prequel titled "Babylon 5: The Beginning."
What form the second movie will take is a bit nebulous at the moment. But unconfirmed reports hold that it could actually be a pilot for a successor series that would take some of the characters from "Babylon 5" and send them in a new direction.
Stay tuned . . .
YEAH, SO? The WB has swapped the Wednesday-night time slots of "The Jamie Fox Show" and "The Wayans Bros." The former moves from 8 to 8:30 p.m., and the latter slides up from 8:30 to 8 p.m.
But the real question is - will anyone notice?