2010 Television Upfront: FOX Shows Off 2010-2011 Primetime Lineup

As has become standard for the FOX, in unveiling their new 2010-2011 primetime lineup, the network delivered more than one schedule. While in the past there have been as many as three delivered – fall, January, and spring – this time out we have only been given two. It should most certainly be noted that while the network has stated that the second lineup is the midseason one, the odds that they will in fact deliver the lineup as scheduled are minimal at best. Additionally, do not expect that over the course of a single week the network schedule will magically change – new drama Lonestar will still air for a while in the new year in its old timeslot as will new comedy Running Wilde.

But, we're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we? FOX, which performed well this season, has a schedule with few changes to it. In fact, the fall will only see three new shows premiere, with another three set to air in the spring. As with every network, FOX does have other programs sitting on the bench waiting to come in, but if something flounders come the spring, don't surprised to see American Idol airing for multiple two hour runs in a single week.

 

The two schedules the network delivered are as follows:

Fall:

	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
7:00	The OT
7:30
8:00	The Simpsons	House	Glee	Lie To Me	Bones	Human Target	Cops
8:30	The Cleveland Show						Cops
9:00	Family Guy	Lonestar	Raising Hope	Hell's Kitchen	Fringe	The Good Guys	America's Most Wanted
9:30	American Dad		Running Wilde

Midseason:

 

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
7:00	Simpsons Repeats
7:30	American Dad
8:00	The Simpsons	House	American Idol	Raising Hope	Bones	Human Target	Cops
8:30	Bob's Burgers			Idol Results			Cops
9:00	Family Guy	Ride-Along		Glee	Fringe	Kitchen Nightmares	America's Most Wanted
9:30	The Cleveland Show		Mixed Signals

Fall's new shows are the hour-long drama Lonestar, and two half-hour comedies, Raising Hope and Running Wilde. these last two will be airing back-to-back on Tuesdays out of Glee.

 

Lonestar stars James Wolk as something of a liar. He has two completely different lives in two different parts of Texas. In Houston he's married to Cat (Adrianne Paliciki) and the son-in-law of Clint (Jon Voight). In Midland he's got a girlfriend, Lindsay (Eloise Mumford). Now, there are some similarities between the two lives – for instance, in both places he's trying to make himself rich in a less than scrupulous fashion. It almost goes without saying that he worries greatly that his life will in fact come apart.

What will instantly strike many about the two new fall comedies is that their titles are both playing on the same theme. In Raising Hope, a 23-year-old pool cleaner (Lucas Neff) finds himself forced to raise his new baby girl, Hope, while her mother is in jail. In Running Wilde, Will Arnett stars as Steve Wilde, an immature playboy who has decided to do whatever it takes to make his childhood sweetheart, Emmy (Keri Russell), fall in love with him. Wilde is told from the perspective of Emmy's 12-year-old daughter… who hasn't spoken in years (except, we assume, in voiceover).

In the spring's lone new scheduled drama (another, Terra Nova, has yet to be given a timeslot), Ride-Along, the audience gets ride along with a Chicago police officer. The drama comes to us from Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and stars Jason Clark as Jarek Wysocki, a veteran of the CPD. Matt Lauria stars as Caleb Evers, Wysocki's new partner and Jennifer Beals as Teresa Colvin, the boss. At least initially, the story will revolve around a murder investigation involved an alderman (Delroy Lindo).

Mixed Signals, midseason's new live-action comedy, stars Kris Marshall, Nelson Franklin, Alexandra Breckenridge, David Denman, and Liza Lapira. It's a relationship-based comedy about the different places in life three buddies from back in the day find themselves. While the concept unquestionably isn't new, one certainly ought not judge a book by its cover.

The midseason schedule also features a new addition to FOX's Animation Domination Sunday lineup – Bob's Burgers. Bob (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) is a third generation restaurateur who has a burger joint he thinks is pretty swell, mostly because he's focused on the burgers, condiments, and sides and not customer service, business management, or location. Also, he gets to work with his family, which makes this something of a workplace/family hybrid animated series.

FOX has certainly followed an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" model for the upcoming television season. It's a schedule with few new series even if things have been shifted around a little (but not a lot). The network is continuing to try and program Friday nights despite the fact that they've had little success there for years on end. The Good Guys, which is airing on Fridays this fall actually has yet to premiere, but is schedule to air a sneak peek this week and then run all summer long on Monday evenings. It is certainly admirable that FOX is again doing their best to establish a Friday night bulkhead – just as it is that they are again trying to launch new live-action comedies – but the question remains as to whether or not their attempts will fall flat (again).