Fox Announces Fall Lineup Nine Returning Series Schedules Won’t Change
Fox will premiere three multiethnic series on an all-new Thursday but otherwise is accentuating stability in a fall lineup unveiled Tuesday.
The No. 4 network said that all nine of its returning series, plus the Tuesday night movies, will keep their same nights and times. It’s a stark contrast to No. 1 NBC, which last week announced it was switching eight of its returnees to new nights in September.
Fox’s three new one-hour dramas are all from 20th Century Fox Television, and the “reality” series, “World’s Funniest …,” is hosted by Fox NFL Sunday anchor James Brown. That leaves only two new sitcoms in which Fox is without any direct financial interest.
Canceled are “Married … With Children,” “Ned & Stacey,” “Martin,” “Sliders” and “Pauly.” Two Fox veterans, “Living Single” and “New York Undercover,” are off the fall schedule but will remain in production as midseason backups.
Fox also announced three new midseason comedies, two of them from Fox Television. None has a well-known name attached to it.
Here are the new fall series:
“Between Brothers” (comedy) - Kadeem Hardison (“A Different World”) and Dondre Whitfield (“Martin”) play unmarried, dissimilar siblings who hang out with two pals at a microbrewery run by an “off limits” woman who loves/hates them. “In Living Color” alum Tommy Davidson co-stars.
“Rewind” (comedy) - Just when you thought Scott Baio was finished, he isn’t. This time the former Chachi is Rob DiPaulo, a marketing exec who flashes back to his teen years - the ‘70s - for “funny parallels” to current problems. Mystro Clark (“The Show”) co-stars as his fast-talking buddy, Harv. The teen Rob and Harv will be played by Adam Zolotin and Chris Edwards.
“Ally McBeal” (drama) - Ace producer David E. Kelley (“Chicago Hope,” “The Practice”) brings a second law drama to prime time. The intriguingly named Calista Flockhart plays the title role. She hangs a shingle at a Boston firm headed by her former law school nemesis.
“413 Hope St.” (drama) - Comic actor Damon Wayans gets serious as the creator of a “powerful, gritty drama” that takes place at a New York teen crisis center. Former “Shaft” star Richard Roundtree runs the place with help from an ensemble cast.
“The Visitor” (drama) - Having disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle, Adam MacArthur (John Corbett) re-emerges from the heavens with mysterious powers injected by aliens. Evading human and otherworldly pursuers, he - deep breath now - “embarks on a harrowing quest of enormous proportions that will take him in and out of the lives of strangers - all of whom will find themselves changed by their contact with him.” Exhale.
“World’s Funniest …” (variety) - Footballer James Brown takes a second Sunday check from Fox in return for hosting a collection of supposedly “hilarious outtakes of TV shows, movies, kids and pets.”
xxxx FOX FALL SCHEDULE Here’s the new schedule for the fall television schedule announced by Fox on Tuesday:
Monday 8-9 p.m. “Melrose Place” 9-10 p.m. “Ally McBeal”
Tuesday 8-10 p.m. “The Fox Tuesday Night Movie”
Wednesday 8-9 p.m. “Beverly Hills, 90210” 9-10 p.m. “Party of Five”
Thursday 8-8:30 p.m. “Rewind” 8:30-9 p.m. “Between Brothers” 9-10 p.m. “413 Hope St.”
Friday 8-9 p.m. - “The Visitor” 9-10 p.m. - Millennium”
Saturday 8-8:30 p.m. - “Cops” 8:30-9 p.m. - “Cops” 9-10 p.m. - “America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back”
Sunday 7-8 p.m. - “World’s Most Funniest …” 8-8:30 p.m. - “The Simpsons” 8:30-9 p.m. - “King of the Hill” 9-10 p.m. - “The X-Files”