By Lisa de Moraes
Friday, May 16, 2008
NEW YORK, May 15
In an effort to make you happy, Fox will slash ad time on its hottest upcoming sci-fi-ish series -- J.J. Abrams's "Fringe" and Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse."
So viewer-unfriendly has network TV become these days, Thursday's announcement qualifies as pretty big stuff. Fox suits thought so -- they even gave it a name: Remote-Free TV.
It's all about letting you know Fox is the "populist" network, entertainment division Chairman Peter Liguori told advertisers during his network's schedule unveiling at City Center Theatre in Manhattan. We think he even mentioned servicing viewers, which we're sure he meant in the best possible sense.
"We're going to have less commercials, less promotional time and less reason for viewers to use the remote," Liguori said. "We're going to have more character, more content, more value."
And, he said, Remote-Free TV "is a simple concept and potentially revolutionary. We're going to redefine the viewing experience."
Which is a wee bit overstating the facts, given there will still be a network-commercial load of about five minutes per hour, not to mention promos -- albeit half as many as you'd otherwise get -- plus local ads and whatev.
Peter Roth, the guy who runs Warner Bros. TV, where Abrams's "Fringe" is produced, told the TV Column he's been advised the actual episodes can run 46 to 48 minutes. He was sitting with the reporters up in the nosebleed section of the City Center Theatre; ditto Abrams. It's called a "populist seating chart."
"Fringe" will kick off with a two-hour premiere in late August; "Dollhouse" kicks off in early '09, behind the much-anticipated return of "24."
"We're the rebel innovators," Liguori said, which is something you hardly ever hear these days from someone in a suit and tie, talking to other guys in suits and ties.
Three full nights of Fox's schedule will be turned over to reality series in the fall. We're guessing this will help pay for Remote-Free TV.
This leaves just three nights -- six hours -- for scripted live-action programming, including Abrams's drama and one new comedy.
But Fox will launch more new series in the first quarter of 2009, when "American Idol" and "24" return to the lineup. And Fox once again says its "Idol" results show will be only 30 minutes long, by way of reminding us the network still has a sense of humor.
"Broadcast television needs a jolt. We feel it's our responsibility as the number one network for the last four seasons to provide that electricity," Liguori said earlier in the day in a phone news conference. He did not mention the jolt was Remote-Free TV, leaving reporters to guess whether it was:
Briefcase No. 1 -- Fox lands new shows from J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon.
Briefcase No. 2 -- No. 1 network to add more new shows next season than any other broadcaster.
Briefcase No. 3 -- Fox will begin rolling out its fall lineup the week of Aug. 25 -- in the teeth of the Democratic National Convention.
* * *
Fox's fall schedule brings back "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" Mondays at 8, followed by "Prison Break" at 9. Network suits insisted "Sarah Connor" was successful because it was not rejected by "Terminator" fans. (Remember, it opened after a big football game with 18.4 million viewers; about 10 million had bailed by the final two-hour broadcast.)
Tuesdays, "House" at 8 will provide a lead-in for "Fringe" at 9. The drama is from Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the team behind the flicks "Star Trek" and "Mission: Impossible III" and ABC's almost-but-not-quite-successful series "Alias" -- but try to put that out of your mind.
"Fringe" will "thrill, terrify and explore the blurring lines between science fiction and reality," Fox said.
A show about Priscilla Presley's face, you ask?
No! A show about an international flight that lands at Boston's Logan Airport, only the passengers and crew all have died grisly deaths!
This calls for investigation by FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, to be played by newcomer Anna Torv because, Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said, Abrams is soooo good at identifying ingenues, which we're sure he meant in the best possible sense.
Anyway, her partner, Special Agent John Scott, is nearly killed, leaving a desperate Olivia searching frantically for help, which is where Dr. Walter Bishop, played by John Noble of "Lord of the Rings" fame, enters the picture. He's our generation's Einstein. Except he's been institutionalized for 20 years, and the only way to question him requires getting the help of his estranged son, Peter (Joshua Jackson of "Dawson's Creek" fame). When Olivia's investigation leads her to manipulative corporate executive Nine Sharp (the deliciously evil Blair Brown), our unlikely trio along with a mess of other FBI agents, all very attractive we might add, will discover that what happened on Flight 627 is only a piece of a larger, more shocking truth.
Whew!
On Wednesdays, Fox has scheduled "Bones" at 8. Reilly noted that, for a one-hour procedural crime drama, it's the best relationship comedy on TV. The network will send CBS a big wet kiss -- a rebel innovator populist kiss -- by putting its CBS-esque sitcom "'Til Death" and brand-spanking-new CBS-esque sitcom "Do Not Disturb" in the 9 p.m. hour instead of at 8, which is when CBS is going to once again try to launch a new night of sitcoms.
"'Til Death" probably will lose the annoying younger couple, though the rebel innovator populist Men of Fox danced an impressive soft-shoe around that very direct question.
"Do Not Disturb" stars Jerry O'Connell ("Crossing Jordan") and Niecy Nash ("Reno 911!") as the management team behind a hip NYC hotel.
Thursday, a.k.a. the Night of Living Hell on Fox, "reality" series "Moment of Truth" kicks things off, followed by "Kitchen Nightmares."
Friday, on the other hand, is the Night of Streaming Pablum, with "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?," followed by "Don't Forget the Lyrics."
Saturday just wouldn't be Saturday without "Cops," "More Cops" and "American's Most Wanted," which has been on Fox so long it may predate some of the stars of Fox's new series.
And on Sundays, Fox's NFL post-game show will again be followed by an animated lineup of "The Simpsons," "King of the Hill," "Family Guy" and "American Dad."
* * *
Come January, Fox will launch one more drama, a new reality series and possibly a new comedy series.
Mondays at 8 is "Dollhouse," produced by Whedon of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly" fame. It's about a "highly illegal" underground group of "Actives" whose personalities are wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas to carry out a variety of missions, Fox said.
Sounds like the old "Mission: Impossible" TV series, you say? But it's not! we say.
The Actives, you see, don't just pretend to be new people -- they become new people and are never aware they are "actually pawns in someone else's game," Fox explains.
"Mission Impossible: The Impossibly Stupid" stars "Buffy" alum Eliza Dushku.
It was unclear whether these Actives volunteered or were duped into playing along. But anyway, the people behind the whole Dollhouse thing -- the "Engagements" -- are apparently interested only in the very hot; the rest of us needn't worry about being pressed into service. The Engagements cater to the wealthy, powerful and connected because they did not get the Fox "We're the Populist Network" memo.
Anyway, the Actives live in this totally cool, totally secret facility called the Dollhouse, where they work out a lot and sleep in little coffins under the floor, for reasons I'm sure will be explained early on. They have names like Echo and Victor and Sierra.
"Dollhouse" will be followed by the return of "24," except we will have already seen that "24" stand-alone flick, details of which Liguori said he was sworn to keep secret, except to say it will air on Sunday, Nov. 23.
"Fringe" will move to Tuesdays at 9 in the first quarter, following "American Idol" -- the cushiest time slot in all of TV-dom.
"House" will move to Wednesdays at 8, followed by that half-hour "Idol" results show, hahahahaha.
Ahem, sorry, I just can't write that with a straight face.
It will be followed by "TBA Comedy," Fox said, which gives you an idea how serious the network is about keeping the "Idol" results show down to half an hour.
On Thursdays in the first quarter, Fox will kick things off with "Hell's Kitchen" and then somehow segue into "Secret Millionaire." The network describes it "a heartwarming new reality series" in which each week a different millionaire goes undercover to some of America's most impoverished areas, pretending to be poor and look for a job and a place to live, all the while searching for that perfect "everyday hero" to whom they can cut a personal check, so as to feel better about their sprawling mansions, their lavish lifestyles, their private planes, blah, blah, blah.
On the final day, the Secret Millionaires meet with the chosen recipients and reveal their true identities and intention: to give them at least $100,000 -- a.k.a. lunch money -- from their own stash. The network says "Secret Millionaire" will "engage viewers in important social issues, extol the virtues of volunteerism and change the lives of disadvantaged people -- and the philanthropists who helped them -- in unexpected ways."
Reilly said it was so heartwarming he had to check to see if it really came from Fox reality-series guru Mike Darnell, who most recently gave us skankola series "Moment of Truth."
"Bones," "'Til Death" and "Do Not Disturb" move to Friday nights -- sure they do. Saturday remains the same.
And Sunday becomes a consomme of returning and new animated comedies, starting with the ever-popular "Comedy Encores," followed by the irreverent "Comedy Encores," "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill," which will be replaced in the spring by new comedy "Sit Down, Shut Up." That show, from Mitchell Hurwitz of "Arrested Development" fame, is about a dysfunctional group of high school teachers in a small Northeastern fishing town.
At 9 p.m. it's "Family Guy," followed by "American Dad," which will be replaced in the spring by a "Family Guy" spinoff, "The Cleveland Show."
In that show, Cleveland Brown marries his old high school girlfriend Donna and he and Cleveland Jr. move to Stoolbend, Va., to join Donna, her flirtatious daughter and 5-year-old son "who loves the ladies." Neighbors include a loudmouth redneck couple, a British family from the Victorian era, and a family of bears.
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