Fox Returns to Its Tried-and-True Formula
By Gary Levin and Robert Bianco
LOS ANGELES — Fox finished its first season on top among all viewers, and its fourth among young adults, but the American Idol network has had some identity problems the past two seasons. It strayed further from its roots: Fox was known as a home for edgy series, with an emphasis on young men, and many that didn’t fit that mold, from Canterbury’s Law to Back to You, were canceled.
Says Fox chief Peter Liguori: “We neither lost our thirst or nose for bolder, more daring programming,” but “we pulled up a little short in finding it.”
After a period astray, Fox — like CBS — is going back to its core mission. Two new animated series are due as early as spring, with the goal of adding one per year beyond that. Fringe, the latest project from J.J. Abrams (Lost) that’s described as a cross between The X-Files and Indiana Jones, marks a return to the network’s sci-fi roots and marks one of TV’s biggest pushes for fall.
Fox is looking for more humor-tinged dramas. Looking to jump-start the 2009-10 season, it’s developing a Forrest Gump-like series for Wilmer Valderrama; Virtuality, another sci-fi series with a reality show built into it; and Boldly Going Nowhere, a comedy about slackers in space from the team behind FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
“Our comedy brand has been a little anemic, with all of our success over last few years,” says entertainment president Kevin Reilly. “We’re ready for the next Malcolm in the Middle.”
The median age of the network’s prime-time viewers was 43 last season, up from 36 five years earlier, the steepest climb of any network. But “we’re still No. 1 in teens and we’re No. 1 in (ages) 18 to 49. I don’t think there’s any cause for panic,” says Reilly.
Like other networks, Fox is adding few new scripted shows this fall, just Fringe and comedy Do Not Disturb. But executives say they’re concentrating (as usual) on winter, when Idol and 24 return.
More Fox news:
*A few years ago, Abrams watched an episode of his show Alias with one of its stars, Greg Grunberg, and “I was so confused, it was impenetrable,” he says. Some viewers think the same of Lost, which “has garnered a reputation for being a complicated show and one you have to watch every episode.” So he’s looking to do things differently with Fringe. The drama, about a beautiful FBI agent, a brilliant scientist and his son who help track and solve scientific crimes and — as in Lost — are caught up in some mysterious conspiracy.
“Fringe is an experiment,” he says. “We believe it’s possible to have an overall show that has an endgame … but also a show that you don’t have to watch Episodes 1, 2, 3 to tune into Episode 4. We’re trying very diligently to do a show that doesn’t require the same kind of insane, absolute dedication to a series that if you miss an episode, you have no idea what’s going on.”
*Jessica King made the top 10 for So You Think You Can Dance — but thanks to an unfortunate injury, she can’t. She’ll be replaced Wednesday by the last female eliminated, Comfort Fedoke.
What happened? “I can’t be specific about the injury,” says producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe, in part because they’re saving it for the show. King will return to discuss it. Fedoke has been flirting with elimination all season, and now gets a second chance to flirt. Still, says choreographer and judge Mia Michaels, “I have a feeling she’s going to step it up now. I really do.”
That doesn’t mean, though, that Fedoke will get a spot on judge Mary Murphy’s Hot Tamale Train — her top accolade, which she screams out at ear-shattering volume and glass-shattering pitch. Does she know the mike is on when she screams? “You’re always free to hit the mute button,” she says. “Unfortunately, Nigel (who sits next to her) doesn’t have that opportunity.”
*Live updates at life.usatoday.com (c) Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.