The fall season premiere dates are:
Lisa Nicole Carson and James LeGros are leaving the cast of Ally McBeal. Carson will be making continued guest appearances, however. Lucy Liu will appear in only four episodes. James Marsden, Regina Hall, Josh Hopkins, and Julianne Nicholson are joining the cast.
Comedian Frank Caliendo (formerly of Hype) has joined the cast of MAD TV Bobby Lee and Taran Killam have joined as recurring members, while original cast member Nicole Sullivan is also becoming a recurring member so that she can work on other projects. Nelson Ascencio and Christian Duguay are leaving the cast. Returning cast members include Alex Borstein, Mo Collins, Andrew Daly, Michael McDonald, Will Sasso, Aries Spears, Stephnie Weir and Debra Wilson.
Gillian Anderson will leave The X-Files after the 2001–2002 season. David Duchovny is through with The X-File; he will not be returning. Cary Elwes has signed up for the recurring role of FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer, an ex-boyfriend of Annabeth Gish's Agent Monica Reyes. Lucy Lawless will appear in the first two episodes this fall.
Fox has purchased the broadcast rights to Planet of the Apes, Dr. Doolittle 2, and Kiss of the Dragon.
Carsey Werner Mandabach and Fox are developing an ensemble sitcom based on life in the early '80s, to air either during mid-season or Fall 2002. The new show will not be spinoff from the current That '70s Show.
Despire the intended 24-hour coverage of 24, the network has only ordered 13 episodes of the series. The network says the show will be viewed like any other series, by its ratings.
Jeri Ryan joins the cast of Boston Public this fall, playing a teacher new to the Boston high school.
David Duchovny is not returned to the X-Files, even though the show is being renewed for its ninth season. Gillian Anderson is under contract to appear in each episode of the ninth season.
Fox has announced its Fall 2001 schedule.
| 7:00pm | 7:30pm | 8:00pm | 8:30pm | 9:00pm | 9:30pm | 10:00pm | 10:30pm | 11:00pm | 11:30pm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Futurama | King of the Hill | The Simpsons | Malcolm in the Middle | The X-Files | |||||
| Monday | Boston Public | Ally McBeal | ||||||||
| Tuesday | The '70s Show | Undeclared | 24 | |||||||
| Wednesday | Fox Family Comedy Wheel | Grounded For Life | Titus | The Bernie Mac Show | ||||||
| Thursday | Family Guy | The Tick | Temptation Island 2 | |||||||
| Friday | Dark Angel | Pasadena | ||||||||
| Saturday | Cops | Cops | America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back | MAD TV | ||||||
The Lone Gunmen has been cancelled.
The Fox Family Comedy Wheel features classic episodes of The Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle, and That '70s Show.
Mid-season offerings include
Beginning June 1, FreakyLinks returns to the schedule in its original 9:00pm Friday timeslot. There are four unaired episodes.
Fox Kids has acquired Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Animated Series, which may air as early as February 2002. The series, being developed with creator Joss Whedon, will return to where the live-action drama began, with the "Scooby Gang" in high school.
Fox has ordered a total of 20 episodes of Grounded for Life. Fox has ordered an extra seven episodes of the yet-to-air comedy Undeclared.
Fox has ordered a second season of Temptation Island.
Seth Green has joined the cast live-action/puppet-comedy Greg the Bunny. The cast includes Eugene Levy, Sarah Silverman, Bob Gunton and Dash Mihok. Fox has ordered 13 episodes of the series.
Jenny McCarthy's return to prime-time has been delayed. Fox has pushed back production of her series Honey Vicarro into June, meaning the series wont air until midseason of 2001–02. The series features McCarthy as the lead charactor in a 1966 TV series in which she fights crime and saves swingers in Los Angeles.
The X-Files season finale will be a two-hour episode serving either as a cliffhanger for the next season, or a new movie. If the series returns for a ninth season, Gillian Anderson will return (she is under contract for another year) as will Annabeth Gish, who will become a regular. It is unlikely that David Duchovny would return, and the fate of Robert Patrick is unknown.
Fox is developing a new drama with Darren Star, One Ocean Drive, about the lives of 20-something residents in a beachside hotel.
Fox has also picked up two low-cost primetime soaps American Soap and In The Weeds. The former talkes place on a college campus, while the later revolves around a restaurant.
Fox has renewed That '70s Show through 2002–03.
Fox is producing a third Brady Bunch movie to air in prime-time, titled The Brady Bunch in the White House.
TNN has bought the cable TV rights to air reruns of MAD TV.
Fox has ordered 22 episodes of Boston Public for the 2001–2 season.
Fox has ordered a pilot for Pasadena, a drama about a publishing family based in an "old money" suburg of Los Angeles.
Fox has ended production of troubled comedy project Schimmel. The series was supposed begin filming of six episodes in March.
Fox has ordered a pilot for Forever Young, a drama focusing on a action actor who becomes a PI in the Hamptons after his acting career ends.
Fox is not going to order any additional episodes of Normal, Ohio beyond the original 13. Beginning Wednesday, 10 January, the Wednesday schedule becomes That '70s Show at 8:00pm, Grounded for Life at 8:30pm, and Tempataion Island at 9:00pm.
Fox is developing a series, tentatively titled Code Red featuring footage of emergency rescues, and explanations about how to avoid the depicted disasters.
Brooke Langton, of Melrose Place and The Net, has joined the cast of When I Grop Up, an hour-long romantic-comedy with a 13-episode order. Brooke stars as 20-something Elizabeth Gillcrest, who ends up working at a temp agency along side her lover after her husband discovers her affair.
Annabeth Gish is joining the cast of The X-Files for a three-episode story arc this spring, with an option to return as a regular next year. Chris Carter insists her character is not intended to replace anybody. Gish's still-unnamed character will have a romantic history with Robert Patrick's Agent Doggett. Her character plays the middle road between skeptic and beleiver as she joins Doggett and Scully in the search for the missing Agent Mulder. Her character debuts on the 25 February episode, which also sees Duchovny's return. Both Robert Patrick and Gillian Anderson have comitted to returning for a ninth season, although Chris Carter and David Duchovny have not.
Fox has purchased the network broadcast rights to Little Nicky. Fox has the rights to air the movie twice after cable channels TNT and TBS air the movie over a six-month period. Fox also renewed its broadcast rights for Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
Fox has committed to a pilot of Bagtime based on the 1970s novel of the same name. The show focuses on a young man working as a bag boy in a grocery store who is also studying cello and trying to join the Chicago Symphony.
Fox has renewed King of the Hill for 22 episodes and Futurama for 18 episodes for the 2001–02 season.
Fox has purchased a four-year contract to air the martial arts movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon beginning in fall of 2003. The movie will be broadcast dubbed instead of with subtitles. The contract also includes Vertical Limit. Fox has the rights to broadcast each two times.
Fox has obtained the rights to broadcast The Sound of Music five times over the next five years.
Tom Fontana (of Oz fame) is developing a series for Fox about three people who are taken to a secret location and forced to create rules and interact on their own.
Fox has ordered a 13 episodes of Greg the Bunny, which goes behinds the scenes of a fictional children's TV show and tracks the relationships between the puppets and the humons. The comedy is based on a Manhattan Public Access show of the same name from 1998.
The $treet has been cancelled.
Fox has ordered a pilot for a live-action adaptation of the comic book series Ball and Chain. The series is about a couple who are gifted with superpowers just as they are about to get a divorce. Set in San Francisco when the city is overrun by aliens posing as humans.
Fox has increased the number of episodes ordered for the mid-season comedy Grouned for Life to 13 episodes from 6. The increase is partly due to the uncertainty of whether the comedy Schimmel will be able to begin production. Its star, Robert Schimmel, is under going treatment for cancer.
Fox will shoot a pilot of a family comedy featuring comedian Bernie Mac for the Fall 2001 season.
Fox has ordered a full 22 episodes of Titus, Dark Angel, and Boston Public this season.
Fox will air election coverage from its sister channel, Fox News Channel, on Tuesday evening instead of its regular primetime lineup.
Fox's orphaned summer series American High has been picked up by PBS.
During November sweeps, Malcolm in the Middle will air on both Sundays at 8:30pm (it's normal time slot) and Wednesdays at 8:00pm. The intent is to provide a strong lead-in for Normal, Ohio, the John Googman sitcom formerally entitled Don't Ask. The 8:00pm timeslot was originally filled with Schimmel, which is in the process of being reworked (a fate that Normal, Ohio also suffered).
Fox will air the series premeire of Dark Angel this week rather than broadcast the first presidential debate.
Fox has purchased the exclusive TV broadcast rights to Major League Baseball's league championship games, All-Star game, and World Series for the 2001 through 2006 seasons for $2.5 billon.
Fox has renewed Family Guy for a third season.
Fox is developing a two-hour special I Want a Divorce in which couples who have recently filed for divorce bring their problems to a national audience in exchange for cash and prizes. The special will air during either November or February sweeps.
Fox has purchased a reality series called The Crime in which contestents are placed in a fake crime scene and must interview actors playing bystanders to solve the crime.
Fox has cancelled Opposite Sex, which has two unaired episodes.
Andy Richter, of Late Night with Conan O'Brien fame, is developing a sitcom with Fox.
Jeff Goldblum is developing a series for the 2001–02 season.
Molly Ringwald will make a guest appearence on The $treet this fall, playing the rich daughter of a business tycoon. Also, Brigette Wilson has joined the cast to play the a scheming "bad girl" money manager.
The one-hour reality drama Love Cruise will debut on Thursday, 4 January 2001. The seven week series will follow eight single men and eight single women between the ages of 22 and 35 as they cruise the Caribbean. At the beginning of each episode, the singles will couple up to share a cabin and to compete in a daily series of physical and relationship games. At the end of each episode, the men will vote to remove one woman, and the women to remove one man from the ship. In addition to the possibility of finding true love, the winning couple will receive an extraordinary grand prize.
Bridget Fonda will star in the second episode of the new series Night Visions, playing a woman who discovers a stranger living in her house.
Fox has obtained the exclusive broadcast rights to Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. The networks has the rights to broadcast the movie four times over a 3-1/2 year term staring in May 2003. The deal also includes two runs over three years of Rocky & Bullwinkle.
Fox is stocking up on reality shows because of a potential writers strike during the 2001–02 season, renewing both Guinness World Records: Primetime for 15 episodes and World's Wildest Police Videos for eight episodes. Both series will be available for use as midseason replacements in Spring 2001.
Fox has cancelled American High after just two airings. The series features 13 episodes in total.
John Goodman's comedy has now officially been titled Normal, Ohio (former titles include Don't Ask). Additional cast members include Mo Gaffney as his ex-wife Elizabeth, Charles Rocket as her new husband, and Julia McIlvine as Goodman's niece. Goodman stars as William "Butch" Gamble, an average guy who moves to LA after announcing to his wife that he is gay. The series starts four years later as Butch returns to his hometown in Ohio to help raise his sisters two children. OrsonBean and Anita Gillette star as his parents, Melissa Peterman stars as his sister, and Cody Kasch as his nephew.
David Simkins is now executive producer of FreakyLinks. He was formerly co-exec produceder with Tommy Thompson, who left over creative differences. The show was previously announced as Fearsum.
The producers of The Blair Witch Project are remaking the class series In Search of .... Fox and USA Network share the first run rights; USA (which owns the rights to the original series) will be able to reair an episode eight days after it first airs on Fox. The series, which features recreations of the paranormal, should be ready to air by November, and Fox as ordered eight episodes.
Fox is producing a new, hip-hop version of The Wizard of Oz called The O.Z.. It should be broadcast in early 2001. Stars include Queen Latifah as Glenda the Good Witch, Busta Ryhmes as the Cowardly Lion, Little Richard as the Wizard, Patti LaBelle as the Wicked Witch, Ginuwine as Scarecrow, Sisqo as Tinman, and the group IMX as the Flying Monkeys. In this version, Dorothy is a music producer from LA, transferred to Oz by an earthquake.
Fox is allowing its affiliates to air the Fox Kids afternoon block from 2 to 4pm instead of the standard 3 to 5pm.
The Fall season of Fox kids began on Satruday, 19 August, and is:
| Day(s) | 3:00pm | 3:30pm | 4:00pm | 4:30pm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Scholastic's The Magic School Bus | Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue | X-Men | Digimon: Digital Monsters |
| Tue.–Thu. | Dungeons & Dragons | Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue | X-Men | Digimon: Digital Monsters |
| Friday | Flint The Time Detective | Dinozaurs | Escaflowne | Digimon: Digital Monsters |
| 8:00am | 8:30am | 9:00am | 9:30am | 10:00am | 10:30am | 11am | 11:30am | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday | Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue | CyberSix | Digimon | Action Man | Beast Machines | Digimon: Digital Monsters | Escaflowne | Angela Anaconda |
The new series joining the line-up include
Fox has ordered 8 episodes of The Tick for mid-season.
Main-character Ally of Ally McBeal is going to be more mature this season. This means fewer dream sequences and neuroses, and more emphasis on her legal skills.
The X-Files's new leading man is Robert Patrick, of Terminator II fame. Robert Patrick plays FBI agent John Dogget who helps Scully search for the missing Mulder. He will appear in all 20 episodes of the season. (It was previously announced that David Duchovney will appear in as few as 11 episodes.) Meanwhile, Gillian Anderson's contract extends for two seasons, allowing a possible ninth season, though Chris Carter's contract only lasts until the end of the eighth season.
Fox is casting for Love Cruise, a new series hat highlights the romantic interactions of 18 singles on a ten-day cruise.
Fox has ordered six episodes of Wanted. Based on a Britich show, the program follwos three teams of runners who have to elude capture by teams of trackers—former bounty hunters and law enforcement officers. Runners are forces to appear in public by being given tasks that they must complete. Viewers are also given a chance to "arrest" the runners. Versions of the show have also aired in Sweden, The Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, and Japan.
Robert Downey Jr. will have a recurring role on Ally McBeal playing a love interest of Ally.
American High has been pulled. Creater R.J. Cutler blames Big Brother.
Cops and America's Most Wanted start their new 13th and 14th seasons, respectively, on Saturday, 19 August 2000.
Fox has ordered a pilot for the Fall 2001 season from Barry Sonnenfeld and Elmore Leonard. The show, currently called Louse Point is a dramedy about a fallen TV star who becomes a detective in the Hamptons, NY.
Fox has announced is counter-Olympic programming. The special programming begins on Friday, 15 Septemer with the concert special Music Mania 2000, featuring 'N Sync, 98 Degrees, Sisqo, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, Destiny's Child, Pink, Westlife, Vitamin C, A*Teens, Don Philip, Boyz N Girlz United, and PYT. The special was recorded on 13 August in Jacksonville, FL. On Monday, 18 September, a week of comedy movies begins with Dumb and Dumber. The rest of week features Jumanji, The Nutty Professor, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and on Friday, the broadcast premiere of Money Talks. On Sunday, 17 September, and from 24 to 29 September, The Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle, and a double-shot of That '70s Show will air. On Sundays, 17 and 24 September and 1 Octover, Futurama and King of the Hill will air.
News Corp. has purchased Chris-Craft Industries, owner of 8 television stations in major cities that are currently UPN affiliates (Chris-Craft co-founded UPN, and until recently owned half the network). This could have ill-effects on UPN because the affiliate contracts are up in January 2001. The affected stations are: WWOR, New York (Secaucus, N.J.); KCOP, Los Angeles; KPTV, Portland, Ore.; KBHK, San Francisco; KMSP, Minneapolis/St. Paul; KUTP, Phoenix; WRBW, Orlando, Fla.; WUTB, Baltimore; KTVX, Salt Lake City (ABC affiliate); and KMOL, San Antonio (NBC affiliate).
The FX cable channel has purchased the cable rerun rights to That '70s Show. The channel will begin airing episodes in fall 2002.
David Duchovny will appear in about half of the 22 episodes of the 2000–1 season of The X-Files. The 8th season story arcs will add new characters as a catalist to extend the life of the series.
The premiere of the sit-com Schimmel, originally set to air at 8:30pm Wednesdays this fall, has been pushed back until at least January 2001. Instead, Don't Ask will air at 8:30pm, and new episodes of Malcolm in the Middle will air at 8:00pm.
Get Real, Time of Your Life, and Family Guy have been cancelled.
The fall 2000 schedule is:
| Day | 7:00pm | 7:30pm | 8:00pm | 8:30pm | 9:00pm | 9:30pm | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Futurama | King of the Hill | The Simpsons | Malcolm in the Middle | The X-Files | |||
| Monday | Boston Public | Ally McBeal | ||||||
| Tuesday | That '70s Show | Titus | Dark Angel | |||||
| Wednesday | Don't Ask | Schimmel | The $treet | |||||
| Thursday | The Lone Gunmen | Untitled Michael Chrichton Project | ||||||
| Friday | Fearsum | Night Visions | ||||||
| Saturday | Cops | Cops | America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back | MAD TV (11:00pm) | ||||
Of the returning shows, the following orders are known: King of the Hill for 22 Episodes, Malcolm in the Middle for 13 Episodes, and Titus for 13 Episodes.
The new shows are:
Midsason back-ups include: Celebrity, a campy, behind-the-scenes look at young Hollywood; Killer App, a drama about a new technology company; Ultraviolet, a drama about an NYPD officer who discovers an underground vampire world; Grounded For Life, stars Donal Logue (Jimmy the cab driver on those MTV promos), Kevin Corrigan (Slums of Beverly Hills) and Stephen Root (NewsRadio) in a family comedy; Live Girls, a twentysomething comedy starring Jenny McCarthy and Dash Mihok (Felicity); and a live-action version of The Tick.
NASCAR and Fox Sports have entered into an 8-year agreement, effective with the 20001 TV season. Fox will air the Daytona 500 in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007. Fox will ahve the rights to the first half of the 2001 season, starging with the Daytona 500. Fox will broadcast a majority of the NASCAR Winston Cup events, and some of the NASCAR Busch Series. Remainging events will be broadcast on the FX cable channel. The second half of the 2001 season will air on NBC Sports and Turner Sports.
Fox will begin airing No Boundaries, produced by Ford Motor Company, as part of its weekend sports offering on 3 June. The program will feature segments on sports, and each episode will feature the "Fored Explorer Sport Trac Challenge." Three minutes of Ford advertising will air during each program.
MAD TV has been renewed for a sixth season.
Time of Your Life, The PJs, and The Family Guy will air new episodes during the summer. Two new series, the game show Million Dollar Chance of a Lifetime and the animated Gary and Mike will also air during the summer. Starting 30 May, a new Tuesday comedy block will premeire: That '70s Show at 8:00pm. The Family Guy at 8:30pm, The PJs at 9:00pm, and Gary and Mike at 9:30pm. That latter is about two road-tripping friends.
Million Dollar Chance of a Lifetime will air for five straight nights beginning on 5 June, and then settles into its regular time slot on 14 June at 8:00pm, followed by the return of Time of Your Life.
Carlos Santana and Britney Spears concert specials will air on 31 May and 7 June, respectively.
A reality series set in a Chicago High School will also bow this summer, but the date has not yet been set.
The dead-on-arrival Fox series Manchester Prep has been re-edited into a feature film for home video release. The working title is Cruel Intentions II, as it is a prequel to the original film.
Titus has been renewed for the 2000–0001 season. Fox has ordered 13 episodes for the second season.
Five unaired episodes of Action will air this summer on the FX cable channel.
In the season finale of The X-Files, entitled "Requiem", and airing 21 May at 9:00pm, Mulder and Sculley get audited by the bureau. No news yet on whether this is also the series finale.
Susan Sarandon will appear on the 6 May episode of MAD TV. Tyra Banks will appear on the season finale, which airs on 20 May.
Jenny McCarthy is in a sitcom pilot for Fox, in which she plays one of a trio of twenty-something friends.
Chi McBride, formerly of The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, will play the high school principle in The Faculty, a David E. Kelly drama based in a New England high school. The series has a season-long commitment from Fox. Nicky Katt and Fyvush Finkel also star.
Tim Dutton will have a recurring role in Ally McBeal, playing a British lawyer.
Fox is casting a one-hour movie about Diff'rent Strokes.
Party of Five will air it's series finale on 3 May. Beginning 19 April, the series will air at 9:00pm Wednesdays, after Beverly Hills, 90210, where it will stay for the rest of its run. The series finale of Beverly Hills, 90210 airs on 17 May.
The character of Billy in Ally McBeal will die of a brain tumer by the end of the season. Billy's ghost will appear from time to time next season, however.
Fox has ordered 20 more hours of Greed. The current run of episodes will end on 21 April; with the new order, new episodes will run through 18 August.
Fox will air a new hour-long quiz-show The Smartest Person in America during May sweeps.
James Le Gros has joined the cast of Ally McBeal. He will first appear on the 10 April episode. His character is Mark Albert, a 30-ish lawyer newly hired by the firm, specializing in criminal cases.
After negative fall out from Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?, Fox has pulled the plug one reality shows. A dozen specials that have already been produced for this season have been shelved, including Plastic Surgery Nightmares, Busted on the Job 5, and World's Biggest Bitches. Cops is unaffected by this decision.
The April 30th episode of The X-Files features Garry Shandling and Téa Leoni playing actors playing Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.
Fox has ordered a comedy pilot starring Robert Schimmel as a single father of two girls.
Fox plans to air 22 new episodes of The PJs this summer. Fox hasn't renewed the series yet for the 2000 series, and may have competition from The WB, who is interested in adding the series to its Friday night comedy block.
Courtney Thorne-Smith is also leaving Ally McBeal after this season.
Fox has ordered five more episodes of Get Real, which returns on 8 March at 9:00pm. It is scheduled to run eight new episodes over eight weeks. In May, Fox will decide whether to renew the series for a second season.
Time of Your Life has been shelved. Nine unaired episodes will air over the summer, as part of a "Summer of Love" promotion. The series' summer performance will be used to determine if it will be renewed.
The Sixth Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards will be taped on 5 May 2000, and air during June.
Gil Bellows, Billy on Ally McBeal, will leave the show after this season.
Fox is committed to a 13-episode order of a domestic sitcom about a pair of struggling single dads leaving in the same house with there teenage children. John Goodman may star as one of the fathers.
Patrick Warburton, best known as David Puddy on Seinfeld is playing the title character in The Tick pilot.
Fox has ordered 16 more episodes of Malcolm in the Middle. Three of the new episode will air during May sweeps. The other 13 will air during the Fall season, which may begin as early as August.
The February 20 episode of The X-Files will be seen from the point of view of a Cops-like film crew.
Fox has ordered episodes of Night Terrors, a horror anthology, and The Three Musketeers, a modern retelling of the classic.
Starting Monday, 20 March 2000, Titus will begin airing at 8:30pm, between That '70s Show and Ally McBeal.
Starting Tuesday, 7 March 2000, repeats of That '70s Show and new episodes of Family Guy will air at 8:00 and 8:30pm on Tuesdays.
Fox has ordered a pilot for a dramatic spinoff from The X-Files based on the Lone Gunmen characters. This is unconnected to the future of the The X-Files series.
A character on The Simpsons will die permently on the 13 February 2000 episode.
Fox and CBS are preparing to fight each other and USA Networks for WWF Raw when the USA Networks' contract with the WWF expires.
This is the last season for Party of Five and Bevery Hills, 90210.
Fox will rearrange its schedule for February sweeps. That 70s Show will move to 8:00pm Mondays, with repeat episodes airing at 8:30pm. Specials will air in the 8:00pm Tuesday slot; the scheduled specials include: Banned in America: World's Sexiest Television, Truth Behind the TV Sitcom Scandals, and Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire. Specials and movies will also air on Wednesdays. Time of Your Life will most likely return in March, but the fate of Get Real is less hopeful. It is possible that Titus, a midseason comedy, air in the 8:30pm Monday slot after sweeps.
The Simpsons is now the longest running prime-time show that is still on the air. It celebrated it's 10th anniversary on 14 January 2000.
The Ally McBeal re-mix Ally has been cancelled.
Fox and David E. Kelly have entered into a pact in which the network will have first-look deal with his production company.
Fox has pilot commitment to Hey Neighbor, a sitcom–sketch comedy series. The series is supposed to a look at suburban living with "shocking" twists.
Futurama has been renewed for the 2000–01 season.
Six unaired episodes of Harsh Realm will air on Fox's cable sister-station FX beginning in March.
Get Real returns to the schedule Wednesday, 15 December. When it returns Scott Vickaryous will be a part of the regular cast as a love interest for Meghan.
Fox has ordered a pilot of The Tick for a the fall 2000 season. The pilot is for a live-action comedy version of the comic book of the same name, of which Fox Kids had an animated version for three seasons.
Fox has cancelled Action. The 13-episode order will be completed because the show is being sold oversees. It is unknown whether they will be aired in the US. Greed will air in its timeslot.
Fox has ordered a full season (19 instead of the normal 22 episodes, so Jennifer Love Hewitt can pursue her movie career) of Time of Your Life.
Fox has ordered a pilot for the fall 2001 season based on the college experiences of its creators, Dave Mandel and Brian Kelley.
Fox has renewed That 70s Show for the next two seasons.
Fox has ordered 22 episodes of King of the Hill for the 2000-01 season.
Fox has ordered 6 more episodes of Greed.
The 28 November 1999 episode of The X-Files will feature a "real" kiss between agents Scully and Mulder.
This is old news by now, but Harsh Realm and Ryan Caulfield: Year One have been cancelled.
Fox has purchased 6-year broadcast rights to NASCAR races. Beginning in 2001, the Fox or the FX cable channel will air the first 18 weeks of the NASCAR season. Fox will have the broadcast rights to the Daytona 500 in odd-numbered years (even-numbered years go to NBC).
Chris Carter wants an 8th season of The X-Files. There are still contract problems with the stars that may prevent this, however.
Darren Star, creator of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Sex in the City is creating a new drama for Fox's 2000-2001 season. The show will focus on the interaction between men in the male-dominated world of Wall Street.
Fox has ordered 13 episodes of a hour-long drama based around following real kids at a suburban high school outside of Chicago. It is slated to air during the summer.
Family Guy, Action, and Get Real are being pulled for November sweeps. Family Guy has no return date set yet. Action will return on December 2nd. Get Real will air once during sweeps, on November 10th.
Tom Hanks will executive produce West Point, an hour-long drama being developed for the 2000-2001 season. The program will follow the lives of 1st and 2nd yeat cadets at West Point.
The yet-to-air series Manchester Prep has been cancelled. It was supposed to premiere in December. In its place, it is likely that either Opposite Sex or Dark Angel will air.
The November 14th episode of King of the Hill will feature the voices of Meryl Streep, The Dixie Chicks, and Don Meredith. The November 21st episode will feature the voices of Dwight Yaokoam and Drew Carey.
The November 14th episode of The Simpsons will feature the voices of Penn & Teller, Nancy O'Dell and Pat O'Brien, and Ron Howard. On the 28th, John Goodman and Henry Winkler provide guest voices.
Fox has ordered a pilot of T.r.a.x., a sci-fi series by Renny Harlin, focusing on a police division that specializes in investing the supernatural.
The first of six episodes of Greed: The Multi-Million Dollar Challenge kicks off on November 4th. The game show's grand prize is $2 million, which increases by $100,000 each night it is not awarded.
Fox has ordered six episodes of a sit-com created by Seinfeld alumni, Alex Berg and Jeff Schaffer. The series is a about a social recluse who had been avoiding the real world by staying in grad school, but who has now accidently graduated.
Fox Entertainment Group, the arm that owns and operates 22 local televsion' stations, has entered into an agreement with DirectTV. The agreement allows DirectTV to retransmit to its subscribers the broadcast of their local affiliate.
Gillian Anderson will leave The X-Files at the end of the season.
Fox is apparently aiming to have six to eight made for TV movies during the 99-00 season. One of them is a biogrpahy of Muhammad Ali, which will probably air during February sweeps.
The 1999 Billboard Music Awards will air live on Wednesday, December 8th.
Time of Your Life has added Patrick Fabian to the cast. He will continute to appear in NBC's Providence as well.
Luke Perry will play Evel Knievel in a Fox made for TV biographical movie.
Andrew Levitas has joined the cast of Party of Five in a recurring role. He will play a possible love interest of Lacey Chabert's Claudia.
Sandra Bullock will made a cameo appearance in the September 30 episode of Action.
FOX has acquired the network broadcast rights to American Pie.
Billy Zane will play the lead character in a Fox mini-series based on Dean Koontz's novel Sole Survivor.
Chris Carter is writing the 22 episodes of the coming season of The X-Files as if they were the season's last. Given that his and David Duchovny's contracts expire at the end of the season, it most likely will the series's final season.
Johnathon Schaech will play former session musician who now works at a used record store in Time of Your Life.
The new fall show Action, about a unscrupulous Hollywood producer, will have plenty of explitives deleted. Also attracting controversy are the sit-coms Get Real and Malcolm in the Middle. Fox is hoping to regain the image as a network that airs cutting-edge programming, and shed it's reality programming image.
Wilson Cruz (of My So-Called Life) will be a recurring cast member on Party of Five.
Fox is staggering the premeire dates for many of the new series throughout the fall. Ryan Caulfield and Harsh Realm will debut in October. Manchester Prep is being retooled, and possibly retitled, and will not debut until December. Malcolm in the Middle won't debut until January. The pilot to Time of Your Life is being reshot. The series will bow in the second half of October, after a multi-week arc on Party of Five sets it up. Fox hopes the staggered premeires will allow for fewer repeats during the non-sweeps spring months.
Fox has ordered 13 new episodes of Guinness World Records: Primetime for midseason use.
| 7:00pm | 7:30pm | 8:00pm | 8:30pm | 9:00pm | 9:30pm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Malcolm in the Middle | King of the Hill | The Simpsons | Futurama | The X-Files | |
| Monday | Time of Your Life | Ally McBeal | ||||
| Tuesday | Ally | That '70s Show | Party of Five | |||
| Wednesday | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Get Real | ||||
| Thursday | Manchester Prep | Family Guy | Action | |||
| Friday | Ryan Caulfield | Harsh Realm | ||||
| Saturday | Cops | Cops | America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back | MAD TV (11:00pm) | ||
Malcolm in the Middle is a comedy about a 9 year-old genius.
Time of Your Life is a spin-off of Party of Five starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Ally is comedy produced from unused and repeat footage from Ally McBeal.
Get Real is a drama about a family with 3 high schoolers.
Manchester Prep is a drama about a prep school student in New York City.
Action is a comedy about Hollywood.
Ryan Caulfield is a drama about a rookie policeman.
Harsh Realm is a sci-fi drama about a military VR experiment.
Fox is re-launching a movie night this summer. The first movie will be Eight Seconds. Other movies include Geronimo: An American Legend, and From Dusk to Dawn. The movies will air on Wednesday night and will pre-empt Beverly Hills, 90210 and Party of Five.
Millennium will not air during the summer. Instead, reruns of MAD TV wil air.
Melrose Place's time slot will be filled with back-to-back episodes of That '70s Show, one new and one old.
Fox has purchased the TV Rights to The Matrix. The network has the right to air the movied twice, but must wait until after TBS has shown the movie on cable first. The broadcast rights to Soldier and Lost & Found are included in the deal.
Fox has ordered 22 episdoes of Family Guy for the 1999-2000 season.
Fox has ordered 25 episodes of MAD TV for the 1999-2000 season.
The series finale of Melrose Place airs on May 24.
The season finale of Ally McBeal airs on May 24.
Buckley makes a return appearance on the May 4th episode of King of the Hill. Jane Wiedlin and Gabrielle Carteris lend their voices to the May 11th episode. The season finale is on May 18th.
The season finales of The PJs andFuturama are also on May 18th.
Party of Five and Beverly Hills, 90210 end their seasons on May 19th.
Millenium ends the season with a two parter on May 14th and 21st.
Cops airs its 400th episode on May 1st.
The season finale of MAD TV airs May 22nd.
Family Guy and The Simpsons wrap up their seasons on May 16th.
The X-Files ends its season on May 15th, with a cliff-hanger. Next season is supposedly the last.
Fox has ordered more episodes of FOX Files to air over the summer.
The Simpsons has been picked up for an 11th season. Fox has ordered 22 episodes for the 1999-2000 season.
22 Episodes of Futurama have been ordered for the 1999-2000 season.
Fox has ordered 13 episodes of Harsh Realm, a sci-fi program created by Chris Carter. The show is about a military war-simulation VR program. Scott Bairstow stars as Hobbes, a soldier who must defeat Terry O'Quinn's character. D.B. Sweeney plays Mike, another soldier who is hiding in the game.
King of the Hill and The PJs have been renewed for the 1999-00 season.
Fox has picked up a comedy pilot about retired superheroes called The Unreliables.
Futurama and The Family Guy will begin airing in March. Futurama will air during a new Tuesday night animation block: King of the Hill at 8:00pm, Futurama at 8:30pm, The PJs at 9:00pm, and either King of the Hill or The Simpsons at 9:30pm. Guinness World Records: Primetime will most likely move to 8pm on Fridays.
Family Guy will air on Sunday's after The Simpsons. That '70s Show will return during the summer; a full order for a second season is already in place.
Beverly Hills, 90210 will return for a 10th season. Luke Perry, Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green, Ian Ziering, Vincent Young, Lindsay Price, Vanessa Marcil, Daniel Cosgrove and Joe E. Tata are among the returning cast members.
Melrose Place will go out with a bang. The last few episodes are supposed suprise the viewers several time over.
Melrose Place will not be renewed for an 8th season.
It is rumored that two characters will die in the upcoming 2-parter "Full Disclosure" episode of The X-Files. The season finale is rumored to be a 3-parter.
Fox has halted production of Brimstone after 13 episodes. The show will be pulled from the schedule in March, after all 13 episodes have aired.
Fox is developing a TV series based on the cult movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
Fox is attempting to develop daytime and late night programming, and breifly considering acquriing Days of our Lives.
On March 2, at 8:00pm, Fox will broadcast live the opening of a newly discovered Egyption tomb. The special will be hosted by Arthur Kent, and features the excavaction of the pyramid of Queen Khamerernebty II and the unsealing of the Tomb of the Unknown.
A "next gen" spinoff of Beverly Hills, 90210 won't occur until spring or fall 2000 (if at all). Key cast members of the current program have committed to tenth a season.
Jennifer Love Hewitt's spin off from Party of Five is currently entitled The Time of Your Life. The show focuses on Sarah Reeves' search for her biological father in New York. It is set to premiere this fall.
Family Guy, a new animated sitcom, will have a sneak preview after Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31. Following the preview will be a new episode of The Simpsons, in which Rubert Murdoch plays himself. Family Guy is set to officially air in March, probably after the The Simpsons or King of the Hill.
During February Sweeps, the conspiracy behind The X-Files will be revealed in a two-part episode, airing February 7 and 14. According to Chris Carter in TV Guide, the explanation will bring new questions with it, in typical The X-Files fasion.
Fox Kids Network has ordered a space show Cyber from LucasFilm.
Fox and Keenen Ivory Wayans are talking about producing a new comedy sketch series.
Fox has ordered 13 episodes to constitute at third season of Beyond Beleif: Fact or Fiction.
The Fox owned televisions stations will begin showing Buffy the Vampire Slayer in syndication in Fall 2001.
Fox has two more casualties: Holding the Baby and Living in Captivity. The last episode of Living in Captivity airs this Friday. Brimstone will premiere on October 23, taking the Friday at 8pm timeslot. Holding the Baby and Living in Captivity will likely return in December after November sweeps.
Costello is the first casualty of the new season. This Tuesday will be its last broadcast. King of the Hill reruns will air in its place through the end of November sweeps.
Fox has ordered the remaining 22 episodes of its newsmagazine Fox Files. Currently pre-empted by Major League Baseball and upcoming November sweeps specials, the series will return in December.
Fox has ordered nine additional episodes of That '70s Show, bringing the total to 22.
KISS Live: The Ultimate Halloween Party will air on Saturday, October 31, at 12 midnight. The broadcast will be live on the eastcoast. KISS will also appear in MAD TV sketch that evening. Finally, they will also be on Millennium on Friday, October 30.
Apparently Fox is developing a new version of Beverly Hills, 90210 with a whole new cast of West Beverly High students as possible replacement for the current version.
Fox has 13-episode commitments for dramas by Glen Morgan and Jim Wong, Chris Carter, Luke Perry, and Chirstopher Keyser and Amy Lippman. Additional dramas are being developing with F. Gary Gray, Joel Surnow, Joel Silver, and Josua Brand.
Chris Carter will remain as Executive Producer of The X-Files for at least two more seasons, and of Millennium for at least one more season. The drama he is developing for the fall season is likely to be based on the sci-fi comic book called Harsh Realm.
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have agreed to star in a second movie based on The X-Files. It is intended for a 2000 release.
Fox lost out to Disney/ABC for broadcast rights to five seasons of NHL games beginning in the 1999 season. It also may sell back the rights to the remaining season. Fox will probably replace NHL broadcasts by starting to air baseball games earlier than May, as it owns the rights to all the Saturday afternoon games of the season.
Jennifer Love Hewitt, Fox, and Columbia TriStar TV are developing a Party of Five spinoff that would center around Love's character Sarah Reeves. The series would follow her birth parents. If production proceeds the show would premeire in the Fall 1999 season.
Party of Five is renewed for the both the Fall 1998 and Fall 1999 seasons.
The Fox Kids Fall Saturday line-up premeires on September 12. The new shows are: Mystic Knights, Godzilla, Mad Jack, Spy Dogs, Oggy and the Cockroaches, Young Hercules and Mr. Potato Head. On Monday, September 14, Magic School Bus appears opn the weekday schedule.
A new episode of The Simpsons featuring the voice of Lisa Kudrow will air on August 23, 1998.
Fox has ordered three additional episodes of Guinness World Records bringing the total to 15. The first nine episodes will run through the end of September, and the last six will be broadcast between October and December.
Hollyweird was been bumped to mid-season as the whole premise of the show is in flux. Originally about three young adults searching for spooky activity in Hollywood, it is now supposed to be about three young adults searching for happiness and jobs in Hollywood.
Luke Perry is returning to Beverly Hills, 90210. He has signed a deal to appear in at least 12 episodes. He also has a deal with Fox and 20th Century television to develop a series in which he will star, and for which Fox is committed to 13 episodes.
Jason Preisly is leaving Beverly Hills, 90210 after the fourth episode.
| Ally McBeal | September 14 |
| America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back | September 12 |
| Beverly Hills, 90210 | September 16 |
| Brimstone | October 6 |
| COPS | September 12 |
| Costello | September 8 |
| Getting Personal | September 11 |
| Holding the Baby | August 23 |
| King of the Hill | September 8 |
| Living in Captivity | September 11 |
| Melrose Place | September 14 |
| Millennium | October 2 |
| Party of Five | September 16 |
| The 70's Show | August 23 |
| The Simpsons | September 20 |
| The World's Funniest | August 23 |
| The World's Wildest Police Videos | September 10 |
Beverly Hills, 90210 begins its ninth season on September 16 with three new characters. Sophie Burns, played by Melrose Place alum Laura Leighton, is a young actress wannabe who disrupts everyones life in search of fame. Vanessa Marcil joins the cast as Gina, a sexy manipulative former professional ice skater, who returns to Bevery Hills after her career takes a downward turn. Also joining as a series regular is Daniel Cosgrove as Matt Durning, a New York lawyer who comes to Beverly Hills to champion the down-trodden. Jason Preistly will leave the show soon after the start of the season, and Tiffany-Amber Theissen will also depart during the season. Laura Leighton is scheduled for six episodes (starting with the season premeire), and Vanessa Marcil for at least seven.
Brimstone premieres on October 6. The series is about a man who must collect 113 escapees from hell, so that he can get a second chance at redemption. The show is supposed scary, but also have humor and irony.
Porita de Rossi will join the case of Ally McBeal as attorney Nelle Porter, who will work at Ally's firm.
Fox has decided not to continue development of a sit-com based on the movie Soul Food.
Fox intends to develop and premiere shows year-round.
Fox has decided not to contine development of the proposed mid-season replacement Dave Chappelle starring Dave Chappelle. Fox had ordered six episodes, but both the network and the studio adreed to scrap the shows.
Heather McComb joins the cast of Party of Five as Julia's college roommate at Stanford. Scott Bairstow, late of Significant Others, will play her boyfriend.
On August 23, Fox will debut Holding the Baby and That 70's Show. The latter is "a coming-of-age sitcom set two decades ago."
On Thursday, July 16, a new news magazine Fox Files premieres at 9:00pm. The program is hosted by Catherine Crier and Jon Scott, from the Fox News Channel.
Melrose Place returns for the summer on Monday, July 27. Josie Bissett returns as Jane Mancini in the August 17th episode.
The reality-based Guinness World Records: Primetime bows on Tuesday, July 28 at 9:00pm. As the same would suggest, the program will feature people trying to break or set new World Records.
Beginning July 28, King of the Hill moves to its fall slot: Tuesdays at 8:00pm. A second episode of The Simpsons will air during its old slot beginning August 2.
Original Episodes of Damon will air on July 13 and July 20, doubling up on July 6, 13, and 20. Getting Personal moves to its fall position, Friday at 8:00pm, on July 31. Original episodes will air on July 31, August 7, and August 14. It too will show two episodes.
Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction will show original episodes on July 17 and July 24.
Summer movies include:
| Wednesday, July 1 | Dean Koontz' Intensity Part 1 |
| Thursday, July 2 | Dean Koontz' Intensity Part 2 |
| Tuesday, July 7 | Darkman II: The Return of Durant |
| Tuesday, July 14 | Star Trek: Generations |
| Wednesday, July 15 | Striking Distance |
| Tuesday, July 21 | Bad Boys |
| Wednesday, July 22 | Die Hard 3: Die Hard with a Vengeance |
| Wednesday, July 29 | Disaster at the Mall |
Fox has ordered 13 more episodes of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction for the 1998-99 season. Jonathan Frakes continues as the host.
Fox Kids Network has ordered 40 new episodes of The Woody Woodpecker Show. The 30 minute program will premiere in November 1998, featuring a "hip, contemporary Woody," and will be made up of three 7-minute shorts. The cast of characters will include Winnie Woodpecker, Splinter, Knothead and Woody's pals and foes, Wally Walrus, Buzz Buzzard, Ms. Meany and Chilly Willy.
I know this information is over a week old, but I've been busy. Yellow indicates a new timeslot, and pink indicates a new show.
| 7:00pm | 7:30pm | 8:00pm | 8:30pm | 9:00pm | 9:30pm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | World's Funniest | Holding the Baby | The Simpsons | Feelin' All Right | The X-Files | |
| Monday | Melrose Place | Ally McBeal | ||||
| Tuesday | King of the Hill | Costello | Brimstone | |||
| Wednesday | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Party of Five | ||||
| Thursday | World's Wildest Police Videos | Hollyweird | ||||
| Friday | Living in Captivity | Getting Personal | Millennium | |||
| Saturday | Cops | America's Most Wanted | ||||
Shows in development for next season:
Significant Others has been taken off the schedule. Three additional episodes may air over the summer.
Fox is considering replacing its weekly movie franchise with series, and saving movies for special presentations.
Guest voices for the next season of King of the Hill include Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ani DiFranco.
The 200th episode of The Simpsons airs on April 26.
Fox is in negotiations with Matt Groening for 13 episodes of an animated series called Futurama. The series will be set in the year 3000.
Fox has a 13 episode order for The PJs, a claymation series with the voice of Eddie Murphy.
World's Wildest Police Chases premeires on April 2. The series is hosted by retired Sheriff Lt. John Bunnell. Fox has ordered 6 episodes.
Between Brothers and Ask Harriet will be on hiatus for the rest of the spring, and new episodes are supposed to air in the summer. Airing in their time slots for the rest of March are:
The special Barney's First Adventure (yes, THAT Barney) will air on Saturday, March 28, at 8:00am. The special is supposed to teach children to overcome the fear of new experiences.
Fox is in discussions with Carsey-Werner to purchase 13 episodes of a sitcom set in the 1970s about teenagers in rural Wisconsin.
Fox will air the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, April 4 at 5:00pm Eastern.
Fox has ordered a pilot for a series based on the movie Soul Food.
Fox has ordered five more episodes of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction for the current season. (Unfortunately, I don't know how many they originally ordered, probably 7 or 8.)
Party of Five, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, The X-Files and Ally McBeal have all been renewed for the 1998-99 season.
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen will appear in at least 7 episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 next season.
Getting Personal (formerly known as The Way We Work), starring John Cryer, Vivica A. Fox, and Duane Martin, premeires on April 6.
Damon, starring Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier, premeires on March 22, and moves to its regular time slot on April 6.
Melrose Place and Heather Locklear will return for another season.
Fox's development of a live-action Dilbert died, and UPN beat Fox out for the rights to an animated version.
Lisa Rinna will be leaving Melrose Place at the end of the season.
Fox has ordered a pilot for Holding the Baby about a father raising an infant on his own after his wife leaves.
Alyssa Milano will leave Melrose Place at the end of the current season to develop her own series.
Fox has signed John Madden and Cris Collinsworth to five-year contracts to cover NFL games. Fox's new contract with the NFL is for eight years, and includes three superbowls, the first of which is next year's Super Bowl XXXIII.
Fox Kids Network has purchased 50 episodes of Young Hercules from Universal. The prequal to Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, will begin airing in live-action half-hour episodes in September 1998. The series will follow teen-age Hercules, Iolas, Jason, and the mysterious Yvenna.
Fox Kids has lost The X-Men, Spider-Man, and BeetleBorgs to UPN Kids.
Fox has ordered a pilot episode of Hollyweird by Wes Craven and Shaun Cassidy. The show follows two Ohio transplants in LA who help solve bizarre and macabre crimes while shooting a weekly travel show for the cable public-access channel.
Significant Others premieres on Wednesday, March 11. The show will have a six week run in Party of Five's timeslot. Significant Others is about a group of twenty-something friends in LA .
Specials for February sweeps include:
Fox will broadcast the State of the Union Address and the Republican responce on January 27. The schedule depends on the time zone:
Fox has made a 13 episode order for a new sitcom featuring Sue Costello.
Beyond Belief: Fact of Fiction? returns with new episodes and a new host on Friday, January 23, taking over the cancelled The Visitor's time slot.
Ask Harriet premieres in its normal time slot at 8:30pm on Thursday, January 8, 1997. Between Brothers moves to 8:00pm on January 22, being pre-empted by The Simpsons and King of the Hill on January 8 and January 15, respectively.
New York Undercover returns with a modified cast on Thursday, January 8, at 9:00pm.
Beginning fall 1998, Fox Kids will begin airing reruns of the PBS series The Magix School Bus.
Upcoming movies on Fox include:
| Dec 9 | Son-in-Law |
| Dec 16 | The Beverly Hillbillies |
| Dec 23 | Trapped in Paradise |
| Dec 30 | Bram Stoker's Dracula |
| Dec 31 | Something Wicked This Way Comes |
Fox has picked up King of the Hill for a third season.
Fox Sports has gained its first college football broadcast rights. Fox will broadcast the 1999, 2000, and 2001 Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Classic, which takes place on New Year's Day. The rights were optained from the network's sister company, FOX Sports Net, with obtained the rights in a 6-year agreement with the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association.
Fox will broadcast The 1997 Billboard Music Awards on December 8. The awards show will be hosted by David Spade. Scheduled performers include Spice Girls, Aerosmith, LeAnn Rims, and Jamiroquai. Presenters inlcude LL Cool J, Hanson, Busta Rhymes, Meredith Brooks, and The Backstreet Boys.
The X-Files begins its fifth season on November 2nd with "Redux," the second part to last season's cliff-hanger. Part three, "Redux II," which is also the serie's 100th episode, airs the following week. On November 16th, we flash back to 1989 and learn the origins of The Lone Gunman. Richard Belzer also stars as Lt. Munch (from Homicide: Life on the Street in "Unusual Suspects." The episode "Detour" airs on November 23rd.
Movies for the November sweeps include:
Fox has a sitcom pilot deal with comedian Paula Poundstone, where she will play a single LA TV reporter raising two foster children.
Moon Zappa, daughter of Frank Zappa, is developing a sitcom for fall 1998.
Fox has ordered 9 more episodes of Ally McBeal.
Jon Cryer will star in the mid-season replacement also starring Vivica A. Fox.
Fox has pulled 413 Hope Street from the November sweeps schedule. During the month it will be replaced by reality specials.
Cops will air its 350th episode on November 1st.
A trilogy of The Simpsons airs on Sunday, October 26, beginning at 7:00pm for Halloween. The three episodes are: "The Springfield Files", last year's "Treehouse of Horror VII", and the new "Treehouse of Horror VIII". The three parodies in this year's episode are "The Homega Man", "Fly Vs. Fly", and "Easy-Bake Coven."
Fox bought the script to a sitcom Schoolin' written by Kenneth Edmonds (a.k.a. Babyface). Mr. Edmonds is executive producing the pilot episode of this series about two black men who decide to go back to school.
On Saturday 11, 1997, the Fox Kids line-up changes to:
| 8:00am | Bobby's World |
|---|---|
| 8:30am | Stickin' Around |
| 9:00am | Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation (replaces Casper) |
| 9:30am | Space Goofs |
| 10:00am | Ultimate Goosbumps |
| 10:30am | Sam & Max |
| 11:00am | Life with Louie |
| 11:30am | X-Men |
Okay, so you've probably noticed that Rewind didn't premiere last week. After two pilots, Fox things that show still needs work. It will hopefully be used as a mid-season replacement, instead of Living Single which is not being used in what would have been Rewind's time slot.
Fox has a placed a 13-episode order for a sitcom starring Vivica A. Fox and Duane Martin, which will debut sometime after January 1998. The show focuses on a guy who has a disasterous blind date with a woman, whom he later discovers is his new boss.
Damon Wayans, creator of 413 South St., is devloping a sitcom for Fox in which he would be an undercover detective. Fox has ordered 13 episodes of the show, and it is possible it will debut before the end of the current season. (Things are starting to look bad for Rewind, huh?)
Fox has declined it's first of two options to continue production of Roar. Of the 13 episodes produced, eight of aired, and the remaining five will air during mid-season. Fox still has the option to renew the show later this season.
In a spoof of MTV's Real World, Fox's new promotion for NFL on Fox, Fox House '97, features 22 spots examining what happens when the cast of NFL Sunday are forced to live together in Malibu.
Fox Sports has granted Miller Brewing Co. the rights to the Two-Minute Warning time-out broadcasts on NFL on Fox broadcasts. Miller and Fox will work together to produce vignettes based on the "Miller Time" theme that promote the network's upcoming programs. The vignettes will focus on the games more unusual fans. In addition, Fox has granted Miller exclusivity in beer advertising during all Major League Baseball broadcasts, including the 1998 and 2000 World Series, and the 1999 All-Star Game.
The cast of MAD TV has gone through some changes. Returning for the third season are Nicole Sullivan, Mary Scheer, Debra Wilson, Phil LaMarr, and David Herman. The new members are Aries Spears, William Sasso, Pat Kilbane, Chris Hogan, Lisa Kushall, Alex Borstein, and Craig Anton.
Encore episodes of Roar will air at 8:00pm on Fridays August 22, August 29, and September 5.
The Fox Kids! fall schedule premiere date has been announced. On September 6, the new Saturday line-up debuts, and on September 8, the new weekday line-up begins. Bobby's World moves to its new time slot and Goosebumps will have sneak previews during the week before.
The new Ultimate Goosebumps will feature episodes based on short stories and still-to-be-published works of R.L. Stine, in addition to episodes written new for television. Big Bad Beetleborgs is reborn as Beetleborgs Metallix for its second season. The new Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation is a live action series.
In early 1998, Steven Spielberg Presents Toonsylvania, Silver Surfer, and Mowgli: The New Adventures of the Jungle Book will premiere.
| 7:00am | Bobby's World (New time) |
|---|---|
| 7:30am | Bobby's World (New time) |
| 3:00pm | The Adventures of Batman & Robin |
| 3:30pm | Eek!Stravaganza |
| 4:00pm | Big Bad Beetleborgs |
| 4:30pm | Goosebumps (Sneak previews) |
| 4:30pm (Friday) | Stickin' Around |
| 8:00am | Bobby's World |
|---|---|
| 8:30am | Stickin' Around |
| 9:00am | Casper (Ned's Newt premieres on October 18) |
| 9:30am | Space Goofs (New series) |
| 10:00am | Ultimate Goosbumps (New series) |
| 10:30am | Eerie, Indiana (Sam & Max premieres on October 4) |
| 11:00am | Life with Louie |
| 11:30am | X-Men |
| 7:00am | Bobby's World (Open Caption) |
|---|---|
| 7:00am (Friday) | C-Bear and Jamal |
| 7:30am | Casper |
| 3:00pm | Spider-Man |
| 3:30pm | Beetleborgs Metallix (New series) |
| 4:00pm | Power Rangers Turbo |
| 4:30pm | Goosebumps |
| 4:30pm (Friday) | Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation |
Twentieth TV is developing a late-night talk show hosted by "Magic" Johnson. It is planning to syndicate it, but Fox Broadcasting is considering as another attempt to enter the late-night market. The decision is likely to be based on the fate of the Vibe and Keenen Ivory Wayans programs beginning this summer.
Fox Broadcasting is in talks with Arsenio Hall for a Thursday night sit-com for the 1998 season.
Vincent Young and Hilary Swank join the cast of Beverly Hills, 90210 this fall. Young will play Noah Hunter. Swank will play Carly Molloy, a single mother with a 6-year old. Cast members returning this fall are: Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Brian Austin Green, Ian Ziering and Joe E. Tata.
Helen Hunt, Janeane Garofalo, Martin Sheen, Rod Steiger, Fyvush Finkel, Joe Namath, Andrea Martin, Jan Hooks, Alex Trebek, Jim Varney, and Bobcat Goldthwait are among the guest voices this fall on The Simpsons
Bury Reynolds, Stockard Channing, John Ritter, James Carville, Sally Field, Carl Reiner, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Wallace Shawn, Green Day, Chris Rock, and Paul Rodriguez are among the guest voices this fall on King of the Hill.
Aries Spears and William Sasso have joined the cast of MAD TV.
The Sci-Fi Channel has ordered 22 new episodes of Sliders to air next season. They have also obtained the rights to all 48 previously aired episodes. The channel hopes to cut the per-episode budget from $1.5 million to $1 million.
Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy, the fifth and last of the Alien Nation movies, will air on July 29. Francisco and Sikes investigate crimes leading them to believe a former terrorist group from the slave-ship has emerged from inactivity.
Fox has begun production of Marabunta for the Tuesday Night Movie, which stars Mitch Pileggi. He plays an Alaskan sheriff enlisted to fight killer ants.
The Fox Kids schedules changes (yet again) on July 5 as part of the Summer Blast. Four new programs will also debut this summer: Round the Twist, Stickin' Around, Newton, and Chimp Lips Theater. This fall, Friday-only programming, "Fox Kids Countdown to the Weekend," will be added to the schedule. Eek!Stravaganza will also return with new episodes. Stickin' Around follows the adventures of stick figures Stacey Sticklery and her friend Bradley. Round the Twist is a live-action series about a family who move to the beach to live in a lighthouse. In August, Chimp Limps Theater will debut. It is a live-action series about two chimpanzees who take over a TV station. Newton, about Ned and his 500 pound newt, will debut as part of the Fox Kids fall line-up, which will be announced in mid-July.
The new schedule, beginning July 5, is:
| 7:30am | Bobby's World (Open-caption format) |
| 8:00am | Bobby's World |
| 3:00pm | The Adventures of Batman & Robin |
| 3:30pm | Eek!Stravaganza |
| 4:00pm | Stickin' Around |
| 4:30pm | Round the Twist |
| 8:00am | Big Bad Beetleborgs |
| 8:30am | Power Rangers Turbo |
| 9:00am | Spider-Man |
| 9:30am | Casper |
| 10:00am | Goosebumps |
| 10:30am | Eerie, Indiana |
| 11:00am | Life With Louie |
| 11:30am | The X-Men |
Fox has signed a three year comedy development deal with George Schlatter Productins. The plan is to development for airing on the FX cable channel, and then move promising shows to the Fox network. Possible projects mentioned include "The American Comedy Awards," "The American Comedy Honors," a political comedy, and a sitcom starring Carrot Top.
Paul Satterfield of General Hospital fame begins a recurring role on Pacific Palisades on June 18. He plays John Graham Jr., an entrepeneur working with Robert's architecrual firm. He also has a past history with Laura.
News Corp., the parent company of Fox Broadcasting Corp., will purchase International Family Entertainment (parent of The Family Channel). IFE will be merged with Fox Kids Worldwide Inc. (co-owned by News Corp., and Saban Entertainment), the entity in charge of Fox Kids programming. The IFE assetts will be used to develop new animated and live-action childrens programs.
Courtney Thorne-Smith will play the wife of lawyer Gil Bellows on Ally McBeal.
Fox has bought the rights to broadcast Lost World: Jurassic Park 10 times over 12 year period beginning a year and a half after the theatrical run. This means that the movie will go directly to Fox, bypassing pay-per-view and cable. The first broadcast will be during the November 1998 sweeps. Rumor has it they paid $80 million.
Roar premieres on July 14. The Ruby Wax Show and prime-time episodes of Mad TV begin on June 9. Summer episodes of Pacific Palisades begin on July 11.
The mini-series Intensity, based on Dean Koontz's best seller, will air on August 4 and 5, 1997.
Fox Summer Blast, six weeks of themed programming, kicks of on June 9. In addition to original first-run programmin, the weeks will feature prime-time episodes of Mad TV featuring skits that match the week's theme. The themes are:
The Fox fall schedule was announced last week.
| 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | World's Funniest... | The Simpsons | King of the Hill | The X-Files | ||
| Monday | Melrose Place | Ally McBeal | ||||
| Tuesday | Fox Tuesday Night Movie | |||||
| Wednesday | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Party of Five | ||||
| Thursday | Rewind | Between Brothers | 413 Hope St. | |||
| Friday | The Visitor | Millenium | ||||
| Saturday | Cops | Cops | America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back | |||
| Living Single, New York Undercover, V.E.N.U.S. on the Hard Drive, Ask Harriet, and Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place have been ordered as mid-season replacements. | ||||||
Ally McBeal is about a single Boston lawyer, played by Calista Flockhart, who is forced to join a lawfirm run by her law school nemisis Richard Fish (Greg Germann). There she runs into her former boyfriend Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows), with whom she has had relationships with since she was seven years old. Whenever Ally has a strong reaction to a situation, we get to see her thoughts played out in a sometimes humorous manner.
In Ask Harriet, the macho Jack Cody (Anthony Tyler Quinn) takes over the "Ask Harriet" column, which has always been written by a woman. Forced to quit his column "A Man's World," a applies for the "Ask Harriet" job to get back at his editor and former love-interest Melissa Peters. When he finds out that he can't write the column from home, he transforms himself into a woman.
Between Brothers follows the lives of Charles and James Gordon. Charles (Kadeem Hardison) is a young doctor who needs to loosen up, and James (Dondre Whitfield), the younger of the two, plays too much, and wreaks havoc on Charles ordered world. The two hang out at the local microbrewery run by Teri (Rachel Crawford) with their college friends "Dusty Canyon" and Mitchell. "Dusty Canyon" (Kelly Perrine) is a local weatherman, and Mitchell (Tommy Davidson) is a bitter divorcee with two ex-wives.
Damon Wayans' 413 Hope St. is an ensemble drama that takes a look at a teen crisis center in New York City. Mr. Thomas (Richard Roundtree) built the crisis center after his son was killed for his sneakers. Jesse Martin plays a young lawyer who works at the center and whose new wife, played by Kelly Coffield, is a fiesty legal aide.
Rewind is an innovative sit-com that takes place in the present and in the 1970s. Rob Di Paulo (Scott Baio) is a marketing executive who feels that his life keeps repeating itself. During the present he must bail his friend Harv (Mystro Clark) out of encounters with the company president, and tries to date Dana (Christine taylor) the girlfriend of the corporate downsizer. When the going gets tough, Rob flashes back to similar situations during his teenage years, where his friendship with Harv his further explored, and whole new set of characters will emerge.
Ryan Reynolds and Richard Ruccolo play graduate students Berg and Pete who work at a Pizza Parlor in Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place. Pete is the straight-man, while Berg love sto have fun. Their neighbor Sharon (Traylor Howard) keeps them in line.
In The Visitor, Adam MacArthur (John Corbett) emerges from the wreckage of a UFO crash in Utah. This starts investigations by opposing government agencies to determine who he really is, how he survived, and why he returned-- apparently he has been MIA since vanishing in the Bermuda Triange during World War II. Adam has not physically aged during his 40 year disappearance, and has been giving he ability to access the metaphysical world. Adam must run from human and alien forces as he tries to complete his mission.
In V.E.N.U.S. on the Hard Drive, a top secret secret military artificial intelligence program, V.E.N.U.S., enters the life of twentysomethings Harry and Ozzie. Venus, taking the form of a beautiful woman with seemingly infinite knowledge, but no idea of how to interact in the real world, disrupts their lives, and Harry's relationships with his girlfriend Pam.
World's Funniest... is a continuation of the popular series of outtakes hosted by James Brown.
Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction? premieres Sunday, May 25 at 7:00pm. James Brolin hosts each episode's anthologies, some of which are based on real events, some of which are writer's fantasies. Some stories will be about the paranormal, while other are about life-changing events.
The Museum of Television & Radio Presents: Science Fiction, a Journey into the Unknown airs on May 26. The special, which originally aired in December 1994, is hosted by Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Carrie Fisher, and Dean Cain, and examines sci-fi TV of the past 40 years.
| 7:30am | Bobby's World |
| 8:00am | Bobby's World |
| 3:00pm | The Adventures of Batman & Robin |
| 3:30pm | Spider-Man |
| 4:00pm | Big Bad Beetleborgs |
| 4:30pm | Power Rangers Turbo (Monday to Thursday) |
| 4:30pm | Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Friday) |
Specials include LA Johns the baseball All-Star Game, and two exhibition football games.
Fox Kids Network is in negiations for the rights to develop 13 half-hour episodes based on the British comic book "The Beano" from D.C. Thompson.
The Visitor has a 13 episode order from Fox.
The May 5 season finale of Married ... With Children will also be the series finale. Fox has decided not to renew it.
The series finale of Martin airs Thursday, May 1. Celebrity guests include George Clinton and Lou Rawls, boxer Thomas Hearns, and basketball player Lisa Leslie.
Millenium has been reneewed for a second season.
Joan Collins has joined the cast of Pacific Pallisades. She makes her first appearence on April 30.
The April 7th showing of Pauly was the last of the season. There are two unaired episodes.
Saturday, April 19, the Saturday morning kids line-up will change. Power Rangers Turbo will premeire, and The Tick returns. Casper will also move, pre-empting Big Bad Beetleborgs. Spider-Man will be pre-empted for two weeks by a second episode of Power Rangers Turbo. Power Rangers Turbo will join the weekday line-up on April 28. The schedule will be:
| 8:00 AM | C-BEAR AND JAMAL | |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30 AM | CASPER | (New Time Period) |
| 9:00 AM | POWER RANGERS TURBO | (Saturday Debut) |
| 9:30 AM | X-MEN | (New Time Period) |
| 10:00 AM | GOOSEBUMPS | |
| 10:30 AM | EERIE, INDIANA | |
| 11:00 AM | LIFE WITH LOUIE | |
| 11:30 AM | THE TICK | (Returning Time Period) |
The season finale of Married .. With Children aires on May 5. No decision has been made yet about renewel for next season. Renewel is made more difficult because the contracts for all cast members would have to renewed. Other season finale's are:
| Living Single | May 8 | (Hour Long) |
| King of the Hill | May 11 | |
| New York Undercover | May 15 | |
| Sliders | May 16 | |
| Millennium | May 16 | |
| The Simpsons | May 18 | |
| The X-Files | May 18 | |
| Melrose Place | May 18 | (2 Hours) |
| Beverly Hills, 90210 | May 21 | (2 Hours) |
Lawless has been cancelled after one episode. The New America's Most Wanted will return to it's hour format to take its place.
Fox has ordered 22 new episodes of both Party of Five and King of the Hill for the 1997-98 season. The 1997 season finale of Party of Five airs April 2, 1997.
Fox has 28 new series (16 comedies, 9 dramas, and 3 alternative) in
development for the 1997-97 season. Comedies in development for the coming season:
Saturday Night Special, hosted by Roseanne, premeires Saturday, April 13 at 11:00pm.
Mad TV will return with new episodes on May 18.
Fox will have baseball on Saturday afternoons starting June 1, 1996.
They even have the World Series!
In an effort to cure run-away campaign spending, Fox will offer each presidential
candidate one hour of free air time the night before the November presidential election.
Rubert Murdoch has pledged his support for TV ratings system, and may
institute one despite the actions of other networks.
Apparently it is due to D.B. Sweeney's movie committments that
Strange Luck had an early season finale. Decisions about
next falls programming schedule are not made until May.
Dramas in development:
Three alternative series also are in development:
September 1, 1996
Mid-season replacement series for the 1996-97 season include four comedies:
Pauly staring Pauly Shore, Secret Service Guy
starring Judge Reinhold, Gail starring Gail O'Grady, and
King of the Hill, an animated series from Mike Judge, and
a drama Lawless starring Daniel Baldwin.
April 8, 1996
March 29, 1996
August 20, 1995
Debut dates for the new fall series:
August 13, 1995
The Animaniacs leaves FOX and premeires on The WB Saturday,
September 9th.Aug 5, 1995
More information on the new fall shows is available from the WDRB web site
Ned an Stacy stars Thomas Haden Church as an abitious advertising executive who enters into a marriage of convenience with a socially conscious journalist.
Cabin Pressure feautures four flight attendants of Imperial Air, including "tough, native New Yorker Jess," her "over-earnest" roommate, Maggie, Randy the womanizer and Paul, "quickwitted and gay."
Strange Luck is a drama starring D. B. Sweeney as a photojournalist who has suffered "frma an amazing streak of luck, both good and bad, since surviving a plane crash when he was a small child. Wherever he goes, something unexpected will happen."
The Preston Episodes stars David Alan Grier as a newly divorced English professor who abandoms the academic life to pursue his dream of becoming a prize-winning journalist with a job as "a cub reporter at a celebrity gossip magazine."
Space, an hour long drama about first-year military cadets hurled into the frong lines of an inter-galatic war.
Too Something stars Eric Schaeffer and Donal Lardner Ward as best friends who work in the mail room of an investment banking firm. Eric wants to be a writer; Donny is studying to be an astronaut.
Misery Loves Company focuses on four friends, one still looking for the woman of his dreams, the other three in the middle of horrible divorces.
Fall movies include: Coneheads, Demolition Man, Cliffhanger, In the Line of Fire, Rising Sun, Bram Stoker's Dracula, What's Love Got to do with It?
Sliderspremeired March 22, 1995. VR.5 premeired March 10, 1995. The Critic premiered March 5, 1995, and disappeared after the April 2, 1995 episode.
There will be no third season for Batman: The Animated Series / The Adventures of Batman and Robin on FOX. Warner Brothers has terminated its relations with Fox because of its new network, The WB. The Animaniacs will be moving to The WB in Fall of 1995.
New show Something's Gotta Give, a sitcom starring Lisa Ann Walter as a would be rock star.
David Alan Grier will also star in his own sitcom as a newly divorced man who works at a celebrity lifestyle magazine.
For fall of 1995, Fox will have a new version of Casper the Friendly Ghost based upon the feature film coming out summer of 1995. Also animated versions of The Hulk and The Silver Surfer comics.
Fall Saturday morning line up:
There are plans to revive the 1960's program The Invaders as a mini-series. If the mini-series goes well, then it will become a series.
Fox and Reuters are cooperating to launch a TV news service starting March 1 for the FOX affiliates. Reuters will provied international news items, and FOX affiliates will provide local and national news.
Rosanne bought the rights to the BBC series Absolutely Fabulous, and hired the series creator, writer and co-star, Jennifer Saunders as consultant for the new series, which will be called AbFab. Fox is very interested in the project, but Rosanne will offer the series to ABC first.
This site is maintained by Aaron Greenhouse. If you have information to contribute, questions, or comments mail 'em to me...