Fox charges up ’08 season
NEWS. Fox Broadcasting Company Chairman of Entertainment Peter Liguori announced yesterday that broadcast television needs a jolt.
“We feel it’s our responsibility as the No. 1 network for the last four seasons to provide that electricity,” Liguori said. “The goal of our business is entertaining viewers… they’re our lifeblood, and it’s incumbent upon us to make sure their first and favorite entertainment destination is Fox.”
It’s no real surprise that “24” and “American Idol” will return in 2009, but the network looks to charge up the rest of next season with a slate of new programming heavy on sci-fi. Leading the way this fall is “Fringe,” an otherworldly thriller from “Lost” creator J.J. Abrams, starring Joshua Jackson (“Dawson’s Creek”), John Noble (“Lord of the Rings”) and newcomer Anna Torv as an unlikely team that gets wrapped up in somewhat of a “Lost”-like mystery (it involves grisly deaths on an airplane). Abrams’ cohorts behind the upcoming “Star Trek” film (as well as “Mission: Impossible III” and “Alias”), Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, co-created the series and will serve as executive producers.
Sci-fi savant Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Firefly”) is set to return to primetime with “Dollhouse,” an action drama starring Eliza Dushku (“Tru Calling”) as Echo. A member of an illegal team of operatives who have their personalities wiped clean after every mission, Echo suddenly begins to become self-aware. “Dollhouse” is slated for a midseason premiere.
On the lighter side, Jerry O’Connell (“Crossing Jordan”) and Niecy Nash (“Reno 911!”) star as managers of a hip Manhattan hotel in Fox’s lone comedy entry for the fall, “Do Not Disturb.” Animated comedies set to hit next spring include a spin-off of “Family Guy,” tentatively titled “The Cleveland Show,” and “Sit Down, Shut Up,” a high school-based farce from “Arrested Development” creator Mitchell Hurwitz, featuring voices of “AD” alum.
In the reality department, Fox will send undercover millionaires into disadvantaged areas of the country in search of everyday heroes to help make a difference in their lives in the unscripted series “Secret Millionaire,” debuting midseason.