FOX '07-'08

OK, it's FOX's turn at the upfronts. This season FOX locked up the win in Adults 18-49 sooner months before the season wrapped. Next season, they've got a prime time Super Bowl in their pocket.

And while the opposition may refer to AMERICAN IDOL as "the Death Star" - keep in mind that the last few weeks of IDOL have actually been down versus last year. In fact, this past week HOUSE outperformed AMERICAN IDOL for the first time ever. If IDOL is the Death Star, what does that make Dr. House? He walks with a stick, but he's not green so no Yoda reference. He's tall, but not particularly hairy - sorry, I digress.

The lineup:

MON - PRISON BREAK and K-VILLE (an over the top 'escapist' show and a new drama about the police force in post-Katrina New Orleans)

TUE - NEW AMSTERDAM and HOUSE (a new drama about an immortal detective who's been working in NYC since it was Dutch and the medical drama that's bigger than the Death Star)

WED - BACK TO YOU, TIL DEATH and BONES (a new sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton about a life at a TV station, Heaton's former RAYMOND co-star Brad Garrett's growing sitcom about married life and a forensics mystery that's started to dominate its time slot as well)

THUR - ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER and KITCHEN NIGHTMARES - (a simple game show with a well executed premise and a new reality show from GORDON RAMSEY in which he will step in and try to save a failing restaurant over the course of one week)

FRI - THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN BAND and NASHVILLE (an IDOL style competition featuring bands instead of singers and and faux-reality soap set in the music industry from the producers of LAGUNA BEACH)

SAT - COPS and AMERICA'S MOST WANTED - (two old standbys that are starting to show their age)

SUN - THE SIMPSONS, KING OF THE HILL, FAMILY GUY and AMERICAN DAD (four animated comedies for grown ups that are facing more competition and a smaller audience year by year)

In January:

MON - K-VILLE and 24 (PRISON BREAK will return in March)

TUE - IDOL and HOUSE

WED - BACK TO YOU, TIL DEATH and IDOL

THUR - 5TH GRADER and CANTERBURY'S LAW (Julianna Margulies as a defense attorney)

FRI - BONES and NEW AMSTERDAM

SUN - KING, DAD, SIMPSONS, GUY and THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (TV sequel to TERMINATOR 2)

CANTERBURY - yawn. I don't care if I ever see another lawyer show right now.

AMSTERDAM - an interesting concept, although it may suffer in comparison to CBS's MOONLIGHT.

K-VILLE - the concept doesn't do much for me, but I'll wait to see some trailers.

KITCHEN NIGHTMARES and NASHVILLE both strike me as shows better left to cable.

Moving BONES and AMSTERDAM to Fridays is a huge risk - and note that FOX planned to move BONES to Fridays this spring, but too many new shows failed.

I'm not entirely sold on the SARAH CONNOR show - but I'm very excited to see FOX bringing a drama back to Sunday night.

BACK TO YOU is being produced by FRASIER's Christopher Lloyd - this could be a giant new comedy that will put a stake in the heart of a project very dear to me (JOINED IN PROGRESS).

The CW remains....