FOX Announces 10 New Series, Returning Shows

NEW YORK, NY (May 17, 2007) — FOX announced today the additon of 10 new series to their 2007-08 primetime television schedule, including a new comedy with Kelsey Grammer & Patricia Heaton and a new reality series from the creators of “American Idol!”

“We’re introducing new series that are distinctive, compelling, and which have impressive auspices,” said Fox President of Entertainment Peter Liguori. “New series will be paired with returning hits to create a balanced, competitive, solid schedule.”

Two new dramas, one comedy, and three unscripted series premiere in the fall:

“K-Ville” is a new police drama from writer and executive producer Jonathan Lisco (”NYPD Blue,” “The District”) set in New Orleans. Two years after Katrina, the city is still in chaos. Many cops have quit, and the jails, police stations and crime labs still haven’t been properly rebuilt. But the cops who remain have courage to burn and a passion to reclaim and rebuild their city. “K-Ville” stars Anthony Anderson (”The Shield”), Cole Hauser (”ER”) and Tawny Cypress (”Heroes”).

Visonary drama “New Amsterdam” is the first American television project from Oscar-nominated director/producer Lasse Hallström (”Chocolat”), featuring newcomer Nikolaj Coster Waldau as a New York City homicide detective unlike any other. He is brilliant, mysterious, reckless, magnetic, unknowable. And he has a profound secret – he is immortal.

Kelsey Grammer (”Frasier”) and Patricia Heaton (”Everybody Loves Raymond”) make their return to primetime television in “Back To You” as two local Pittsburgh newscasters who must reunite as on-air partners after one of them (Grammer) is scandalized and loses his national news job. Can they find the “magic” they once had as a team in the ‘90s and bring their local newscast back to # 1?

The new unscripted series that will premiere this fall on FOX include:

“The Search For the Next Great American Band,” from the creators and producers of “American Idol,” will do for undiscovered groups what “Idol” has done for singers.

“Nashville,” from the producers of “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,” is an unscripted docu-soap chronicling a group of ambitious young people trying to make their mark on the music industry and Nashville society.

And in “Kitchen Nightmares,” master chef Gordon Ramsay of “Hell’s Kitchen” fame attempts to turn around floundering restaurants in less than a week.

Two additional dramas and two additional comedies will launch in midseason.

Courtroom drama “Canterbury’s Law,” stars Julianna Margulies (”ER”) as a rebellious female defense attorney who’s willing to bend the law in order to protect the wrongfully accused.

“The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is an intense new drama based on the celebrated heroine of the “Terminator” movies, with Lena Headey (”The Brothers Grimm,” “300”) in the title role. The new series reveals what happens when Sarah stops running and goes on the offensive against an ever-evolving technological enemy bent on destroying her life, and perhaps the world. Thomas Dekker (”Heroes”) co-stars as her 15 year-old son, John Connor.

“The Return of Jezebel James” is a sister comedy starring Parker Posey (”Superman Returns”) and Lauren Ambrose (”Six Feet Under”), from “Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino. Can two estranged sisters, polar opposites, live together when one agrees to carry the other’s baby?

A spring launch is planned for “The Rules For Starting Over,” starring Craig Bierko (”Cinderella Man”) and Rashida Jones (”The Office”) in the Farrelly Brothers’ comedic take on a group of 30-somethings trying to find true love the second time around.

And finally, “Anchorwoman” is a new unscripted series scheduled to premiere this summer. “Anchorwoman” features former Miss New York and über-vixen Lauren Jones, as she packs up her Versace dresses and heads to the middle of nowhere to start a new career in broadcast journalism at a floundering TV station. Can this bombshell cut it as a serious reporter?

FOX series returning in 2007-2008 include: “24,” “American Dad,” “American Idol,” “America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back,” “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?,” “Bones,” “Cops,” “Family Guy,” “House,” “King of the Hill,” “Mad TV,” “Prison Break,” “The Simpsons,” “Talkshow with Spike Feresten” and “‘Til Death.”

Below is FOX’s complete Fall Primetime Schedule (series mentioned above not listed on the Fall schedule will premiere mid-season):

MONDAY

8:00 PM – Prison Break9:00 PM – K-Ville (new series)

TUESDAY

8:00 PM – New Amsterdam (new series)9:00 PM – House

WEDNESDAY

8:00 PM – Back to You (new series)8:30 PM – ‘Til Death9:00 PM – Bones

THURSDAY

8:00 PM – Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? 9:00 PM – Kitchen Nightmares (new series)

FRIDAY

8:00 PM – The Search For the Next Great American Band (new series)9:00 PM – Nashville (new series)

SATURDAY

8:00 PM – COPS8:30 PM – COPS9:00 PM – America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back11:00 PM – Mad TV12:00 AM – Talk Show With Spike Feresten

SUNDAY

7:00 PM – The OT (NFL post-game)8:00 PM – The Simpsons8:30 PM – King of the Hill9:00 PM – Family Guy9:30 PM – American Dad