The fourth of the network upfronts is out, covering FOX's fall schedule.  Here are my thoughts and what I anticipate I will be covering in one degree or another next season.  As usual for FOX, it's confusing and ultra-tentative, but I'll try to address it as is.  The following is the schedule released by the network on 17 May 2007:

FOX Prime-time Schedule Fall 2007:

Monday
8 pm: Prison Break
9 pm: K-Ville

Tuesday
8 pm: New Amsterdam
9 pm: House

Wednesday
8 pm: Back to You
8:30 pm: 'Til Death
9 pm: Bones

Thursday
8 pm: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
9 pm Kitchen Nightmares

Friday
8 pm: The Search for the Next Great American Band
9 pm: Nashville

Saturday

8 pm: Cops
8:30 pm Cops
9 pm America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back
11 pm: Mad TV
12 am: Talk Show with Spike Feresten

Sunday
7 pm: The OT (NFL post-game)
8 pm The Simpsons
8:30 pm King of the Hill
9 pm Family Guy
9:30 pm American Dad

FOX Prime-time Schedule Beginning January 2008:

MONDAY
8:00 K-VILLE (January)/PRISON BREAK (Spring)
9:00 24

Tuesday
8 pm: American Idol
9 pm: House

Wednesday
8 pm BACK TO YOU
8:30 'TIL DEATH
9:00 AMERICAN IDOL

WEDNESDAY (Spring)
8:00 BACK TO YOU
8:30 THE RETURN OF JEZEBEL JAMES (working title)
9:00 AMERICAN IDOL Results Show
9:30 'TIL DEATH

THURSDAY
8:00 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?
9:00 CANTERBURY'S LAW

FRIDAY (Spring)
8:00 BONES
9:00 NEW AMSTERDAM

SATURDAY
8:00 COPS
8:30 COPS
9:00 AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS
BACK
11:00 PM MADtv
MIDNIGHT TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

SUNDAY (Spring)
7:00 KING OF THE HILL
7:30 AMERICAN DAD
8:00 THE SIMPSONS
8:30 FAMILY GUY
9:00 THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES


Mondays

In the fall, "Prison Break" returns, so that's a given.  And there's "24" in the spring.  "K-Ville" holds no interest for me, so up to this point, Monday nights are more or less the same as I thought they would be.

Tuesday

In a surprising move, FOX actually offers something on Tuesday nights that might make it more than a catch-up evening.  "New Amsterdam" has potential.  On the other hand, this is FOX we're talking about, and this would add yet another new show to the list.  So I'm tentatively putting this on the review list for the fall.

Wednesday

This night holds nothing for me in terms of this network, which is a good thing.  It's already got two new shows on other networks.

Thursday

Nope.  CW continues to dominate this night for me, thanks to a remarkably boring attempt by FOX to fill the night with reality TV tripe.

Friday

And even more of nothing, at least until spring, if "New Amsterdam" survives that long (unlikely on this network) and actually gets moved into that timeslot.  So "Moonlight" has the night to itself, until and unless "Stargate: Atlantis" returns to Fridays on SFC.

Sunday

In the fall, it's more of the same, so it's pretty much an open night at this point, at least until spring.  And then it will be "The Sarah Connor Chronicles", another show with a promising pedigree that will probably get canned in a matter of weeks, especially in that timeslot.

With "New Amsterdam" and "The Sarah Connor Chronicles", there's the obvious question: why bother when they are likely to be cancelled?  The answer, in my mind, is very simple.  If we stop supporting genre shows because of the high casualty rate, then the networks will feel justified in avoiding the genre altogether.  And more press, even for a little while, keeps the genre in the public eye.

So, with that in mind, FOX is adding a ton of material to my schedule: 10 shows will be reviewed out of the current list: "Heroes", "Journeyman", "Bionic Woman", "Lost", "Pushing Daisies", and "Moonlight", "24", "Prison Break", "New Amsterdam", and "The Sarah Connor Chronicles".  Compared to the previous season, that's a net gain of +4.

Depending on the CW schedule, however, that might change.