Fox announces midseason schedule: 'Dollhouse' and 'Terminator' on Fridays; 'Lie' after 'Idol'

Fox announced a dramatic shakeup to its midseason plans, establishing a Friday sci-fi block and giving a new drama series an “American Idol” lead-in.

-- Joss Whedon's highly anticipated "Dollhouse" is going to air on low-rated Fridays. The series was originally scheduled to air with "24" on Mondays. As noted in the previous post, there have been some concerns about how the series might perform. Instead, "House" will open the night, followed by "24."

-- The modestly rated "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is also moving to Friday and will serve as lead-in to "Dollhouse."

-- "Idol" will premiere Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. and will include the usual two-hour, two-part rollout. "Idol" and "Fringe" will still partner on Tuesdays as planned.

-- Wednesday was originally going to have "House" leading into the "American Idol" results show. Now "Idol" has been shifted to 8 p.m. and will instead give TV's biggest lead-in to new drama "Lie to Me," which stars Tim Roth as a "human lie detector." Fox is very excited about this show, though it will likely to draw comparisons to CBS' freshman breakout title "The Mentalist."

-- Instead of reality block of "Hell's Kitchen" and "Secret Millionaire" on Thursdays, Fox will partner "Hell's" with a lead-in from "Bones." This is a promotion for the crime drama, which has performed strong this season. Fox had originally intended to shift "Bones" to Fridays in midseason. "Millionaire" will air in December.

-- "Hole in the Wall," despite many assuming the game show was a goner, is returning midseason to help launch Fox's Sunday animated block in the 7 p.m. hour.

Absent from the current schedule: Live-action comedy or new reality shows. No dates yet for Fox's new animated shows such "The Cleveland Show" either.

"Fringe" and "Dollhouse" are part of Fox's Remote-Free TV plan, where advertisers pay a premium to sponsor a show in exchange for Fox running about half as many ads  per hour. In the case of "Fringe," the move has been successful, say media buyers who have studied the results. Fox says that even though "Dollhouse" changed time periods to Fridays, it will still be Remote-Free TV.

The "Dollhouse" shift to Friday is certain to provoke a despondent cry from Whedon fans, especially after having watched "Firefly" wither away on the same night. Fox could have given the series a premiere behind "Idol" before shifting it to Fridays -- something the network has done a few times to boost sampling of new shows. And if that weren't unlucky enough, "Dollhouse" premieres on Friday the 13th.

Full Fox midseason schedule and premiere dates below.

MONDAY
Monday, Jan. 5:
7:30 PM-CC ET        TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL (LIVE)

Monday, Jan. 12:
8:00-10:00 PM          24 (Season Premiere, Part 2)

Mondays, beginning Jan. 19:
8:00-9:00 PM            HOUSE (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM          24 (Time Period Premiere)

****************************

TUESDAY
Tuesday, Jan. 13:
8:00-10:00 PM          AMERICAN IDOL (Season Premiere, Part 1)

Tuesdays, beginning Jan. 20:
8:00-9:00 PM            AMERICAN IDOL (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM          FRINGE

****************************

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday, Jan. 14:
8:00-10:00 PM          AMERICAN IDOL (Season Premiere, Part 2)

Wednesdays, beginning Jan. 21:
8:00-9:00 PM            AMERICAN IDOL (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM          LIE TO ME (Series Premiere)

***************************

THURSDAY
Thursday, Jan. 1:
7:30 PM-CC ET        FEDEX ORANGE BOWL (LIVE)

Thursday, Jan. 8:
7:30 PM-CC ET        FEDEX BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (LIVE)

Thursdays, beginning Jan. 15:
8:00-9:00 PM            BONES (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM          KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

Thursdays, beginning Jan. 29:
8:00-9:00 PM            BONES
9:00-10:00 PM          HELL’S KITCHEN (Season Premiere)

***************************

FRIDAY
Friday, Jan. 2:
7:30 PM-CC ET        ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL (LIVE)

Friday, Jan. 9:
8:00-10:00 PM          FOX MOVIE SPECIAL:  BRUCE ALMIGHTY

Fridays, beginning Jan. 16 (no change to lineup):
8:00-9:00 PM            ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?
9:00-10:00 PM          DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS!

Fridays, beginning Feb. 13:
8:00-9:00 PM            TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
(Time Period Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM          DOLLHOUSE (Series Premiere)

***************************

SATURDAY
Saturdays, beginning Jan. 3 (no change to lineup):
8:00-8:30 PM            COPS
8:30-9:00 PM            COPS
9:00-10:00 PM          AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK
11:00 PM-Midnight   MADtv
Midnight-12:30 AM   TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

***************************

SUNDAY
Sunday, Jan. 11:
8:00-10:00 PM          24 (Season Premiere, Part 1)

Sundays, beginning Jan. 18:
7:00-7:30 PM            HOLE IN THE WALL (Time Period Premiere)
7:30-8:00 PM            HOLE IN THE WALL (Time Period Premiere)
8:00-10:00 PM          ANIMATION DOMINATION
(THE SIMPSONS, KING OF THE HILL, FAMILY GUY and AMERICAN DAD)

Comments

[izikavazo]

Here's a fun little prediction: Dollhouse won't make it past one season. Not unlike Firefly.
Perhaps it's time for good showrunners, like Joss Whedon, to move on to quality networks instead of wasting their time on FOX who will most definitely not appeciate their shows.

[LA]

Argh! I love Joss Whedon! What a great pairing that would have been--Dollhouse and 24. Darn.

[Heradite]

Terminator on Friday?

*sigh* I hate and love FOX...and it hates and loves me.

[jack bauer]

where's prison break???

[eric]

Thrilled to see Terminator off Monday. Now I can DVR ABC & CBS, while watching NBC live or later on the web. No more stressing out on Mondays at 8pm with 4 networks to watch.

With DVR timeshifting, doesn't bother me that Terminator moves to Friday. I'll just save it for my Sunday night viewing when I have my own personalized television schedule of DVR shows from the week.

[Jack]

If you had actually seen what Joss Whedon showed at Comic Con and the mixed reaction it got from a very pro-Joss and pro-Eliza crowd, you wouldn't be defending this show so strongly. It doesn't look good and frankly the premise is designed to showcase Eliza's desire to expand her range as an actress, not advance good storytelling. Innovation and risk taking is important, but a show also has to have the tools to build an audience which I don't think Dollhouse does.

[Jack]

What happens to Are You Smarter and Lyrics after Feb. 13? Gee, let's take MORE family friendly shows off the air.

[Robin]

I want to have faith that this doesn't spell the death of Dollhouse before it begins and SCC as well, but there is just too much precedent of FOX screwing over Joss, Eliza, and their fans for me to maintain my optimism. Maybe it would help if there was some evidence that "the new regime" in the programming department took into account DVR delay and that Friday night ratings are lower across the board. I have yet to witness that, though. As far as I can tell, it's strictly live numbers with them, regardless of the circumstances.

Also, putting two genre shows up against SciFi's night of Sanctuary, SGA, and BSG seems a bit ill-advised.

[Boomshot]

I think Whedon needs to step up his game if he really expects Dollhouse to survive, especially on FOX where survival is hard enough. The show just seems so weak, and it doesn't help that the trailers just accentuate that.

[Barb]

Whenever a FOX show ends up on a Friday that means it doesn't expect much from it (I call it a full season miniseries as most don't make the cut for a second season - case in point - John Doe and Now and Again and Firefly). Until DVR timeshifting makes a greater difference in the overall ratings schema it'll probably mean adios to Terminator.

[Eliza]

Smart move for Mondays as 9 pm Heroes NBC, is not doing well, but if a surprise change happens, then alas. I'm happy with House moving to Mondays, as I think it will be number 1 again. Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, come on Fox, the man is brilliant, you should have put it after House to compete with Heroes; and Dollhouse would have taken the bigger audience. Why is Fox trying to sabotage Dollhouse before it even begins?

[Joe Bua]

Robin, about your concerns re Friday at SciFi ...

Sanctuary is terrible. Most of all it's an exercise in very grainy CGI. And, it's a bit of a Torchwood ripoff, don't you think?

Sarah Jane, as much as I love it, is really a kids show, which neither of the Fox shows are.

So, that leaves BSG, which airs at 10, after Fox goes to local news.

So, for me, we're clear.

Still, Friday is a dumping ground these days. And Sarah Connor is not the most popular scifi babe.

I wrote about all this here:

http://iamatvjunkie.typepad.com/i_am_a_tv_junkie_a_blog_f/2008/11/chi-tribune-dollhouse-in-the-doghouse-no-mo-more-like-the-outhouse.html

[CT]

This could work. It was a long time ago, but I think the X-Files started out on Friday nights.

[Sathena]

Also, keep in mind that both SGA and Sanctuary are over for the season and BSG winding down rapidly, so sci-fi is only airing reruns. If Dollhouse turns out to be popular with the straight-sci-fi audience that watches those shows, Fox can always switch nights in the fall when Sci-fi comes out with new shows.