Terminator the Series

[BillCable]

All those shows had below expected ratings in their more favorable time slots.  I remember that Terminator started strong, but lost audience very quickly.  Prison Break this season cratered (which was just God awful from day one this season... horrible writing after very solid previous seasons... extremely disappointing).  If they can't hold an audience on Monday before 24, there's no reason for Fox to keep them there.  So they're moved to a night where they'll do less damage in ad revenue.  They're not put there to die.  They're put there because they've underperformed.

There have been shows that launched on Friday... Dollhouse & Firefly, for example.  Those could have done well, but they were mishandled.  I haven't heard whether Dollhouse was picked up for next season or not.  I'm hoping they give it a shot.

BTW, there's a huge difference between House and those other shows.  House is flat-out brilliant.   

[EdSolo]

I think if you look at a list of cancelled shows on Fox, you will see that they either started or were shifted to Fridays.  Without American Idol, Fox probably wouldn't crack the top 10.  Fox has very little patience with any show that isn't a blockbuster for them.

[DSJ™]

Clicky...clicky.

Friday night death slot

[BillCable]

I think if you look at a list of cancelled shows on Fox, you will see that they either started or were shifted to Fridays.  Without American Idol, Fox probably wouldn't crack the top 10.  Fox has very little patience with any show that isn't a blockbuster for them.

That's not always true.  King of the Hill was never a big hit, and they kept it around forever.  They've given a long run to American Dad despite ratings well below Family Guy.  This year Fringe took quite a while to get established, but they stuck with it.  Now it's the top new series of the year.

Of course I'll always be pissed at them for canceling John Doe...

[efranks]

The only difference with Bones and House (besides ratings numbers maybe) is that Fox didn't move those shows to the dead zone of Friday nights...that is where they put any show they want to kill off for low ratings.  Boston Public, Dark Angel, Prison Break among many others have been moved to Fridays and then promptly cancelled.

Dark Angel got cancelled as much for a completely ****** second season as it did for being on Friday.  It lost everything from the first season that made it a fun show to watch.  Sorry, but the The Beast showing up in season two was one of the worst ideas ever.

Prison Break, I might also point out, was moved to Friday after they'd already made the call to cancel it.  And as much as I love Prison Break, I really am okay with them ending it this year, as long as they have some outcome to this whole Scylla/Company/Mom thing.

I am in agreement with the statement that FOX treats its shows badly.  FOX is the worst network as far as fostering a show is concerned.  Sure, the other networks will have that rare show that will get only a couple airing and then get pulled, but nobody does it as regularly as FOX.  If I were in the business of creating a show and found out that FOX picked it up, I'd probably quit and start looking for a new job.

   E...

[EdSolo]

I think if you look at a list of cancelled shows on Fox, you will see that they either started or were shifted to Fridays.  Without American Idol, Fox probably wouldn't crack the top 10.  Fox has very little patience with any show that isn't a blockbuster for them.

That's not always true.  King of the Hill was never a big hit, and they kept it around forever.  They've given a long run to American Dad despite ratings well below Family Guy.  This year Fringe took quite a while to get established, but they stuck with it.  Now it's the top new series of the year.

Of course I'll always be pissed at them for canceling John Doe...

I fully expected Fringe to get cancelled just because of the type of show that it is.  If you look at the Fox cancelled list, a lot of the shows are sci-fi/fantasy type shows.  I'm surprised the Lone Gunmen wasn't on the list...I thought it would have ended up on Fridays at some point.

[BillCable]

I fully expected Fringe to get cancelled just because of the type of show that it is.  If you look at the Fox cancelled list, a lot of the shows are sci-fi/fantasy type shows.  I'm surprised the Lone Gunmen wasn't on the list...I thought it would have ended up on Fridays at some point.

One thing you need to give Fox credit for is that at least they give sci-fi/fantasy a shot.  They're always trying to find the next cult hit.  That's led to some very good series, but also many, many misses.

Other networks rarely even try sci-fi.

I held off watching Dollhouse and Fringe because I didn't want to get sucked into something that gets dropped after one season.  Don't know that they've decided on Dollhouse yet, but I'll definitely be renting the Fringe series one Blu-ray as soon as it becomes available.  I'm hoping they give Dollhouse another year... I'd heard it picked up in the second half of the season, and attracted more viewers.

[efranks]

I started watching Fringe but didn't get into it that much.  It's another show, like Lost, where there are all these hidden things in parts of it that lead to a bigger mystery.  And have an online component and all that.  I'm sorry, I appreciate their ambition, but I want to spend an hour a week with a show and be able to know what's going on, I don't want to have to then spend hours sifting through web sites trying to get clues. 

Dollhouse, on the other hand, I started out not really liking but it's definitely picked up in the last couple of weeks.  However, I really don't really see where the show goes in the long run.  I don't get what the vision is on that show for a long, multi-year run.  IMO, the plot of the show lends itself better to a film or a mini series, not an ongoing television show.

   E...

[name]

I've been watching Fringe from time to time...it's better than decent.  A little silly, but engaging enough.

[GrandMoffNick]

I started watching Fringe but didn't get into it that much.  It's another show, like Lost, where there are all these hidden things in parts of it that lead to a bigger mystery.  And have an online component and all that.  I'm sorry, I appreciate their ambition, but I want to spend an hour a week with a show and be able to know what's going on, I don't want to have to then spend hours sifting through web sites trying to get clues. 

I've watched every episode of Fringe and have enjoyed it but am defineately not a huge fan of shows where just watching it isn't enough to know what's happening. I wait for next weeks episode to tell me what happened and leave with just more questions half the time.

[DSJ™]

Tomorrow, the official schedule will be announced from Fox. So far from what is being posted on the net, The Sarah Connor Chronicles is not in the line-up as expected. 

This is what Fox has lined-up thus far from what I can find but just rumors thus far:

Monday -- "House," "Lie to Me"
Tuesday -- "SYTYCD," "Fringe"
Wednesday -- SYTYCD" results, "Glee"
Thursday -- "Bones," "Kitchen Nightmares" (with "Past Life" taking over after baseball)
Friday -- "Dollhouse"
Sunday -- "Brothers" at 7:30 out of NFL; "Cleveland" at 8:30, all others unchanged.

[JediJman]

They're going to keep Dollhouse, but ditch Terminator?  Really?!  Well, that frees up another 42 minutes per week for me...

[efranks]

I can't get over cancelling TSCC and picking up Glee?  Really?  They should ask CBS how well scripted musicals work in prime time. 

I am happy that Dollhouse will be back, even if it's only 13 episodes.  That show really did pick up in the last couple weeks of the season even though I still really can't picture a long term vision for this particular show.

   E...

[GrandMoffNick]

That "Glee" show being on the air at all is hard to wrap your head around.

[EdSolo]

That seems like a seudo schedule...SYTYCD is strickly a summer show, as well as Glee.  I doubt they would pick up Glee for the fall without even seeing how it does during a summer run.  Of course the dancing will be replaced with American Idol...I guess Lie to Me goes on hiatus when 24 returns.