After sustaining "American Idol" in the wake of Simon Cowell's departure, Fox Broadcasting is now bringing the wise-cracking talent judge back to its network in the fall to headline an ambitious slate of new shows, including several comedies and a drama with dinosaurs.
On Monday, Fox unveiled the details of its fall line-up, which includes "The X Factor," the splashy talent show that Mr. Cowell will judge, as well as "Terra Nova," a big-budget science-fiction drama about a family that travels back in time, executive-produced by Steven Spielberg. "The X Factor," already a hit in Britain, will air Wednesday and Thursday nights, the same time slots during which "American Idol" is currently running.
"We feel we have the gold standard in both 'Idol' and 'X factor,'" Fox Networks Group chairman of entertainment Peter Rice said on a conference call Monday morning. "There's an excitement and a buzz around ['X Factor'] that we've never seen before. We had more people show up for the audition than we ever had on Idol."Fox is part of News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal.
In addition to its talent shows, Fox will add four new comedies to its roster of prime-time shows, which includes returning programs such as "Glee." A number of shows are disappearing from Fox's schedule, most notably "America's Most Wanted." The long-running Saturday evening show hadn't made money for the network for years, according to Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, and will now run as just a series of specials.
Network executives said that they expect "The X Factor" to draw similar audiences to "American Idol," which has continued to draw huge viewership. Just this season, "Idol" saw its audience increase by 3% and is averaging more than 24 million viewers a week.
Both "X Factor" and "Idol" may face general competition from NBC's stab at the genre, "The Voice." But on Monday, Fox's executives said they were confident in Mr. Cowell's ability to draw fans. "In Simon Cowell we have the absolute star of the genre at the pinnacle of his game," Mr. Rice said.
Overall, Fox says it will finish its TV season first in adults 18 years old to 49 years old. It averaged 9.7 million viewers this season, according to Nielsen Co., leaving it in second place behind CBS, which averaged 11.7 million viewers.
Looking ahead, Fox executives are focusing on "Terra Nova" as well as a slate of new comedies to keep younger viewers watching. It is bringing back "Raising Hope" and aggressively pushing two new shows, including "New Girl" starring Zooey Deschanel, which runs on Tuesday nights, and "I Hate My Teenage Daughter," which focuses on two mothers who realize their daughters have become so-called mean girls and will run on Wednesdays after "The X Factor."
"Terra Nova," which follows a family that travels back to the time to when dinosaurs ruled the earth, was originally supposed to premiere earlier, but will now run in the fall. Its first two-hour episode involved more than 250 sets. "It is unlike anything you've ever seen before," Mr. Reilly said Monday, adding that all 13 episodes of the show would run this fall "short of disaster."
Other dramas that Fox is launching mid-season include a new show from J.J. Abrams called "Alcatraz" after the infamous prison, as well as "The Finder," a one-hour procedural that follows an Iraq war veteran who turns a combat injury into a gift.
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