Fox Network Adds Comedies To Cut ‘Idol’ Dependence

News Corporation’s Fox television network plans to rely on situation comedies next year to help reduce its dependence on the “American Idol” talent contest, TV’s second-most-watched program.Fox will go into September’s new season with 12 half-hour comedies, the most of any network, Fox Entertainment’s president, Peter Liguori, said yesterday on a conference call. It’s adding “Kitchen Confidential,” about a gourmet chef working in a low-budget restaurant, and “The War at Home,” starring Michael Rapaport as the father of teenage children.Mr. Liguori, who expects Fox to finish no. 1 among younger audiences this year, is taking a different tack from rivals ABC, NBC, and CBS, none of which plans to run more than six comedies this fall. Fox is the last of the major networks to present its new programs to advertisers this week, when media buyers are starting to negotiate for about $9.8 billion in TV ad time.“Comedy has been overlooked for the last couple of years,” said Andrew Baker, an analyst for Cathay Financial in New York. “There aren’t lots of them out there that are good, and it’s a niche that allows Fox to differentiate themselves.”Fox’s current top comedy is “Stacked,” starring Pamela Anderson as an employee in a family-owned bookstore. It ranks 51st among all prime-time network programs, according to Nielson Media Research. Fox also runs the comedies “The Simpsons,” “Arrested Development,” and “Malcolm in the Middle.”Fox is returning to a genre that established the network in the mid-1980s with shows such as “Married With Children” and “The Simpsons,” said Bill Carroll, vice president at Katz Television Group, which advises TV stations on programming.“Going in the comedy direction is going back to their roots,” he said.“American Idol,” which runs from January to May, has boosted Fox to no. 1 among the 18- to 49-year-old viewers who advertisers say are the most receptive to commercials. Tuesday night’s “Idol” is the second-most-watched program this season, with an average audience of 27.4 million, and Wednesday night’s ranks no. 3, attracting 25.3 million.Fox is presenting a total of seven new shows, including five dramas, and isn’t adding any new reality series. The dramas include “Head Cases,” starring Chris O’Donnell as a lawyer who tries to rebuild his life after a nervous breakdown, and “Prison Break,” about a man who enters prison to help his brother escape.Returning shows include “The O.C.,” “24,” “Cops,” and “America’s Most Wanted.” Reality shows “Nanny 911” and “Trading Spouses” may return as midseason replacements, the network said, while “The Simple Life,” starring Paris Hilton, also may come back as a replacement.Steering away from new reality shows is wise because the programs can be more difficult to sell to advertisers, who don’t like the uncertainty of the content, Mr. Carroll said.Fox’s Mr. Liguori said on the call that the network is not abandoning the format, which it pioneered with “Cops.”“There is no conscious move away from reality,” he said. “It’s a 100% conscious move to put forward the best possible schedule.”NBC has fallen to fourth in the ratings from first in 2003-04 after the finales of top-rated comedies “Friends” and “Frasier.” It will show four sitcoms this fall, including the new “My Name Is Earl,” the General Electric-owned network said Monday.ABC, owned by Burbank, Calif.-based Walt Disney, and Viacom’s CBS, based in New York, each plan six comedies in the fall, the companies said earlier this week.ABC is trying to build on the ratings success of last year’s “Desperate Housewives” with “Hot Properties,” about four women a Manhattan real estate office, and “Emily’s Reasons Why Not,” with Heather Graham as an author of self-help books.CBS showed the last episode of top rated comedy “Everybody Loves Raymond” this month and will put “Two and a Half Men,” an established program starring Charlie Sheen, in its Monday nighttime slot.UPN, also owned by Viacom, said yesterday that it will add two comedies and a drama, including “Everybody Hates Chris” based on comedian Chris Rock’s childhood, and “Love, Inc.” starring Shannen Doherty as a dating consultant. Returning shows include “America’s Next Top Model” and “Veronica Mars.”Fox’s Mr. Liguori also needs to hold viewers while his schedule is interrupted by the network’s airing of the Major League Baseball playoffs in October and November, when other networks are establishing audiences for their new programs.Fox’s last president, Gail Berman, put the network on a year-round release schedule last year, introducing shows in June to build audiences before the baseball championship. The network also used short-run reality shows during the weeks between the end of baseball and the return of “American Idol.”Ms. Berman started the year-round format after a successful experiment with a May start for “The O.C.,” which was able to reclaim viewers after the interruption of baseball.Mr. Liguori said yesterday that the network will add more programs in June 2006. He took over from Ms. Berman in March, who left to become president of Viacom’s Paramount Pictures.

Fox Network Adds Comedies To Cut ‘Idol’ Dependence

Fox Network Adds Comedies To Cut ‘Idol’ Dependence

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