While Fox continues to insist that the just-yanked Happy Hour hasn't been officially euthanized in an attempt not to concede this Fall season's game of First Cancellation Chicken to the other networks, according to Variety, they've also quietly given a couple of their troubled, new series a pair of "unscheduled hiatuses" to get their shit together:

"Standoff" will take about 10 days off in order to catch up with the writing of the scripts and to add Tim Minear ("Angel") as a consulting producer. Minear's pilot "Drive" is a midseason contender at Fox.

Craig Silverstein is still exec producing and acting as showrunner for "Standoff," and the studio said the hiatus won't impact the show's ability to deliver episodes on time. After tonight's episode, "Standoff" is set to return Oct. 31, following Fox's coverage of post-season baseball.

As for "Death," because the show is ahead of schedule, producers decided to turn next week's planned one-week break into a two-week rest.

For those who might be a little more comfortable with the public relations terminology used in the celebrity press, rather than the somewhat more obscure transparent excuses fed to trade publications, think of Standoff's "catching up on scripts" as "exhaustion" and 'Til Death's "We're so far ahead of scheduled we're taking some extra time! Yay!" as "dehydration," so you're not too shocked when either show suddenly disappears from the schedule.

• Fox gives 'Hour' time off [Variety]
• Previously: Bravo Website A Little Too Eager To Yank Out 'Happy Hour''s Feeding Tube [Defamer]

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