The Upfronts: Fox Tries To Class Up The Joint A Little

Their offical upfront presentation is yet to come, but Fox president Peter Liguori has met with the press and released his network's Fall slate. And as expected, the network has finally abandoned all pretenses about its success in the key demographic and finally shifted to an all- American Idol format launching at the conclusion of the World Series. In addition, Liguori has given Paula Abdul the green light to engage in sexual relationships with any of the AI hopefuls, just as long as all acts of pill-addled congress occur in front of fellow tribunal members Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell.

Well, that would've been more interesting what the newly-restrained Fox announced. No new, exploitative reality shows were put on the Fall schedule, severely limiting the opportunities of the world's bastards to enjoy a televised reunion with a group of out-of-work actors who may or may not be biological relations. Other than the network's eschewing of its tasteless bread and butter, the one interesting move was the shift of beloved underperformer Arrested Development from Sunday to Monday nights, where it will be allowed to run long enough to make a pretty DVD set, or without The Simpsons as a lead-in, start sloughing off enough viewers that Liguori can kill it off without being pelted with foam bananas.

We're still holding out hope that Fox will finally give to its baser urges and drop a reality love-bomb on us in midseason, like having Paris Hilton and her new Simple Life sidekick adopt Guatemalan babies and record their hilariously inept efforts to keep the tykes alive. They'll come through for us, they always do.

• Fox Adds Five New Dramas to Schedule [AP]


• FOX ANNOUNCES NEW PRIMETIME SLATE [Futon Critic]

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