Shows frequently get moved around between seasons. How on earth is it Fox’s fault that you couldn’t be bothered to find out when one of your favorite shows is on? I understand that the constant preemptions make things difficult, and I’m not defending Fox here, but it is also up to us to figure these things out, to some extent.

Proof, please.

The relative quality of the two shows is proof enough for me.

Proof, please.

I’d just like to add another great FOX show to the list of the prematurely canceled, “Space Above and Beyond”. It was a good military sci-fi show coupled with intelligent dramatic writing. Sort of like the new Battlestar Galactica.

Save Arrested Development

Basically, I’m not sure what’s wrong with the timeslot. Prison Break is apparently reasonable popular, for a Fox show (and, imo, a fairly enjoyable show, if rather absurd), and, anyway, AD’s on at 8 PM so it’s not like other shows are giving it crappy lead-ins – it is the lead-in. And its competition is “King of Queens” on CBS, which is awful; “Surface” on NBC, which I assume based on my own reaction that nobody has ever heard of; “Wife Swap” on ABC, which also is crap, and which almost certainly gets poor ratings (besides the really big reality shows, most reality shows get awful ratings – they’re just so cheap to make that the networks love to do so); “Seventh Heaven” on WB, which sucks; and “One on One” on UPN, which I’ve never heard of.

This is hardly a competitive line-up – I assume “King of Queens” gets good ratings, but the rest shouldn’t be a problem.

What is a problem is the constant preemption. The biggest problem is the World Series. I have no idea why Fox would have wanted exclusive rights to the baseball postseason, but it completely screws over any chance they might have to establish an audience for a new show before sweeps, unless they start the show in the summer (as they did for Prison Break, and, a few years ago, the OC). Looking at Fox’s line-up, almost all the shows are either ancient – Simpsons, King of the Hill, COPS, America’s Most Wanted, That Seventies Show, Family Guy (sort of), Malcolm in the Middle; or new this season – Prison Break, Bones, War at Home, Reunion, American Dad, Kitchen Confidential, Stacked, something called Killer Instinct that I’d never heard of before.

There are only a few shows in their second-fifth season or so – Bernie Mac, Arrested Development, House, the OC (which started in the summer), and that’s it (well, you could count Trading Spouses, but I won’t). Basically, the issue seems to be that Fox is almost completely incapable of turning any of its new shows into hits. The only show to survive from last season is House. AD and the OC are the only shows from the season before that, and AD is constantly on the verge of being cancelled. There are no shows from the season before that. Bernie Mac is the only show from the season before that. And there are no shows from the season before that (Malcolm in the middle was a mid-season replacement from 1999-2000).

I’m not sure if the other networks are much better in this respect, but this seems like a dismally poor record. In the same “starting between fall 2001 and midseason 2005″ period for which Fox has a pitiful 4 surviving non-reality series (with one on the edge of cancellation), ABC has 10. CBS and NBC are closer to Fox, with 6 and 5, respectively, but both have considerably more shows which started in 1998-2000 than Fox. And for CBS, at least, many of the shows are one hour dramas, as compared to Fox, which has two dramas and two half hour sitcoms.

Sad.