Fall 2006 - Fox and The CW

Day four of the 2006 upfronts, and both Fox and The CW took to their respective center stages for the announcements of their Fall lineups.

For Fox, the emphasis this Fall will be on drama. Fox is hoping to build on the success it's had with shows such as House and Prison Break. Fox will introduce new dramas on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and its only new comedies will show up on Thursdays.

Here's what the Fox Fall schedule looks like (with new shows in bold):


MONDAY
8:00 Prison Break
9:00 Vanished


TUESDAY
8:00 Standoff
9:00 House


WEDNESDAY
8:00 Bones
9:00 Justice


THURSDAY
8:00 'Til Death
8:30 Happy Hour
9:00 The O.C.


FRIDAY
8:00 Nanny 911
9:00 Trading Spouses


SATURDAY
8:00 Cops
9:00 America’s Most Wanted


SUNDAY
7:00 comedy repeats
7:30 comedy repeats
8:00 The Simpsons
8:30 American Dad
9:00 Family Guy
9:30 The War at Home

In January, look for the return of American Idol on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, along with the return of 24 on Mondays.

As for the new shows debuting this Fall...

VANISHED
Yet another serialized drama in the style of 24 and Prison Break, Vanished follows the disappearance of and subsequent search for a prominent US Senator's wife.

STANDOFF
If Fox has its way, the letters CNU will become as popular as the letters CSI. Standoff tells the story of the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit (or CNU), a group of top-ranked FBI negotiatiors that never met a crisis they can't handle.

JUSTICE
Jerry Bruckheimer is behind this new one-hour drama which focuses on a "dream team" of four
lawyers who join forces to take on the country's most controversial cases. Victor Garber, late of Alias, heads the cast.

'TIL DEATH
This new sitcom vehicle for Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett features Garrett as half of a middle-aged married couple (along with Joely Fisher) whose marital battle scars provide a sharp contrast to the idealized view of marriage held by their neghbors, a young newlywed couple.

HAPPY HOUR
Another sitcom, this one following the adventures of a conservative, straight-arrow kind-of guy from Missouri who gets talked into giving up his quiet life for a move to the fast-paced world of Chicago.



As for The CW's Fall plans, well... about the biggest change in The CW's world seems to be its logo, because there's not a lot of new programming. The CW, in merging the schedules of UPN and The WB, are adding only two new shows. So, either they have a LOT of confidence in the UPN/WB programming, or else they had a REALLY bad development season.

Either way... here's a look at The CW's Fall lineup (with new shows in bold):


MONDAY
8:00 7th Heaven
9:00 Runaway


TUESDAY
8:00 Gilmore Girls
9:00 Veronica Mars


WEDNESDAY
8:00 America’s Next Top Model
9:00 One Tree Hill


THURSDAY
8:00 Smallville
9:00 Supernatural


FRIDAY
8:00 WWE Smackdown


SATURDAY
no programming

SUNDAY
7:00 Everybody Hates Chris
7:30 All of Us
8:00 Girlfriends
8:30 The Game
9:00 America's Next Top Model (encore)

Receiving an 11th hour midseason order for 13 episodes was teh presumed-to-be-dead Reba. Also returning at midseason will be Beauty and the Geek.

As for the new shows premiering this Fall...

RUNAWAY

Donnie Wahlberg leads the cast in this new drama about an Iowa family that, to all those around them, appears to be just an average American family. In reality, each of the family members is using an alias, as the entire family is on the run from the legal system because the family patriarch was unjustly accused of a very violent crime. Think The Fugitive meets Family.

THE GAME

This Girlfriends spin-off follows a group of women who all just happen to be wives or girlfriends of professional football players. One of those Mowry twins is in this show - does that count for anything?