Fox rolls out its new fall and mid season line-up

It can been tough to make it as a new show on Fox, a network that has a reputation for canceling a series before it really gets a chance to come into it’s own. The fall will see three new shows, with another three rolling out in the mid season, including a Texas-based drama about a con man, a gritty cop show set in Chicago and a few quirky comedies.

MONDAY
7-8pm — House
8-9pm — Lonestar — From the creators of Party of Five and the director of (500) Days of Summer comes this soap opera set in the world of Texas oil tycoons. James Wolk plays a man that has managed to construct two identities on different sides of the state. As Bob, he lives in Houston, married to Cat (Friday Night Lights’s Adrianne Palicki), the daughter of oil mogul Clint (Jon Voight), attempting to cement his place in the family business. In suburban West Texas, he lives as Robert where he plays the role of perfect companion to his naïve girlfriend (Eloise Mumford), while conning local investors out of their savings. It wouldn’t be compelling drama if the walls between these two lives weren’t beginning to crumble down around him, and that’s just where we meet Bob/Robert, as this story begins.

TUESDAY
7-8pm — Glee
8-8:30pm — Raising Hope — This new comedy comes from the man behind My Name Is Earl and follows the Chance family. Young Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff) spends a romantic evening with Lucy (Bijou Phillips), only later to discover that she’s actually a wanted felon. Several months later, Jimmy visits Lucy in prison and discovers that she has given birth to their baby. Jimmy takes the baby girl (named Hope, obviously) home and enlists the help of his family to raise his new found daughter. Live-action comedy has rarely been Fox’s strong suit and the premise seems overdone, but My Name Is Earl had a similar air about it and that stayed on the air for a few years, so you never know and with stars like Martha Plimpton, Garret Dillahunt and Cloris Leachman, there is promise.

8:30-9pm — Running Wilde — Clearly the most promising of the new comedies on Fox’s fall schedule, produced by Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz, this comedy stars Will Arnett and Keri Russell. Arnett plays an immature, wealthy playboy on a mission to recapture the heart of Russell, his “one that got away,” whose an ultra-liberal humanitarian. And, somehow, the entire show is told from the perspective of Russell’s 12-year-old daughter (Stefania Owen) who hasn’t spoken in months. After Arrested Development, I’ll absolutely dip my toes in anything involving both Hurwitz and Arnett, even if it does look loopy as hell.

WEDNESDAY
7-8pm — Lie to Me
8-9pm — Hell’s Kitchen

THURSDAY
7-8pm — Bones
8-9pm — Fringe

FRIDAY
7-8pm — Human Target
8-9pm — The Good Guys

SATURDAY
7-7:30pm — Cops
7:30-8pm — Cops
8-9pm — America’s Most Wanted

SUNDAY
6-7pm — The OT
7-7:30pm — The Simpsons
7:30-8pm — The Cleveland Show
8-8:30pm — Family Guy
8:30-9pm — American Dad

MID-SEASON

MONDAY
7-8pm — House
8-9pm — Lonestar / Ride-Along — Set in Chicago, Ride-Along comes from Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield. The conceit of the show is that we, the audience, are riding along with the members of the Chicago Police Department as they patrol the streets of Chicago, lead by Jason Clarke and Jennifer Beals, with Delroy Lindo playing an Alderman. The preview emphasizes the Chicago locale heavily and sure is nice to see all those familiar spots on film. As for the drama, Ryan certainly knows the cop genre and he’s put together a nice cast, hopefully this turns out to be more effective than NBC’s Southland in bringing gritty to network TV.

TUESDAY
7-8:30pm — American Idol Performance Show
8:30-9pm Running Wilde / Mixed Signals — Mixed Signals, created by Bob Fisher (Wedding Crashers), follows the lives of three friends who are attempting to reconcile the balancing of their relationships with their need for freedom. Kris Marshall (Love, Actually) plays a perpetual bachelor, Nelson Franklin (seen a few times on The Office and Dollhouse) has recently moved in with his girlfriend and David Denman (Roy in The Office) is married with a baby boy. Without a unique hook, this one’s really going to come down to execution, as this is certainly a story we’ve all seen done many times before, but the preview does actually look somewhat promising.

WEDNESDAY
7-7:30pm — Raising Hope
7:30-8pm — American Idol Results Show
8-9pm — Glee

THURSDAY
7-8pm — Bones
8-9pm — Fringe

FRIDAY
7-8pm — Human Target
8-9pm — Kitchen Nightmares

SATURDAY
7-7:30pm — Cops
7:30-8pm — Cops
8-9pm — America’s Most Wanted

SUNDAY
6-6:30pm — The Simpsons
6:30-7pm — American Dad
7-7:30pm — The Simpsons
7:30-8pm — Bob’s Burgers — A new animated comedy series about a man that runs a burger joint with his wife and three kids. Bob (H. Jon Benjamin, Archer) has all kinds of ideas about revolutionizing his burger business, but he’s not so great at customer service. Looks a light on laughs, even if Kristen Schaal is voicing the young daughter.

8-8:30pm — Family Guy
8:30-9pm — The Cleveland Show