Fox upfront, take one

The conference call with Peter Liguori and Kevin Reilly is in a few minutes, so I have to be really quick. Preliminary thoughts on the Fox sked, plus a full list of both the fall and spring skeds, coming up after the jump...

So, some initial thoughts:

• This is much less convoluted than the average Fox schedule. There are officially only two different skeds: one for the fall, and one for when "Idol" comes back. There's some noodling in the spring with the cartoons, but they're not announcing 87 different iterations of the sked, none of them remotely resembling what will actually happen.
• Not surprisingly, both the J.J. Abrams-produced "Fringe" and the Joss Whedon-produced "Dollhouse" (pictured above) made it onto the schedule, with the former getting the benefit of airing after "House" in the fall and "Idol" in the spring, and the latter getting to be the lead-in to "24." Not sure if either show is compatible with Fox's biggest hits, but you can't say they're not putting them in good timeslots.
• That said, they keep claiming that "Bones" will one day air Fridays at 8 at mid-season, and it hasn't really come to pass yet. Think it will this year?
• Not mentioned below, the "24" prequel movie (setting up the events of the next season) will air on November 23.
• "5th Grader" and "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" do decently on Thursdays despite tough competition from the other networks. By moving them to Friday, Fox could have their first passable Friday schedule since "X-Files" moved to Sundays.
• I know it was announced a while ago, but they're really devoting an entire series to Cleveland from "Family Guy"?
• Other than the continued existence of "'Til Death," this looks a lot more like a Fox schedule than the last few years of CBS-lite stuff they've been doing. Lots of dramas that are either serialized, science fiction, or both, even more animated comedies, and more reality on the official schedule.

Gotta jump on the call. Here's the schedule(s):

FOX PRIMETIME SCHEDULE: FALL 2008

(All Times ET/PT)

MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
9:00-10:00 PM PRISON BREAK



TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE
9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE



WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-9:30 PM �TIL DEATH
9:30-10:00 PM DO NOT DISTURB (wt)



THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
9:00-10:00 PM KITCHEN NIGHTMARES



FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?
9:00-10:00 PM DON�T FORGET THE LYRICS!



SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA�S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK
11:00 PM-Midnight MADtv
Midnight-12:30 AM TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN



SUNDAY
7:00-8:00 PM THE OT (NFL post-game)
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM KING OF THE HILL
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD



FOX PRIMETIME SCHEDULE: BEGINNING JANUARY 2009

(All Times ET/PT)

MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM DOLLHOUSE
9:00-10:00 PM 24



TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL
9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE



WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE
9:00-9:30 PM AMERICAN IDOL Results Show
9:30-10:00 PM TBA Comedy



THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM HELL�S KITCHEN
9:00-10:00 PM SECRET MILLIONAIRE



FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-9:30 PM �TIL DEATH
9:30-10:00 PM DO NOT DISTURB (wt)



SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA�S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK
11:00 PM-Midnight MADtv
Midnight-12:30 AM TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN



SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM COMEDY ENCORES
7:30-8:00 PM COMEDY ENCORES
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM KING OF THE HILL (January) / SIT DOWN, SHUT UP (wt) (spring)
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD (January) / THE CLEVELAND SHOW (wt) (spring)