With House checking out and Glee in a talespin, last year's New Girl is the one everyone is looking up to (plus: Kevin Bacon!)
Fox was the second of the big four networks to present its roster of new shows to advertisers this week. Here's our guide to the potential hits and misses.
What Fox needs
Fox is in pretty good shape even if that's largely down to the unholy combination of The X Factor and American Idol. That said, Idol's ratings are in decline and, after a so-so performance in its first US season, X Factor is being completely overhauled with new judges (Britney! Demi Lovato!) and presenters (so long Steve Jones, America barely knew ya).
Of the scripted shows, House is ending, Bones and the excellent but low-rated, Fringe surely can't be far behind, and Glee was a complete mess last year. Given Ryan Murphy's involvement in The New Normal and American Horror Story– coupled with the decision to split time between theatre school in New York and the kids still in Lima, Ohio – I wouldn't bet on the latter sorting itself out anytime soon.
What Fox canned
Medical drama House came to an end after eight years. The network also cancelled expensive flop Terra Nova (proof that dinosaurs do not always equal hit show), JJ Abrams' produced Alcatraz, Bones spin-off The Finder, animated shows Allen Gregory and Napoleon Dynamite and sitcoms I Hate My Teenage Daughter and the Christian Slater-led Breaking In. Perhaps surprisingly, sentimental Kiefer Sutherland drama Touch survived, a decision that's more down to star wattage than anything else.
What looks good
Fox is playing it pretty safe this year. It has an established hit in Zooey Deschanel comedy The New Girl and much of the upfront presentation was dedicated to reminding everyone of that.
New Mindy Kaling show The Mindy Project will follow in Zooey's perky footsteps. I wasn't enthralled by the pilot but I am a fan of Kaling, if not of rom coms, so I hope that later episodes will dispense with some of the more obvious humour.
Ben and Kate looks like a good pairing with Raising Hope, sharing some of that show's quirky sweetness and broad humour plus a great supporting turn from Lucy Punch. That said, could we take the word "fempire" and bury it in a box far below the earth?
Of the dramas, Kevin Williamson serial killer show The Following looks set to transcend its material if only because of the cast: James Purefoy as a serial killer, Kevin Bacon as the agent who comes out of retirement to catch him.
What looks bad
I'm less convinced by the network's other new sitcom, The Goodwin Games, which should be fun (it's written by the team behind How I Met Your Mother and follows three siblings forced to compete for a fortune by their father) but so far feels overly broad and wacky. Medical drama The Mob Doctor, which will conveniently fill the House slot, is a little too ordinary to survive. It doesn't help that the show's star, the perky Jordana Spiro, best known for comedy My Boys, makes one of the least believable screen doctors ever.
All Fox trailers can be found on YouTube. Here's a link for Ben & Kate; the rest are down the side.
