FOX: Another Shaky Start for Idol to Save?

In recent history, FOX has found itself getting off to a rocky start with the network's new series interrupted by baseball and struggling to find an audience. Then in January, American Idol (and to a lesser extent, 24) return to save the season. This year, FOX has the rights to the Super Bowl, and many feel they may win the season with the big game and Idol alone. Unfortunately, the network seems all too aware with three new reality series on tap until its big guns roll in.

As the Sunday comedies and Saturdays remain in tact, existing hits are used to launch new shows throughout the workweek. K-Ville, TV's first post-Katrina New Orleans drama and starring Anthony Anderson and Cole Hauser, joins Prison Break on Mondays. Lasse Hallstrom's New Amsterdam, centered around an immortal detective, may get a boost from airing with House, which recently beat American Idol in demos. On Thursdays, FOX hopes to capture more Gordan Ramsay magic with Kitchen Nightmares.

The network's best hope for fall may be in the hands of Back to You, a comedy that sparked a major bidding war among the networks. Leading into the returning Til Death and Bones (now an hour later), the sitcom stars Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton as a reunited anchor team. Another buzzed about project, the tentatively-tilted The Search for the Next Great American Band, joins fellow musical newcomer Nashville on Fridays. The docu-soap chronicles young artists trying to make it in the city famous for its music scene.

Don't get too attached to the schedule. In January, 24 returns to Mondays while American Idol returns to Tuesdays and Wednesdays, causing a wave reaction of changes that includes a shift for Bones to Fridays. The Return of Jezebel James, a sister comedy starring Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose from the creator of Gilmore Girls, and Canterbury's Law, a legal series starring Julianna Marguilies, join the schedule on Wednesdays and Thursdays, respectively. The Farrelly Brothers' comedy The Rules for Starting Over will launch later in spring.

Meanwhile, with the buzzed-about The Sarah Conner Chronicles set for Sundays midseason. Based on the character from the Terminator films, the network hopes to add buzz to their diminishing Sunday nights. With football overrun no longer a concern by that point, the comedies will be reshuffled (only The Simpsons stays put) and start earlier in the evening.

Notorious for changing its plans and quick cancellations (see: Drive, The Wedding Belles), FOX looks like it might again have another rough start to the season. The youth-aimed music series on Fridays seem like a risky proposition, Mondays remain vulnerable due to a slipping Prison Break, and Wednesdays depend on the audience's appetite for comedy. Meanwhile, the network may have found its Thursday solution by settling for reality in fall, but could Canterbury's Law survive opposite Grey's Anatomy and CSI in winter? Yet with the ratings power and launching ability of both American Idol and the Super Bowl on deck, FOX will be smiling next May regardless of the fall ratings.