Fox News reported tonight that Prison Break would return in May ...take that for what it's worth (I think one of the other articles in here said May too..)

I was thinking the SAME THING!

FYI - the actors names are Miller and Purcell.

Maybe FOX should move American Idol to the summer... I mean for crap's sake, the damn show is on three times a week! With only two hours of primetime available to them a night, they need to shift something out - move AI to the summer. Yuck. I hate that show.

Yeah.. i know that. I figured more people know the characters' names rather than the actors' names and I didn't want anyone to say "Who are they? Why do I care about a Q&A with them?"

Good suggestion in tvguide online:

Put War at Home and American Dad on hiatus, have a Sunday night lineup of Simpsons/FG/Prison Break.

Frankly, it doesn't really bother me if it is off until May. This show may actually work better in 13-episode seasons, and it would give people something to watch in the summer. Then again, I'm not a die-hard fan of the show.

slighty OT, is anyone actually looking forward to House shifting to Mondays?

It's funny. I'm looking at last weeks television ratings in the LA Times and Prison Break is ranked 34th out of 119 shows (pretty damn good) and it's Fox's highest rated (non sports show) for the week. Of course, Fox mostly had repeats that week.

But the show's viewers totalled 10.12 million, whereas their avg. last week was only 10.33 million (bloated by the World Series) and their Season to date average is 9.13 million (which includes the baseball playoffs).

So, the execs at Fox are taking a big gamble, putting one of their top shows on hiatus for 6 months. Their action would suggest that they have a glut of shows that are performing very well for them, but we know that is not the case.

Chris

Yes, because it is a less-crowded night in my household.

Yeah. I think I've even seen their commercials.

Why is it that the networks feel the need to put every good show on the same night? I haven't watched anything on Thursdays since Friends ended, other than ER and that isn't even must see anymore.

I like a lot of the pairing suggestions. Although, I think Prison Break would be a good lead in for 24. Moreso than House. I think Earl, Scrubs and Office would make a killer Thursday for NBC(hell, I wouldn't care if they made Joey the 4th show if they paired those three up, might even give it a second shot if that was the case). They just need to face the fact they don't own Thursday anymore.

I think all of the scheduling conflicts could be solved in one simple fashion. Move 95% of reality tv back to summer. No AI eating up scheduling space. No Donald. No dancing shows with B-list celebrities. Problem solved.

Because the networks are in the business to make money; not to please Michael Corvin.

Just get a DVR and watch shows on your own schedule like so many of us TV Talkers do.

Sarcasm noted. I do DVR everything. The discussion is about scheduling conflicts, I was just providing my opinion like everyone else.

Very nice. Take the best new show of the season and then take it off the air for 5-6 months. Excellent plan.
!)(@*#)(!@*#)(!*@#)(*!@)(#*

Maybe it's just me, but I really don't understand this negativity about it going off the air for 6 months. This sounds like it was the original plan anyhow - a 13 episode initial season/run. Plus with the high quality cable dramas (The Shield, Nip/tuck, Rescue Me, Deadwood, etc), you generally have to wait about 7-9 months for the next season. Well, except Sopranos where you have to wait a generation. Works well for those shows, so why not for this?

This is FOX we're talking about, remember?

Well that's all fine and dandy, but maybe they should have made known their intentions from the beginning.

Chris

I think the funniest part of this scheduling "problem" is that reveals that networks really don't intend for their shows to become hits. They throw a bunch of shit against the wall, and they pretty much expect that most of it will end up cancelled. Now that they have a show doing well, they are saying "Oops, we don't have a place on the schedule for it."

They used to have mideseason replacement shows waiting in the wings if a fall show failed. Now they don't have a spot in midseason because one of their fall shows was actually a hit!

Actually, I think the fact that there'll be 2,571 American Idol "results" shows adds fuel to this fire.

I think you have the facts down cold, but this speaks of something else to me -- there are timeslots in prime time that at least Fox and I would argue every broadcaster has simply abandoned. They don't think any sort of first run show can make them money. Fox, for instance, doesn't think even something like AI or 24 will bring them in on a Friday or Saturday.

New Saturday night Fox line-up: Cops and Prison Break.

Sounds like a winner to me.

I believe they did that. I didn't see Prison Break on their Winter lineup slate during the upfronts.

Well, I missed going to the 'upfronts'. I was doing something else!

Chris