This morning Fox network announced its fall schedule, which will bring two high-expectations series, The X Factor and Terra Nova, to air in September along with the sitcom New Girl. Animated comedy Allen Gregory and live-humans comedy I Hate My Teenage Daughter will be along later in the fall; the rest of Fox’s new shows (such as Alcatraz) wait for midseason.
As for the long-awaited, much-delayed dino-drama Terra Nova, I’ve seen it, sort of. What do I think of it? I can’t say. Fox held a screening of the first hour of the two-hour pilot earlier in the month, but asked, just before the video rolled, that no one present share any opinion of the work, on Twitter or elsewhere. In retrospect, had I known in advance this was a condition of the screening, I probably would have passed.
(Screenings like that have value for arts editors and feature writers, but for a critic–whose job it is to make judgments on shows–they’re a little pointless, and they risk making you into a PR arm of the network. I’m starting to think that “don’t tweet” screenings are becoming the entertainment-journalism equivalent of off-the-record; useful sometimes, but overused. But in the specific case of Terra Nova, I probably would not have done a Test Pilot post based on one-half of a two-hour pilot anyway.)
Anyway, what I can confirm for you is that Terra Nova… exists! At least half of it! And now for that fall schedule:
Sunday, Sept. 18
8:00-11:00 PM ET/ 63RD PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS (Live Telecast)
5:00-8:00 PM PTTuesday, Sept. 20
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT GLEE (Season Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT NEW GIRL (Series Premiere)
9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT RAISING HOPE (Season Premiere)Wednesday, Sept. 21
8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT THE X FACTOR (Series Premiere, Part 1)Thursday, Sept. 22
8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT THE X FACTOR (Series Premiere, Part 2)Friday, Sept. 23
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT KITCHEN NIGHTMARES (Season Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT FRINGE (Season Premiere)Sunday, Sept. 25
8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT THE SIMPSONS (Season Premiere)
8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT THE CLEVELAND SHOW (Season Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT FAMILY GUY (Season Premiere)
9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT AMERICAN DAD (Season Premiere)Monday, Sept. 26
8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT TERRA NOVA (Series Premiere)Monday, Oct. 3
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT TERRA NOVA (All-New Episode) (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT HOUSE (Season Premiere)Saturday, Oct. 29
8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT AMERICA’S MOST WANTED (Quarterly Specials Premiere)Sunday, Oct. 30
7:30-8:00 PM ET/PT THE CLEVELAND SHOW (Time Period Premiere)
8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT THE SIMPSONS (All-New Episode)
8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT ALLEN GREGORY (Series Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT FAMILY GUY (All-New Episode)
9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT AMERICAN DAD (All-New Episode)Thursday, Nov. 3
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT THE X FACTOR (All-New Episode)
9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT BONES (Season Premiere)Wednesday, Nov. 23
8:00-9:30 PM ET/PT THE X FACTOR (All-New Episode)
9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER (Series Premiere)