FOX made a big spring and summer scheduling announcement on Wednesday (March 26) afternoon, but the only thing anybody on my Twitter feed wanted to discuss was the fact that after this Friday, “Enlisted” is off the schedule, at least for the foreseeable future.
So let's get that out of the way. FOX had already scheduled an hour-long series finale for “Raising Hope” for April 4, so “Enlisted” was off the schedule for next week anyway. But FOX revealed on Wednesday that “Kitchen Nightmares” will premiere on April 11 in that 9 p.m. hour. This isn't a huge shocker, folks. “Enlisted” no longer had a comedy partner for that hour, so was FOX going to air “Enlisted” and an “Enlisted” encore? “Enlisted” and a random repeat? Who would that benefit? So “Enlisted” will return. FOX emphasizes this. We just don't know when.
Now let's get down to the business of FOX premieres from May on.
As was previously announced, “24: Live another Day” will have a two-hour premiere on May 5 and will settle into its 9 p.m. home on May 12.
The following night, “Riot” will premiere in the Tuesday 9 p.m. hour following the season finale of “Glee.” What is “Riot”? Well, it's HitFix's comedy channel. It's also the series formerly known as “Slide Show,” from executive producer Steve Carell and hosted by Rove McManus. Celebrities and comedians face a series of song, dance and sketch challenges on a stage that's pitched at a 22 degree angle. Oh.
The next week, “MasterChef” will return on Monday, May 19 at 8 p.m. as the lead-in to “Union Jack Bauer.”
The action drama “Gang Related” has had its premiere shifted from May 20 to May 22 and it will now air on Thursdays at 9 p.m. through the summer.
Premiering on Tuesday, May 27 is the newly announced “I Wanna Marry 'Harry,'” which both rhymes and seems like the closest thing the network could do to a rebooted “Joe Millionaire.” The premise goes that an average Englishman is given an upper crust makeover and introduced to 12 single American women. Will he convince them he's royalty? Will they fall for him or his fake crown? Hmmm. We probably need to find Evan Marriott and ask him to recap this one for us.
Then on May 28, “So You Think You Can Dance” will return with judges Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy, plus the incomparable Cat Deeley as host.
And then finally, on Monday, July 21, “Hotel Hell” will return with Gordon Ramsay making over a new assortment of hotels, motels and inns.
That's a lot of new stuff on FOX this summer, but we still don't have any word on the truncated comedy “Us & Them,” nor on plans for limited series “Gracepoint” (the “Broadchurch” remake) and “Wayward Pines” among others.
Anything intrigue you? Or are you just freaking out about “Enlisted”?