Fox cleaned house last night: Shawn Ryan’s promising police drama “The Chicago Code” was just one of several series to get the axe as the network laid the groundwork for a revamped schedule in the fall. Here’s a rundown of the scheduling shakeup:
CANCELED: ‘The Chicago Code,” “Human Target,” “Lie to Me” (it was previously thought at least one, maybe two of those shows would get renewed), Christian Slater’s “Breaking In,” and freshman comedy “Traffic Light,” which was well-made but didn’t deliver ratings. Fox also opted not to pick up the pilot for the graphic novel-based “Locke & Key.”
ORDERED: An eighth season of “House,” “Bones” spin-off “The Finder” (an Iraq veteran’s brain trauma gives him superhuman powers to find people: totally realistic), J.J. Abrams’s new mystery “Alcatraz,” Zooey Deschanel’s sitcom “The New Girl,” and “I Hate My Teenage Daughter,” starring Jaime Pressly.
The message here, as Fox gears up for its upfront presentation, is that it would rather invest in new series than renew shows with middling ratings. Did you expect something else from the network of “Arrested Development”? The only real surprise is that “Fringe” survived this bloodbath.
