Fox plans to launch 5 series

One exec hopes the summer programming will give stability to the network.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
HOLLYWOOD -- Fox Broadcasting Co. is taking another step toward year-round original programming by launching five new series and a retooled "The Simple Life" in June, in the process accelerating a trend that's upending traditional TV schedules.
The network announced this week that "The Casino," the latest unscripted one-hour series from producer Mark Burnett ("The Apprentice"), will air at 9 p.m. Mondays starting June 14. Party girls Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie will return in new episodes of "The Simple Life 2" on Wednesdays starting June 16.
Fox, which successfully launched the youth soap "The O.C." last summer, also will trot out two new scripted dramas: "The Jury," a legal drama from director Barry Levinson and writer Tom Fontana set for 9 p.m. Tuesdays, and "North Shore," which involves the lives and loves of young people at an upscale Hawaiian resort and is eyed as a Monday lead-in for "Casino."
Two Wednesday comedies, "Quintuplets" and "Method & amp; Red," round out the June premieres. The first stars former Conan O'Brien sidekick Andy Richter as a harried father of five; the latter is a fish-out-of-water concept with rappers Method Man and Redman living in a tony suburb.
Series launches during the summer are not new. NBC, for example, has made a cottage business out of such summer series as "Meet My Folks."
Network's goal
Yet Fox is attempting to switch to a truly year-round schedule, and its summer premieres come as the overall television business is grappling with enormous changes in technology and audience tastes. Faced with declining market share and stiff competition from cable outlets, network executives have gradually abandoned their tradition of treating the high-temperature season as a dumping ground for repeats. The push to launch new series between June and August has especially intensified since 2000, as so-called "reality" series such as "Survivor" and "American Idol" became smash hits over the summer.
But Fox has unique reasons for unveiling a fresh summer lineup. Because of its sports programming commitments, the network is forced to interrupt its fall series launches for postseason baseball. Fox's ratings for new fall shows over the past two seasons have cratered, only to be rescued in January by "American Idol."
Gail Berman, Fox entertainment president, hopes the new summer schedule will lend the network more stability -- and provide at least one or two new hits. She emphasized that the new series are not simply "summer shows" but rather contenders that the network hopes will become long-term players on the network's schedule.