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Last January, the big talk during the FOX TV network portion centered around Simon Cowell’s surprise appearance before hordes of scribes to end all speculation about his future on “American Idol.”
At the time, Peter Rice, chairman of entertainment, called Cowell “irreplaceable,” before remarking that it would be “incumbent upon us to make sure the show remains vital and entertaining and compelling.”
Let’s face it, with or without Cowell, FOX has a lot riding on the future of a franchise which factors mightily in the network’s competitive edge.
In the recent summer gathering of the wretched press corps, FOX Chairman Rice and Kevin Reilly, president of entertainment, managed to open their press conference with a head-on response to the news about Ellen DeGeneres’ departure from “American Idol.”
Unlike Cowell, DeGeneres did not appear on stage for a bombshell announcement; that cat was already out of the bag.
Rice reported that DeGeneres “wasn’t comfortable” and didn’t feel like the show was “a good fit for her.” He said he tried to persuade her that the show “would be different in the future, but ultimately we came to an agreement that we would begin to look for new judges.”
Knowing that this revelation would be equivalent to tossing red meat into a cage full of lions, Rice observed that disclosing DeGeneres’ exit would create “another round of speculation about who would be replacing Ellen and who would be replacing Simon on the judges’ panel next year.”
Then he claimed that no one has signed a deal yet “on either side of the camera to join ‘American Idol’ next year who wasn’t on it last year.”
Adding more layers to potential speculation, Rice told everyone that wildly inaccurate information is floating around, but he doesn’t want to speculate about the panel of judges for next year and won’t answer questions to that effect. Naturally, about half the questions that followed involved some variation of enticing the type of speculation the chairman so deftly sought to avoid.
For the time being, we’ll just have to settle for breaking news to emanate from the “National Enquirer” or gossip on Twitter.
So let’s move on to what is knowable about the fall schedule.
FOX would love to find the next “Glee,” but that could be a tall order. Meanwhile, a provocative soap opera set against the backdrop of big Texas oil can’t quite figure if its title is one word or two.
“Lone Star,” as it was billed at one panel, is found to be “Lonestar” in other printed press releases. I’ll stick with “Lone Star” because that is more fitting for Texas. In any event, the primary character is either Robert or Bob (James Wolk), depending on where he decides to spend the night.
Robert/Bob is a charismatic schemer who has meticulously constructed two lives in two different parts of the Lone Star state. In Houston, he is married to Cat (Adrienne Palicki), the daughter of Clint (Jon Voight), the wealthy patriarch of Texas oil family.
More than 400 miles away in the suburban west Texas town of Midland, he plays the perfect boyfriend to sweet, naïve Lindsay (Eloise Mumford).
In Midland, he’s conning local investors out of their savings. In Houston, he schemes to deplete the family business of its riches. All the while, he has to deal with his con artist father (David Keith), while keeping a suspicious brother-in-law at bay. “Lone Star” will test how Robert/Bob keeps his secret lives from unraveling.
On Tuesday nights, “Glee” will anchor the evening schedule as the lead-in for two new comedies.
“Raising Hope” follows the Chance family as they find themselves adding an unexpected new member into their already terribly flawed household.
At 23 years old, Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff) skims pools for a living, parties every night and still lives at home with his family, including his daffy grandmother (Cloris Leachman), his mother Virginia (Martha Plimpton) and father Burt (Garret Dillahunt).
Jimmy’s life takes a drastic turn when a chance romantic encounter with Lucy (Bijou Phillips) goes awry once he discovers she is a wanted felon.
Months later, when Jimmy pays a visit to the local prison, he discovers Lucy gave birth to their baby, who he is now charged with raising. At home with his new daughter, Jimmy finds his family is less than enthused about the new addition to the household.
Burt and Martha were teenaged parents who never knew anything about raising a child and have no interest in trying again. Meanwhile, Jimmy figures if he can work up the nerve to ask the sardonic checkout clerk Sabrina (Shannon Woodward) on a date, he might get some help.
On the other hand, Jimmy’s cousin Mike (Skyler Stone) is only concerned about how the baby will impinge on everyone’s social life. “Raising Hope” will seek laughs in the immensely challenging world of parenting.
Just reading the show description about “Running Wilde” should be enough to realize this show is wildly inspired by “Arrested Development.”
Suspicions are confirmed when realizing that writer-producer Mitch Hurwitz, the creator of “Arrested Development,” is behind this new comedy starring Will Arnett, another veteran of “Arrested Development.”
For his part, Arnett fits perfectly in the role of Steve Wilde, a filthy rich, immature and spoiled playboy trying desperately to win (or buy) the heart of his childhood sweetheart, Emmy Kadubic (Keri Russell), a socially conscious humanitarian who is on a crusade to save an indigenous tribe in the Amazon rain forest. The son of an oil tycoon, Steve hasn’t had to work a day in his life and always gotten everything he’s wanted except the woman he loves.
Emmy, the earnest do-gooder, is happy to live in the jungle with her 12-year-old daughter Puddle (Stefania Owen), who would like to experience a normal childhood in a normal place.
When Wilde Oil’s expansion into the rain forest threatens her adopted tribe, Emmy decides to attend Steve’s self-thrown “Humanitarian of the Year” award ceremony in hopes of convincing him to help her cause, and also because she may still have a thing for him.
Steve is unwilling to put his meal ticket in jeopardy, but he can’t risk letting Emmy slip away again. With Emmy committed to doing good for nothing, and Steve being a good for nothing, “Running Wilde” will look for the laughs as a mismatched pair tries to reconcile their differences.
In case you forgot, “Glee” is the network’s premier show, and for that reason FOX announced that a very special “Glee” will air following Super Bowl XLV on Sunday, Feb. 6, 2011, and the musical series will make its spring premiere on Wednesdays following “American Idol,” which we can speculate will have a panel of judges made up of Madonna, Lady Gaga and Billy Idol.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
