This week we examine the new fall schedule FOX. Fox made significant gains in the ratings this season thanks in large part to "American Idol" and "House."
Editor's Note: Show descriptions come directly from the network press releases.
Shows returning on FOX this fall include: American Dad, America's Most Wanted, Arrested Development, The Bernie Mac Show, Cops, Family Guy, House, King of the Hill, The O.C., The Simpsons, Stacked, That 70's Show and 24.
"PRISON BREAK" - MICHAEL SCOFIELD (Wentworth Miller, "The Human Stain") is a desperate man in a desperate situation. His brother, LINCOLN BURROWS (Dominic Purcell, "John Doe," "Blade: Trinity"), is on death row and scheduled to die in a few months for a murder Michael is convinced Lincoln did not commit. With no other options and time winding down, Michael holds up a bank to get himself incarcerated alongside his brother in Fox River State Penitentiary. Once he's inside, we learn that Michael - a structural engineer with the blueprints for the prison - has hatched an elaborate plan to break Lincoln out and prove his innocence. Senior correctional officer BELLICK (Wade Williams, "Collateral") offers some prison wisdom as Michael arrives. Then, with the help of his cellmate, SUCRE (Amaury Nolasco, "Mr. 3000"), Michael begins to align himself with a disparate group of prisoners, including former mob boss JOHN ABRUZZI (Peter Stormare, "Fargo," "Minority Report") and CHARLES WESTMORELAND (Muse Watson, "I Know What You Did Last Summer"), a man some believe to be the infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper. On the outside Michael has only one ally, his defense attorney and longtime friend, VERONICA DONOVAN (Robin Tunney, "The Craft," "End of Days") - who is Lincoln's former girlfriend. Meanwhile, Lincoln's 15-year-old son, LJ (Marshall Allman), is now adrift without his Uncle Michael's positive influence. Rounding out the cast are Sarah Wayne Callies ("The Celestine Prophesy") as prison doctor SARA TANCREDI, whom Michael ends up visiting more often than he should, and Stacy Keach ("Titus," "Mike Hammer") as the powerful WARDEN POPE, who forges a close, almost father-son relationship with the new convict. This intriguing new series promises to reveal additional pieces of the puzzle each week as Michael carries out his daring plan to mastermind the ultimate PRISON BREAK - and solve the far-reaching national-scale conspiracy that landed him there in the first place.
"BONES" - This darkly amusing drama was inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist and novelist Kathy Reichs. Forensic anthropologist DR. TEMPERANCE BRENNAN (Emily Deschanel, "Boogeyman"), who works at the Jeffersonian Institution and writes novels as a sideline, has an uncanny ability to read clues left behind in a victim's bones. Consequently, law enforcement calls her in to assist with murder investigations when the remains are so badly decomposed, burned or destroyed that the standard identification methods are useless. Brennan's equally brilliant colleagues at the Jeffersonian's Medico-Legal Lab include earthy and bawdy ANGELA MONTENEGRO (Michaela Conlin, "The D.A."), who's created a unique way to render an original crime scene in a three-dimensional computer image; Brennan's assistant, ZACK ADDY (Eric Millegan), a young prodigy whose genius IQ actually gets in the way of his finishing the several doctorates he has begun; "the bug guy," DR. JACK HODGINS (TJ Thyne, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"), who's an expert on insects, spores and minerals, but conspiracy is his hobby; and Brennan's boss, imposing lab director DR. DANIEL GOODMAN (Jonathan Adams, "American Dreams"). Brennan often finds herself teamed with Special Agent SEELEY BOOTH (David Boreanaz, "Angel"), a former Army sniper who mistrusts science and scientists when it comes to solving crimes. Brennan and Booth clash both professionally and personally, but so far the chemistry between them has only played out in a fictionalized account in Brennan's latest mystery novel.
