With all this talk about ...
Question: With all this talk about Fox's schedule and how there isn't enough room for
The Simple Life to return and how
Prison Break won't return until May, don't you think it's time Fox got with the program and became the
real fourth network, after 18 years (truly an appropriate age to finally grow up and be an adult). Shouldn't the network move the local 10 pm/ET news to 11 to make way for original programming?
Answer: This question has come up a lot lately, especially in the wake of the
Prison Break situation, so this is a good time to remind everyone once again of the "business" side of the TV equation. In Fox's early days, it programmed a limited number of hours for regulatory reasons (most of which no longer exist). But even if Fox desired to program a 22-hour weekly schedule, which many months of the year (when
American Idol is absent, say) would seem to be more than this network of
The Swan,
Stacked and
Killer Instinct could handle, it's a fact that Fox's local affiliates, especially the owned-and-operated stations, make a fortune off the local news at 10 (ET). It's not in Fox's economic model to expand at this point, although it is true that some of Fox's better dramas would benefit by being able to air in the 10 pm/ET time period. (If the network could dump the 8 pm/ET hour and program shows at 10, how cool would that be?) But the short answer to a tricky, complex question is that Fox isn't going there in the foreseeable future.
