Fox’s Program Lineup Leans to the Dark Side

Fox is pitting must-be-scary TV against NBC’s “Must-See TV” on Thursdays with the scheduling of “Hollyweird,” a youth-oriented macabre series from horror filmmaker Wes Craven.

Fox Entertainment President Peter Roth said Thursday that he hopes “Hollyweird” will help take some of the wind out of NBC in the 9 p.m. time period, where the network is putting the acclaimed comedy “Frasier” as a replacement for the departed hit “Seinfeld.”

While “Frasier” is likely to maintain the momentum of “Seinfeld,” Roth said, the audience for the comedy is older and more female, clearing the way for younger, male viewers to tune into “Hollyweird.” Leading into the drama will be Fox’s reality series, “World’s Wildest Police Videos.”

Roth made the announcement in New York during a press conference in which he unveiled Fox’s new fall schedule. The network’s lineup features four new comedies and two new dramas.

Roth also discussed the network’s boldest move--moving the animated hit “King of the Hill” from Sundays to Tuesdays at 8 p.m., where it will go head to head against two veteran comedy hits: NBC’s “Mad About You” and ABC’s “Home Improvement.”

“We’re being characterized as bold for doing this, and a lot of thought went into moving ‘King of the Hill,’ ” Roth said. He compared the shift to one Fox made in 1990 when the network moved “The Simpsons” from Sundays to Thursdays to battle with NBC’s top-rated “The Cosby Show.”

“When ‘The Simpsons’ duked it out with ‘Cosby,’ it really helped establish the network,” Roth said. “And ‘King of the Hill’ is even stronger than ‘The Simpsons’ was at that time.”

He added that the network wanted to start concentrating on building a foothold on Tuesdays as it has on Sundays with “The Simpsons,” “King of the Hill” and “The X-Files,” and on Mondays with “Melrose Place” and “Ally McBeal.” Fox has for several years scheduled movies on Tuesday, which were never successful.

Roth also had updates on two series from executive producer Chris Carter: “The X-Files” has been renewed for two more seasons, and “Millennium” will feature the addition of two younger cast members to aid the moody Frank Black in his battle against evil. Black will also move from the Midwest to Washington, D.C., where he will be a consultant for the FBI.

Fox’s new comedies are “Costello,” starring comedian Sue Costello as a single, working-class woman living in Boston; “Feelin’ All Right,” a teenage comedy that Roth described as a “ ‘Happy Days’ in the 1970s” (its former title was “Teenage Wasteland”); “Holding the Baby,” about a salesman juggling his high-pressure job and single fatherhood; and “Living in Captivity,” about quirky characters in suburbia.

The dramas are “Hollyweird” and “Brimstone,” which Roth has jokingly described as “Touched by the Devil.” The series stars Peter Horton (“thirtysomething”) as a dead detective who is recruited by the devil to go back to Earth and pursue escapees from hell.

New midseason series include the animated “Futurama” from “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening; “Family Man,” about a dysfunctional New England family; and “The PJs,” a series from Will Vinton Studios and Imagine Entertainment employing a stop-motion animation technique called “Foamation.” The series features Eddie Murphy as executive producer and voice for many of the characters.

The Fox schedule, night-by-night, with new shows in bold:

Sunday: “The World’s Funniest,” “Holding the Baby,” “The Simpsons,” “Feelin’ All Right,” “The X-Files.”

Monday: “Melrose Place,” “Ally McBeal.”

Tuesday: “King of the Hill,” “Costello,” “Brimstone.”

Wednesday: “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Party of Five.”

Thursday: “World’s Wildest Police Videos,” “Hollyweird.”

Friday: “Living in Captivity,” “Getting Personal,” “Millennium.”

Saturday: “Cops,” “America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back.”