‘Head Cases’ tails in time slot

The TV season doesn’t officially start until next week, but here’s an early candidate for cancellation: “Head Cases,” Fox’s new comedy-drama starring Chris O’Donnell and Adam Goldberg.

The series about a pair of mismatched law partners premiered Wednesday at fourth place in its 9 p.m. time slot, averaging just 6.2 million viewers, Nielsen Media Research reported. That was an especially pitiful performance given that the competition included two repeats, ABC’s “Lost” (7 million over two hours) and NBC’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (9.3 million), as well as CBS’ ratings-challenged reality series “Rock Star: INXS” (6.7 million). “Head Cases” also finished fourth among the young-adult viewers that Fox targets.

The network did much better at 8 p.m. with its reality competition “So You Think You Can Dance” (8.1 million).

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Scott Collins