Fox stalks its prey on Thursdays

Fox has been TV’s top network among young adults for five years. And now it hopes it has the goods to take control of Thursday, TV’s most lucrative night.

The network kicked off TV’s upfront week on Monday by announcing a fairly conservative fall schedule -- four comedies, two dramas and a late-night talk show -- that nevertheless contained a bold play for Thursdays, which has for years been ruled by rivals.

In contrast, ABC is expected to unveil a much larger crop of new shows for the fall today, while NBC, which already revealed its pickups two weeks ago, will finally announce its upcoming schedule as well. CBS and the CW will follow with their presentations later in the week as part of the annual event aimed at media buyers.

In the fall, Fox will start off Thursdays with “Bones,” its durable fifth-season forensics drama, followed by the second season of “Fringe,” J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi drama. Last fall, Fox had essentially punted for the night, airing back-to-back episodes of the reality series “Kitchen Nightmares.”

This time around, though, Fox -- which continues to derive most of its strength from the No. 1-rated “American Idol” -- smells weakness at other networks on Thursdays, when movie studios and other big advertisers spend heavily to lure consumers planning their weekends.

CBS has suffered sharp erosion for “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” is not racking up the huge numbers of old.

NBC has struggled to rebuild its Thursday comedy block.

“Thursday is more open this year than it’s been in a really long time,” Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly told reporters in a conference call.

Otherwise, Fox seems to be taking few chances with its fall schedule, given that the recessionary ad market has put broadcasters in the worst position in years. Fox has long had trouble developing audiences for new shows because of disruptions from postseason baseball.

So executives will give “So You Think You Can Dance,” a summer perennial, its first regular-season berth. Tuesdays will be given over to a two-hour performance show. Wednesdays will have a one-hour “Dance” results show, followed by the quirky high school comedy-drama “Glee,” which previews this week.

On Mondays, caution is again the order of the night. “House,” Fox’s top drama, will provide a strong lead-in for “Lie to Me,” a second-year crime drama. This past season, Fox rolled the dice Mondays with two struggling shows, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and “Prison Break.” Neither will return next year.

Viewers will have to look hard to see new Fox shows in the fall. In addition to “Glee” and a late-night talk show with comedian Wanda Sykes, which premieres Nov. 7, there are five other new programs:

“Human Target” is based on the DC Comics series about a private detective/bodyguard who impersonates his clients to eliminate threats against them. It stars Mark Valley, who earned his brownie points with the network on “Fringe,” where he met his wife, Anna Torv. The show also stars Chi McBride (“Pushing Daisies”) and Jackie Earle Haley.

“Past Life” is based on the novel “The Reincarnationist” by M.J. Rose. The series uses the concept of reincarnation to solve present-day mysteries caused by past-life traumas. Created by David Hudgins (“Friday Night Lights” and “Everwood”), the show stars Kelli Giddish (“All My Children”), Nicholas Bishop (“Home and Away”), Ravi Patel (“Transformers”) and Richard Schiff (“The West Wing”).

“Brothers” is a half-hour sitcom that features former NFL star Michael Strahan as a retired pro football player who moves back to his hometown and is reunited with his brother, played by Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, whose promising football career ended because of a car accident. “This show is not afraid to be real,” said Reilly. “We’re giving viewers something that’s been missing from television: family comedy.”

“Sons of Tucson” is a single-camera comedy about three brothers who hire someone to pretend to be their father when their dad is sent to prison for a white-collar crime. It stars Tyler Labine (“Reaper”), Davis Cleveland, Frank Dolce, Troy Gentile and Natalie Martinez.

“The Cleveland Show” is a “Family Guy” spinoff that will air Sunday nights with Fox’s animated comedies and is built around the soft-spoken Cleveland Brown, who moves back with his son to his hometown in Virginia.

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Gambling on Joss Whedon

Fox’s conference call with reporters Monday to announce next season’s schedule was notable for its lack of name-dropping. Among the marquee Fox names not mentioned: Adam Lambert, Kara DioGuardi and “American Idol.”

Also in the not-named club, Jack Bauer of “24,” which concluded Monday in a two-hour finale.

Instead, the name invoked -- much in the same manner as Jan Brady’s “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia” -- was “ ‘Dollhouse,’ ‘Dollhouse,’ ‘Dollhouse.’ ”

The press was fixated on the Joss Whedon show, which has struggled in the ratings in its freshman year. Over the weekend, word leaked that Fox had renewed the low-rated series freighted with high expectations, but reporters still wanted to know what factors persuaded Reilly to give it another chance.

“This is a bet on Joss Whedon,” said Reilly, who has always been open about his admiration for the popular TV scribe and director.

The series, Reilly noted, may not be a hit, but it is one of the top shows viewed by DVR users, and executives find that encouraging.

Eight weeks into his new job, Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice agreed.

“We think we can grow the show,” Rice said. “The show became much stronger creatively during the course of the season. Joss feels very energized about it, and we believe in him as a creator.”

Reilly added that for him it was never a choice between “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” which was canceled, and “Dollhouse.” He also didn’t want to create a completely new lineup for Friday nights in the fall.

“I’d venture to say that if we put on new shows on Friday night in particular there would be a lot of cynicism -- ‘Well, wait, you’re creating an entire new night of television?’ ” Reilly said. “Not to mention, if we had canceled Joss’ show, I’d probably have 110 million e-mails this morning.”

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

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CBS buys into six new shows

The network’s breakfast with the press and upfront presentation aren’t until Wednesday, but CBS has picked up four new dramas -- “The Good Wife,” “Miami Trauma,” “Three Rivers” and the as-yet-untitled “NCIS” spinoff -- one new reality show (“Undercover Boss”) and one new comedy (“Accidentally on Purpose”).

“The Good Wife” will star Julianna Margulies as a politician’s wife who starts a career as a defense attorney. Matt Czuchry (“Gilmore Girls”), Christine Baranski and Josh Charles costar, among others. Chris Noth, a.k.a. “Sex and the City’s” Mr. Big, will have a recurring part.

“Miami Trauma” is a new drama from star producer Jerry Bruckheimer that follows the lives and work of trauma surgeons. Lana Parilla, Jeremy Northam, Richard Coyle and Elisabeth Harnois play doctors.

“Three Rivers” is another medical drama, this one about organ transplants, from executive producers Carol Barbee (“Jericho”), film director Curtis Hanson and Carol Fenelon. Christopher Hanke, Justina Machado, Daniel Henney, Katherine Moennig and Julia Ormond costar.

The untitled “NCIS” spinoff -- which we bet does in fact have a title, they’re just making it all exciting -- will also make the schedule. It stars Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J.

“Undercover Boss” we have no description of. Since it’s a reality show, let’s assume that the title says it all.

“Accidentally on Purpose” will be the network’s only new half-hour comedy. It comes from the folks at Berman/Braun -- Gail Berman was the former entertainment president at Fox and Lloyd Braun used to head up ABC. Jenna Elfman plays a movie critic who gets pregnant after a dalliance with a younger man.

The network will announce which shows will premiere in the fall and which will arrive at midseason when it unveils its schedule.

-- Kate Aurthur

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scott.collins@latimes.com

maria.elena.fernandez@latimes.com

kate.aurthur@latimes.com