The Fox network's bosses have confessed that they are relying too heavily on reality TV shows, reports ABC News.

A prime example of the problem is Who's Your Daddy?, where an adpoted daughter picked out her real father from eight strangers for a hefty $100,000 prize. Only 6.3m people watched the show amidst a flurry of negative publicity about its subject matter and the remaining five episodes that have been filmed will not see the light of day.

The network has suffered from poor ratings this season, dropping from 6.5m to 5.9m in primetime. They are even lowering expections about the success of the fourth series of American Idol, its most popular show. This is blamed on the production of reality shows which get a lukewarm reaction from the public, rather than scripted shows.

Fox are adamant to debut new shows throughout the year, such as the upcoming American Dad from Seth MacFarland, creator of Family Guy. MacFarlane is also making new episodes of that series in the wake of high DVD sales. Both series will begin on May 1.