Big changes for FOX's 2004-05 schedule

FOX unveiled the most detailed programming strategy of all the US TV networks at its upfront presentations in Los Angeles today (Thursday).

The broadcaster laid out plans for the next 52 weeks as part of its shift towards a "year round" season, which will include launches in June, November and January.

Its two most crtically acclaimed freshman drama series - The O.C. and Tru Calling - will be back for second seasons in November, sandwiched together on Thursday nights. Both will face tough competition: in the 8pm hour, The O.C. will go up against Survivor on CBS and Joey / Will & Grace on NBC, while Tru Calling will take on NBC's The Apprentice at 9pm.

The fourth season of 24 will be delayed until January 2005 (beginning with a "blockbuster" two hour premiere), but as some consolation the network promises it will air the 24 episodes "consecutively, with no pre-emptions the rest of the season." The show will lose its American Idol lead-in by moving from Tuesdays to Mondays at 8pm.

The second season of Paris Hilton reality series The Simple Life will begin Wednesday, June 16, partnered in the 9pm hour with new hip-hop comedy Method & Red. Other June premieres include courtroom drama The Jury (9pm Tuesdays from June 8), family comedy Quintuplets (8.30pm Wednesdays from June 16), Hawaiian soap-style drama North Shore (8pm Mondays from June 14) and Mark Burnett's Vegas-based reality series The Casino (9pm Mondays from June 14).

Richard Branson's new Apprentice-style reality show - the tongue-twistingly titled The Billionaire: Branson's Quest For The Best - will get an 8pm Tuesday slot when it premieres in November. Immediately following it at 9pm will be House, the network's only new drama in the November launch. The show promises to be a "new take on mystery," where the villain is a medical malady and the hero is "a cantankerous doctor who trusts no one, least of all his patients." House will retain the slot through June 2005.

More new dramas will premiere in January, headlined by a new series from The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz, Mondays at 8pm. Here's how FOX synopsises the show, which has the working title Athens: "This series will explore the intertwined lives and loves of the fictional New England community of Athens, home to a prestigious university that acts as a dividing line between the rich outsiders who study and teach there, and the local townies who serve that population. Viewers will enter this world through the friendship of Jed Hall, a young English professor, and Ethan Frost, an 18-year-old freshman whose arrival changes the dynamics for everyone in Athens. Like Ryan and Seth on The O.C., Jed and Ethan will become unlikely partners in an alliance that will forever change them and the people of this town."

As expected, American Idol returns for a fourth instalment in January, keeping the same 8pm slot on Tuesdays but switching from 8.30pm to 9pm on Wednesdays.

Sunday nights remain largely the same - albeit for some slight reshuffles - with The Simpsons (8pm), King of the Hill (7pm) and Malcolm in the Middle (7.30pm) returning for new seasons in November. The network also promises the return of Family Guy with new episodes in June 2005.

A notable omission from FOX's plans is its "neverending" reality series Forever Eden, which was due to return in June, or a place for a second season of its predecessor Paradise Hotel, which performed strongly on its initial run last summer.

Click here to view the new FOX lineup in full.