Fox shaping new reality for fall

'Champ,' 'Family' lead the unscripted pack this fall

By JOSEF ADALIAN

Host Oscar De La Hoya is ready to weigh in with reality skein 'Champ.'

Fox's reality-heavy sked, including 'The Complex: Malibu,' features an average eight hours of unscripted programming a week.

Forget the Fox Reality Channel: Rupert Murdoch's broadcast net will essentially morph into Get Real TV this fall, with more than half of its September lineup devoted to unscripted skeins.

While Fox execs have been saying for months that they planned an unconventional early fall lineup, the extent of their plans had been unclear until Monday, when the net announced earlier-than-expected premiere dates for a pair of high-profile projects.

Boxing skein "The Next Great Champ" is scheduled to premiere Friday, Sept. 10, at 9 p.m. -- a month or two before most industry observers had expected, and well before the announced November bow of NBC pugilism skein "The Contender." "Champ" wrapped production just a few weeks ago, paving the way for an early bow (Daily Variety, July 27).

Fox also is bowing makeover skein "Family Time" (Daily Variety, July 28) far sooner than anticipated, with the show now set to launch Tuesday, Sept. 7, at 9 p.m. "Trading Spouses" returns Tuesdays at 8.

Tentatively titled "Family Time" will air twice each week, with a second episode slated for Thursdays at 9 p.m. (after a two-hour Thursday premiere Sept. 9).

In addition to "Family Time," Fox also said it would return clip shows "Totally Outrageous Behavior" and "World's Craziest Videos" to its lineup, airing the half-hour skeins Fridays from 8-9 p.m.

Add in previously announced skein "The Complex: Malibu" (airing Mondays starting Aug. 30), plus Saturday stalwarts "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted," and Fox's September sked boasts an average eight hours of unscripted programming each week. Fox will air at least one reality show every night of the week, except Sundays and Wednesdays.

When she announced Fox's new lineup to advertisers in May, entertainment prexy Gail Berman said several reality shows would float in and out of the sked. Net didn't want to bow a slew of new scripted shows in September, only to pull them a few weeks later for baseball.

While players like "Family Time" and "Trading Spouses" weren't on the radar last spring, Fox scheduling guru Preston Beckman said Fox always planned to roll out several new reality shows in later summer. At most, the net is serving up only one more hour per week of reality than had been planned.

"The only real difference between what we announced in May and now is, 'The Jury' is not on (the schedule)," Beckman said. "Our goal has been to have a bunch of unscripted shows (in September) that were noisy enough on their own that we didn't have to rely completely on our own air to promote them."

Still, back in May, it seemed unlikely "Champ" would air before October or November, with Fox expected to use postseason baseball to hype the Oscar De La Hoya-hosted skein. And, as Beckman noted, Fox anticipated its summer drama "The Jury" would be strong enough to survive through September. (It wasn't.)

On the positive tip, Fox will have original episodes of three frosh scripted shows -- "Quintuplets," "North Shore" and "Method & Red" -- on the air in the fall.

In years past, Fox had to launch completely new scripted shows in September, almost always watching them go down in flames. These three frosh already have been exposed to viewers and, unless auds have completely made up their minds, the frosh skeins should benefit from original episodes of veteran Fox skeins such as "That '70s Show" and "Bernie Mac."

The ultra-heavy dose of reality isn't scheduled to last long, with Fox using the unscripted skeins as a "bridge" to its other fall offerings.

November follows script

Come October, for example, net shifts most of its focus to postseason baseball coverage. And in November, Fox plans to debut the new drama "House" on Tuesdays while unveiling a mostly scripted Sunday lineup and the revamped Thursday sked, which features "The OC" and "Tru Calling."

January will see a wave of more new scripted skeins in conjunction with the returns of "American Idol" and "24."

"We think the best chances for us to created some more scripted players are in the summer and in January," Beckman said.

One challenge for Fox during September will be getting advertisers on board the mostly unscripted sked. Madison Avenue often is reluctant to buy into untested reality concepts, which means Fox's sales staff will have to hustle to sell spots in some skeins.

Once a show's a hit, however, advertisers can change their tune. "Trading Spouses," for example, has been attracting more big-name sponsors as its Nielsen numbers have risen.

In the end, Fox probably figures it's better to give up some short-term ad coin than to roll over in September and allow the other nets to dominate. In particular, Fox no doubt hopes to counterprogram NBC, which is moving up the premiere dates of many of its new shows in order to capitalize on any post-Olympics bounce.