News: FOX Joins NBC in the Early Upfront Game

Yesterday unofficially kicked off the television upfront season as NBC picked up five new shows. The Peacock continued to chug along today, but this time FOX joined in on the fun by sending five newbies to series while renewing one show and cancelling two others.

Joining Grimm, Smash, Go On, Save Me, The New Normal, 1600 Penn, Animal Practice, Revolution and Hannibal on the 2012-2013 NBC schedule will be the Jimmy Fallon produced Guys with Kids, Chicago Fire and the returning Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. What's interesting about the Fallon pick up is the fact that it's a multi-cam show which means NBC is still committed to bringing back the format, but what will it be paired up with? Could this be a good sign for Whitney?

Meanwhile, FOX made its first moves since renewing Bones, Glee, New Girl, Raising Hope, Fringe and the entire Animation Domination line-up (sans Napoleon Dynamite and Allen Gregory). On the comedy side, the network picked up Mindy Kaling's It's Messy as well as Ben & Kate and The Goodwin Games from the HIMYM guys. As for dramas, the other no-brainer, the Kevin Williamson FBI/serial killer pilot, was added to the roster along with The Mob Doctor and Touch. Unfortunately, the news was not good for Alcatraz and The Finder; both were officially canceled. I won't go into my disappointment about the cancellation of The Finder because that's a topic for another blog post, but I can't say that I was surprised by any of FOX's moves.

Once again, I'll hopefully be sharing my thoughts on the entire 2012-2013 schedule once Upfronts are officially done, so come on back. Until then, don't forget to check out my Armchair Programmer Series.