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In my six years of covering television, I've never seen a more bizarre series of events transpire than those that did late last night. In what can easily be called one of the biggest 11th hour moves in recent memory, FOX has ripped one series from life while resurrected another from death. "Dark Angel," which had previously been reported as renewed (read the original story) has now been canceled in favor of the Joss Whedon drama "Firefly." It seems that FOX never gave the James Cameron produced series a formal commitment as executives had planned to renew "Dark Angel" in reaction to their disappointment over "Firefly's" two-hour pilot. However in the past few days the prolific Whedon took it upon himself to pen a new pilot script that impressed FOX executives enough to go with "Firefly" instead. A new one-hour pilot will be shot with the previous two-hour pilot being repurposed for later in the season. With production costs of both series being two of the network's most expensive, insiders say executives felt that they could only financially support one of the two series next season leading to the "one or the other" situation.
Meanwhile in a reverse of the situation, "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" which previously had been reported as canceled (read Variety's production report) has now been picked up for a second season by FOX for midseason 2003. Some slight changes to the format of the show are expected. This news is especially interesting in light of the network's official cancellation of "Titus," "Family Guy," "Undeclared," "Greg the Bunny" and "That '80s Show" as both "Titus" and "Undeclared" finished the season with higher average ratings than "Andy."
Speaking of "That '80s Show," series star Chyler Leigh (the spikey-haired Tuesday) didn't have to wait long before landing new work - the young actress has landed one of the three lead roles in FOX's new drama "Girls Club." Leigh will join Gretchen Mol and Kathleen Robertson in the series about a trio of young lawyers in San Francisco.
Despite all these moves however, FOX's fall schedule will mirror that which we're reported over the past few days - a switch to a six-comedy format on Sundays with changes across the board save for Saturdays, which will remain home to "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted." Mondays will see "Boston Public" followed by the David E. Kelley drama "Girls Club." Tuesdays see the return of "That '70s Show" and "24" in their current slots where they will be joined by the third season of "Grounded for Life." "Bernie Mac" and "The Cedric Show" will take up residence in the Wednesday, 8:00/7:00c hour followed by the action-drama "Fast Lane." Thursdays have two low-cost reality series - "30 Seconds to Fame" and "Meet the Marks" - in the 8:00/7:00c and 8:30/7:30c slots respectively with teen drama "The Septuplets" at 9:00/8:00c. Fridays have "Firefly" opening the night followed by mystery-drama "John Doe." Sundays see the previously expected lineup of "Futurama," "Oliver Beene," "The Simpsons," "King of the Hill," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "The Grubbs."
For midseason commitments are out to the comedies "The Pitts" and "Andy Richter" with impending orders for "The Time Tunnel" and "Keen Eddy."