It's a good day for fans of Human Target and Lie to Me. FOX announced renewals for both series, along with pick-ups for five new series, according to Deadline Hollywood. With 24 leaving the air, Human Target does a respectable job of filling that slot for action, adventure and espionage. All they need to do now is add some more layers to the back-story, and maybe give Chance and his cohorts a bigger threat that they can face over a number of episodes from time to time.
As for Lie to Me, despite slipping in the ratings in its second season, the series held onto the seven million or so viewers throughout its fall run. Considering it was pulled in December, and is currently scheduled for a summer run beginning June 7, 2010, the third season pick-up comes as a bit of a surprise.
Perhaps FOX sees a potential summer staple in Lie to Me, and the thirteen-episode order is intended to air next summer. With nine episodes left to go this summer, there's time yet to see how it will perform there. Or perhaps, the series is showing great creative strength, and they're just hoping it will break out in its third season. The more cynical option is that it's a solid performer they can use to plug in a hole when one of their new series inevitably fails.
As for those new series, FOX is looking at three comedies and two dramas. Hopefully the network will open up a new night of comedy, rather than sticking all of these projects on Sunday nights, where most recently Brothers and Sons of Tucson failed to find an audience. Maybe that Lie to Me pick-up means there's hope yet for Sons of Tucson, also schedule to return for a summer run of its remaining episodes.
The comedy series Keep Hope Alive features the return of Cloris Leachman to series television, along with Garrett Dillahunt, Lucas Neff, Martha Plimpton, Shannon Marie Woodward and Skyler Stone. It centers around 25-year old who winds up having to raise a new baby with the help of his quirky family. The mother of the child is on death row.
Traffic Light is a comedy featuring three thirty-something friends at three different stages in their lives. The production studio describes the series as follows:
This series tells the story of three childhood friends, now in their early thirties, each in a different stage in his life, like a traffic light: the red light is for Itzko (Lior Kalfon) who is married with a child and whose life is at a standstill. The blinking yellow light is for Amir (Adir Miller) who is living with his girlfriend Tali and on an irreversible journey from bachelorhood to marriage. Only for Heffer (Nir Levy), the eternal bachelor, is the light still green and the traffic is flowing. Amir, a corporate special events coordinator, has to deal with the difficulties of living with his girlfriend Tali, for the first time. Amir is the stable side of the triangle and functions as an advisor and trouble-shooter. Itzko works in his father's shop selling tricks. He is married to Lilac, an extremely busy career woman, and the father of seven-year-old Danielle. He's always trying to find creative ways to save money, as a matter of principle, of course, and to make money. Heffer is an eternal child, who won't grow up. He is a serial lover with a different girlfriend in every episode. He relies on Amir to bail him out of the complicated situations in which he entangles himself.
From the creator of Arrested Development Mitch Hurwitz and Will Arnett comes Wilde Kingdom. The comedy stars Arnett, who plays a "Beverly Hills jackass who falls in love with a charitable tree-hugging woman who can't stand his lifestyle or values," according to the network. It also stars Keri Russell, Jayne Houdyshell, Joe Nunez and Stefania Owen.
On the drama front, Lone Star (formerly Midland) is about a con man in the oil industry who tries to juggle his work with two separate lives in two separate cities with two separate women. It features Adrianne Palicki, Bryce Johnson, David Keith, Eloise Mumford, Hannah Leigh, Jimmy Wolk, Mark Deklin and Jon Voight.
RideAlong is a cop procedural by Shawn Ryan (The Shield, The Unit). Set in Chicago, the drama features a rogue cowboy cop and the city's first female police chief. The series is set to star Billy Lush, Delroy Lindo, Devin Kelley, Jason Clarke, Matt Lauria, Todd Williams and Jennifer Beals.
For more series pickups and news about the 2010-2011 season, click here!
