Upfronts: Fox

And now for Fox:

Returning Shows: there doesn't appear to be any changes for returning Fox shows, and there are no surprises to add from the network's earlier cancellation announcement.

New Shows:

Monday - Originally slated to air sometime this season, Terra Nova will finally bow, leading in House (which is an interesting pairing, to say the least). It's a fairly low-concept show: in 2149, scientists find a way to send humans back 85 million years so they can colonize the planet and prevent the problems that are killing Earth in the show's present. If I had a dime for every show about that...

There was a fair amount of hype over the show last year (what with Steven Spielberg being one of the executive producers and the dinosaurs and whatnot), but the demands of the effects pushed the show back to September. Episodes are apparently running about $4 million a pop, so this could wind up being a very costly cancellation if it doesn't take.

But I imagine the show will do well, at least to start. I know I'll be watching to see how long it takes them to have someone eaten by a dinosaur.

Tuesday - brings us a show that sounds ridiculously derivative, New Girl (that's a working title, as I'm guessing they've run out of ways to name relationship comedies). A woman just off a break-up moves in with three guys, each of whom has some sort of personality quirkiness that will rub off on their new, hopelessly optimistic roomie.

But here's the catch: the main character is played by Zooey Deschanel, who generally does not suck. I have a hard time reconciling how she got drawn into a show that, on its face, doesn't sound that promising. Maybe the writing is terrific. Maybe the other cast members are as fresh and original as the press release says they are. Or maybe she just wants to get paid so she can make more indie films. I'm not that tempted to find out, though I do think tracking down the pilot may be in order just to see how this works.

Wednesday - wait, Simon Cowell has a new show? Why didn't anyone mention this?

OK, if you didn't know that Cowell was bringing The X Factor to the States, you've not been paying attention. Or leaving your house. Cowell is continuing his search for the world's best singing talent, but on this show it can include pre-teens, grandmothers, groups, and so on. Otherwise, there are auditions and call-backs and mentoring and so on. Paula Abdul emerges from the ashes of her own failed reality competition show to reunite with Cowell on the judging panel. Awkward moments ahoy!

Completing the night is the sitcom I Hate My Teenaged Daughter (also a working title, is this a Fox thing?). Two women raising daughters as single parents wind up giving their kids everything they didn't have as teens - money, freedom, etc. - and unwittingly create the mean girls they hated when they were teens.

Jamie Pressly stars as one of the moms, while Kevin Rahm plays one of the ex-husbands, which I think makes him the first person to play a hetero and gay parent at the same time on network TV. Even for that, I'm not interested.

Thursday - here we get the Bones spin-off The Finder, which sprang from a back-door pilot shown earlier this season (which, thanks to the amount of crap on my DVR, I've not seen yet). As you might guess from the title, The Finder is about an Iraqi war vet who can find almost anything. I should call him to find my house keys.

I do like Bones, so I'm willing to this this has promise.

Friday and Saturday - no new shows

Sunday - two new shows for Animation Domination. The first is Allen Gregory, which is about the world's most self-centered seven year old. After years of his father's full devotion, Allen Gregory goes from being homeschooled to attending the local elementary school, and thus has to learn to fit in. There's also his dad's life partner and an adopted sister to contend with.

Interesting vocal cast here - Jonah Hill voices Allen Gregory, while French Stewart voices his dad - and there's certainly more freedom with animation to take episodes in directions regular shows can't or don't go in - but I'm not fully convinced yet. Part of me thinks that Allen Gregory and his dad would be grating after a few weeks. So put this in the maybe column.

The other new show is Napoleon Dynamite, which picks up where the movie left off. The movie's cast is providing voices, which is a very good thing. Jared and Jerusha Hess have creator/executive producer credits, and hopefully they'll be pretty well involved, too. I don't know if Napoleon still has the following he did in 2005, but this may be worth a look.

Not Yet Scheduled - Fox has an interesting selection here with Touch, which stars Kiefer Sutherland as a dad who is trying to connect with his autistic son, whose interest in discarded cell phones leads to the discovery that he is communicating with the outside world - just through numbers. The son apparently sees the connections between random people and how their actions impact each other, and the numbers provide information on what he sees.

There is a potential for this to be a mess - Tim Kring is involved, and with his fingerprints on the overblown Revelations and Heroes you can see why there's room for concern - but it could also be an interesting look at how individuals interact with each other and with society at large. And maybe Sutherland will torture someone for old time's sake.