NEW YORK (AP) - Fox is launching only two new series in the fall, traditionally its slow season, but the network plans flashy two-hour premieres of four shows during the same week as the Democratic National Convention.
The network's biggest priorities next season will be launching two new science fiction series by the creative forces behind "Lost" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Despite some audience erosion from "American Idol," Fox will end the current television season as the nation's most popular network among all viewers, not just young ones. That's the first time Fox has achieved this in its 20-year history, and it breaks CBS' five-year winning streak.
Its edgy strategy hasn't changed, though.
"We're just looking for good, noisy shows," said Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly.
"Fringe," "Bones," "Prison Break" and "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" will open the fall season the week of Aug. 25.
They should not conflict with major moments of the convention because political planners try to time them after 10 p.m. on the East Coast, when the shows will be over, said Peter Liguori, Fox entertainment chairman. Fox is avoiding any conflict on Thursday, when the party's nominee gives an acceptance speech.
Producer J.J. Abrams ("Lost") is behind "Fringe," a drama about an airplane flight whose passengers meet untimely ends. "Fringe" will be paired on the schedule with "House" on Tuesdays in the fall and "American Idol" in the spring.
A comedy, tentatively titled "Do Not Disturb" and set in a trendy Manhattan hotel, is the only other new fall show.
Fox executives said their series development was hurt by the writers strike, one factor in the small number of new fall shows. But the new season on Fox usually starts slowly and kicks in when "American Idol" and "24" join the schedule in January.
Some network rivals are being conservative in introducing shows this fall "by default," Reilly said. "We're doing it by strategy."
Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") is the creator of midseason entry "Dollhouse," about an underground group whose members have their personalities erased so they can be given others. Two animated and one alternative series will debut in midseason.
Fox is reintroducing viewers to "24," which wasn't shown this year because of the strike, with a two-hour prequel Nov. 23.
Fox executives introduced their schedule to advertisers a week after "Idol," TV's biggest show, had its smallest Tuesday audience in five years. Fox was satisfied with the show creatively but not with its performance, Liguori said.
"The network and producers really want to take a look at the show next year and see what we can do to inject it with new levels of energy and greater storytelling," he said. The Wednesday results show will be cut from an hour to 30 minutes.
And, yes, Paula Abdul will be back, he said.
The network canceled "Back to You," the sitcom with Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. Reilly said the show didn't seem to be striking a chord and he wasn't confident of its future direction. The comedy "'Til Death" will be back but revamped to expand the cast, he said.
The two animated shows are Seth MacFarlane's "The Cleveland Show," about a man who marries his high school sweetheart, and "Sit Down, Shut Up," about staff members at a high school. The alternative series is "Secret Millionaire," which takes some rich folks and puts them undercover in poor neighborhoods.