TVSquad

FOX is the only network who seems to have two seasons every year, doesn't it? You have the fall, when the baseball playoffs and World Series wreak havoc with the network's primetime lineup, then the new year happens and everything starts anew with American Idol and 24; all of a sudden, the "fourth network" becomes a ratings juggernaut.

It's something that FOX Entertainment president Peter Liguori is concerned about, and he addressed it at his TCA session this morning. He almost sounded like a victim, held hostage by the sports' division's suckage of time during the month of October and hamstrung by what it forces him to do. It strikes me as a bit disingenuous, because FOX paid a lot of money for the playoffs, and it was their decision to air so many games. Anyway, Liguori seemed almost happy that the network, who lost the division round and one LCS round, will broadcast less games this fall.

Speaking to critics at the TCA press tour, Fox Entertainment president Peter Liguori mentioned that the proliferation of serialized dramas offered by the networks this year might start to wear on viewers, especially if many of them end up getting cancelled before fans see a satisfying ending to the show's story arc. He felt the networks and show producers should put together a plan to wrap such shows up if they get axed prematurely. "I think the audience deserves some closure," Liguori told the critics.

Why is he so concerned? Apparently, the serialized show he axed last year, Reunion (see picture above), has been used by the critics as the poster child for network mistreatment of such shows. Every network president has gotten a Reunion-related question when talking about his or her company's new serialized shows. So I'm sure Liguori isn't all that happy with being the source of those questions. At least he's aware of the problem and willing to fix it. We'll see if he and other executives actually do.

Thank you, Peter Liguori - thank you. Days before Thursday's "upfront" presentation of the fall schedule, the head of Fox Entertainment has announced that Arrested Development will definitely be back in the fall for a third season. E! Online's TV gossip Kristin had inferred last week that the network had perhaps ordered two full seasons - all this from a cryptic reference made by star Jason Bateman to "twins" - but, uh, no matter how much we love the Bluth family, that would have just been insane, and today's statement suggested a standard, 22-episode, one season pickup. Still - yay! Frozen bananas all around! Also back on the FOX schedule: Pam Anderson titcom Stacked, and, somewhat surprisingly, The Bernie Mac Show. According to Variety, "news doesn't appear to be good for laffers Quintuplets or Life on a Stick."

Man, I can't wait for the follow-up on George Michael and Maeby's kiss. What tenuous AD plot thread are you dying to get back to in season three?