• by Wayne Friedman , November 8, 2007

In an effort to calm nervous TV advertisers and other concerned parties in regard to a long-term TV writers' strike, Fox network became the first out of the box with its revised scheduling plans for 2008.

Fox's major move is not to schedule "24," which typically starts up in January. Fox made the decision even though about half of the highly regarded series episodes are in the can.

Fox said it wants to ensure that the seventh season of the show will have a continuous run to the series' season finale. Programming analysts believe if Fox starts up and then delays episodes, it could anger viewers.

But Fox's other big January show debut--"American Idol," the highest-rated show on network television--will return as planned with a two-night, four-hour premiere on January 15 and 16. That show is not under Writers Guild union rules.

Fox said a number of its previously announced mid-season shows would start pretty much as expected:

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" debuts January 13 and 14; "The Moment of Truth" begins January 23; "New Amsterdam" on February 22; "Unhitched" on March 2; "When Women Rule The World" on March 3; "The Return of Jezebel James" on March 7; "Hell's Kitchen" on April 1 and "Canterbury's Law" on April 11.

Programming experts believe the major first test of the broadcast networks will be how they handle scheduling decisions in January--when a number of prime-time network shows will run out of their backlog of produced episodes.

Fox says as such there will be a mix of originals and reruns in January--along with some scheduling changes. "Bones" moves to Fridays, starting January 4; "Prison Break" moves back to Monday, January 14; "'Til Death" goes to Fridays, March 7; and "Back to You" airs Wednesdays at 9:30 starting March 12.