As far as the last ten years have demonstrated, the Fox network is good at airing three kinds of shows: Long-lasting comedies of irreverence, gimmicky action-dramas and mind-numbingly stupid reality shows. The network also has a jones for canceling excellent programs long before they're due. The 2009/2010 lineup doesn't look to be any different, but that isn't an entirely bad thing.

More To Love / The Cleveland Show

I don't have much to say about either of these, so I thought I'd lump them together. I hope that More To Love is a sign that reality TV is on its way out. Otherwise, it's just another unbelievably dumb, horribly offensive program from Fox's pathological need to self-parody. As for Seth MacFarlane's third animated jaunt, all I can say is that I've been wrong on this topic before (re: American Dad), so I hope I'm wrong again and this is actually a worthwhile show.

Glee

I reviewed the pilot of this show when it aired in the Spring and I definitely saw a lot of potential. Unless that first episode was a fluke, I'm going to go ahead and encourage as many people as I can to watch the hell out of Glee so Fox doesn't cancel it just for being different. TV could certainly use a half hour of Broadway-caliber song and dance every week.

Past Life

There are a lot of high-concept shows on the docket for 09/10 and this one doesn't look like one of the better options. A rather generic cast play investigators who delve into the experiences of modern day people from their past lives. I can't imagine what kind of dramatic tension this premise can hold. If the problem is already in the past and technically happened to somebody else who must currently be dead, are the stakes really all that high? Combine that with a mildly racist depiction of the "goofy Indian guy" as a supporting character and you have a recipe for an immanently forgettable show.

Human Target

Now this is how you do gimmick. Mark Valley (hooray!) plays Christopher Chance, a special kind of bodyguard who insinuates himself into the lives of his clients in order to protect them. This will naturally result in Chance taking on a wide variety of temporary roles, theoretically assuring that no two episodes are alike. Sure, this premise shares more than one similarity to the excellent, I-can't-believe-it's-returning Dollhouse, but Valley is an interesting enough actor that I think he can bring something unique to his character.

Sons of Tucson

Fox has a stellar track record when it comes to shaggy family comedies. Sons of Tucson is already drawing comparisons with Malcolm in the Middle, which I count as a good thing. The show revolves around three young brothers who hire a con man to pose as their father when their real dad gets busted for a white collar crime. The idea is fresh and I trust the parties involved to make it just weird enough to be funny and just endearing enough to not be sappy.