upfronts 2011

Fox Picks Up Four Pilots, Cancels Five Series [Update]

Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/2011 Getty Images
Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/2011 Getty Images

Zooey Deschanel’s television show The New Girl is just one of four pilots that’s been given an early pickup by Fox, a bit ahead of next week’s upfront. The show stars Deschanel as a just-dumped teacher who moves in with three single guys — a self-proclaimed cynic, a man-child, and a player. The show is written by Liz Meriweather (No Strings Attached) and co-stars Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, and Damon Wayans Jr., who is currently on Happy Endings. (Should ABC order a second season of Happy Endings, Wayans Jr. will stay on that show.) Fox has also picked up the Bones spinoff Finder, JJ Abrams’s Alcatraz, and the sitcom I Hate My Teenage Daughter, which stars Jaime Pressly. In less fun news, Fox has canceled five current series: Christian Slater’s mid-season sitcom Breaking In, even though it was doing reasonably well; Human Target; and, more unfortunately, Shawn Ryan’s Shield follow-up The Chicago Code. UPDATE: Traffic Light and Lie to Me have been canceled as well.

Fox Picks Up Four Pilots, Cancels Five Series [Update]