FOX development dominated television news Tuesday; in addition to news that it was cancelling “Human Target” comes a report from Deadline that comedy “Breaking In” will not see a second season.
“Breaking In” was far from a great performer–it regularly lost more than half of the “American Idol” lead-in on Wednesdays–but it still seemed to be holding onto something amid weakening ratings for nearly every sitcom on broadcast. While no one felt the retention justified a renewal, some viewed a thirteen-episode second season order as a possibility due to the overall weakness of network comedy this spring.
Ultimately, however, FOX felt its development slate offered better opportunities for next season.
On the pickup front, FOX is ordering “Bones” spin-off “The Finder” to series. The pickup gives Geoff Stults yet another opportunity to launch a network series.
— Other pickups, per reports from Deadline, THR and Variety, include “The New Girl,” starring Zooey Deschanel as a girl struggling to find love who moves in with three wild guys, “Alcatraz,” a series from JJ Abrams that focuses on an investigation into the mysterious re-appearance of escaped 1960s prisoners in the present, and “I Hate My Teenage Daughter,” a vehicle for Jaime Pressly.
All of these should have been no-brainers, although some reports over the last week were suggesting that buzz was cooling on the JJ Abrams series.
