Fox renews 'Fringe' but cancels 'Chicago Code,' 'Human Target' and more

The networks don't officially announce their schedules until next week, but word leaked out late Tuesday about the first round of cancellations and pickups over at Fox.

Among the current shows that were "on the bubble" (that is, in jeopardy), Fox is reportedly renewing another season of "Fringe." But all its other endangered shows are headed for the rubbish heap in a massive housecleaning: the dramas "Chicago Code," "Human Target" and "Lie to Me" plus the comedies "Breaking In" and "Traffic Light."

Meanwhile, the network has made series orders for "The New Girl," with Zooey Deschanel as a lovelorn teacher, and "I Hate My Teenage Daughter," with Jaime Pressly. Also, the time-travel drama "Alcatraz" looks headed for the schedule, as does the "Bones" spin-off "Finder."

Reached for comment, a Fox spokeswoman said, "We're not confirming or denying any pickups/cancellations until we announce our schedule on Monday."

Looks like it'll be old news by then.

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-Scott Collins (twitter.com/scottcollinsLAT)

Photo: Jennifer Beals and Jason Clarke in "Chicago Code." Credit: Peter Sorel/Fox.

 

 

Shawn Ryan has no love for 'The Bachelor,' calling the show 'racist'

Shawn Ryan, one of TV's top producers of dramatic fare, is handing a thorny rose to ABC's "The Bachelor" franchise.

Ryan, the creator of "The Shield" and Fox' "The Chicago Code," is blasting the producers of the dating relationship series for comments regarding the show's lack of cultural diversity. Creator Mike Fleiss said recently that the reason why a person of color has not been cast in the main role of bachelor or bachelorette is because minorites have not "come forward."

Ryan tweeted that the explanation was nonsense and that the show was guilty of "straight up racism."

To see more about "The Bachelor" and Ryan's criticism, read here.

— Greg Braxton

Photo: Brad Womack proposes to Emily Maynard on the season finale of "The Bachelor."

Credit: ABC/Mark Wessels.

Charlie Sheen's meltdown might be good news for 'The Chicago Code' ratings

"The Chicago Code" hasn't solved the mystery of grabbing huge ratings yet, but creator Shawn Ryan hopes the cop drama can still crack the code for a second-season pickup on Fox. And if that happens, some credit might go to Charlie Sheen.

"It seems like we’re in that nether zone, where we’re not some big hit and we’re not some huge disaster," said Ryan, a writer-producer best-known for FX's groundbreaking crime drama "The Shield." "We’ll be judged over the 13 weeks and we’ll see where we are at the end of it. I think we’re doing OK, but there’s certainly room for improvement."

Ryan's midseason show -- which stars Jennifer Beals as a Chicago police commissioner bent on reforming the city's corruption, Delroy Lindo as a conflicted alderman and Jason Clarke as the hotheaded young detective -- got an unexpected break recently from, all of people, Sheen. When CBS and Warner Bros. halted production on the top-rated "Two and a Half Men" after a public spat with Sheen, "Code" lost one of its key competitors in the 9 p.m. Monday slot. The Fox drama will air against less-highly rated repeats of "Men" for the time being.

Last week, "Chicago Code" averaged 8 million total viewers, with a repeat of "Two and a Half Men" drawing 11.6 million.

Ryan knows there's still a long way to go.

"I’m not sure that there’s been a huge hit amongst any of the new shows this year," he said in a phone interview. "It’s really hard to launch new shows, without a doubt."

He speaks from personal experience. Last year, Ryan endured a rare failure with "Terriers," an unusual crime show on FX that won effusive praise from critics but struggled to find an audience.

Looking back, Ryan said, "I wouldn’t change anything about it. We made the show we wanted to make."

What about those complaints that the show was poorly promoted, that the title made viewers think it belonged on Animal Planet?

"Any time you have something that a lot of people acknowledge is really good and you can’t get people to watch, the conversation will go to things like that," Ryan replied. "I just don’t know how fair it is or if it had a different title or a different marketing campaign, would that have made a big difference?

"If I had to do it over again, I probably would have spent a lot more time thinking of some alternate titles and tried to come up with something better. But that's the past and I can't change it."

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'The Chicago Code' coverage on Show Tracker

-- Scott Collins (Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT)

Photos, from top: Jason Clarke and Jennifer Beals in "The Chicago Code" (credit: Peter Sorel/Fox); Shawn Ryan, creator of "The Chicago Code" (credit: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters).

Fox's 'The Chicago Code' will go on active duty Feb. 7

Fox's "The Chicago Code," the much anticipated cop drama from producer Shawn Ryan ("The Shield," "Terriers") will premiere on Monday, Feb. 7, which is the night following the network's coverage of the Super Bowl, in the 9 p.m. time slot.

The show, which stars Jason Clarke as a rule-bending veteran Chicago detective juggling work, an ex-wife, a son and a much younger girlfriend, will get a big promotional boost by Fox during the network's coverage of the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl. A post-Super Bowl time slot would have been nice, but Fox is reserving that spot for its hit "Glee."

Originally titled "Ride-Along," Ryan promises that "The Chicago Code"isn't the typical cop show.

"There are a lot of cop shows on TV and a lot of them are similar. There is a dead body at the start and a guy in handcuffs hauled away at the end of the episode," he cracked. "The Chicago Code," which will probably have its fair share of dead bodies, will also look at political corruption and how it trickles down into the lives of the cops on the street. Besides Clarke, who starred in Showtime's "Brotherhood," "The Chicago Code" also features Jennifer Beals ("The L Word") and Delroy Lindo.

The last new program that Fox tried in that time slot was the ill-fated "Lone Star," which was adored by critics but flamed out after just two episodes earlier this fall. That show, about a con man juggling two families, didn't connect with viewers. But the time slot isn't jinxed. Its previous occupant for several years was "24."

Though a heavy promotional blitz during the Super Bowl and having "House" as a lead-in could help, Ryan knows that won't be enough.

"The idea that they are going to stick around and watch your show just because they like the show in front of yours doesn't hold water anymore," he said. "Yeah, they'll be a lot of people at 8:59, but will they be there at 9 p.m.?"

You can view a trailer of the show below:

 

-- Joe Flint

Photo: "The Chicago Code's" Jason Clarke and Jennifer Beals. Credit: Fox.

Video Credit: Fox