Fox has made a big-bucks, 13-episode commitment to "Action News," the Kelsey Grammer-Patricia Heaton laffer from scribes Christopher Lloyd and Steve Levitan. To win the project, Fox agreed to pay sister studio 20th Century Fox a license fee of $1.3 million-$1.4 million per episode. ABC and CBS both expressed interest in the project, with the Eye dropping out of the bidding first. NBC passed early on. Besides big money and an episodic order, 20th also asked for certain assurances about timeslots and scheduling. It’s unclear if Fox agreed to those requests. Most industry insiders figured "Action News" would end up at ABC or CBS. But Fox Entertainment prexy Peter Liguori said he believes the quality of the pilot script and the on-air talent involved make it a good fit for the net. "Funny is bang-on the Fox brand," he told Daily Variety. "You’ve got a great script, proven writers and great leads with outstanding comedy chops. To us, it’s a triple threat."
Variety
Why? Why? Why? I think when as they put it have a "triple threat", you have absolutely nothing at all. But granted I can’t stand Kelsey Grammer or Patricia Heaton so that could be why I am so down on this show. I say this will not be the first show cancelled next season (because Fox put so much money into it) but it will be a big failure.
