Pasadena, Calif. -- Fox Family Channel unveiled the first
new original shows for its two new digital channels, as well as several new series for its
core channel, at the recent Television Critics Association tour here.
Renowned pediatrician Dr. T. Berry Brazelton will do an
original half-hour series, All About Kids and Parents, which will air weekday
mornings on Fox Family Channel and in primetime on boyzChannel and girlzChannel, Fox
Family president Rich Cronin said.
Cronin added that Fox Family has also acquired Brazelton's
hit show, What Every Baby Knows.
Fox Family also announced four other series headed for the
two digital networks, which launch on Halloween.
Bringing Up Boys and Guiding Girls are two daily
original half-hour parenting shows that will air in primetime on the respective
boyzChannel and girlzChannel. The other shows for the digi-nets include girlzChannelgirlz,
a half-hour magazine show for the girls' network, and boyzopolis, another magazine
show, for the boys' network.
More than 25 percent of the two channels' lineups will be
original to the United States, and more than 60 percent of their overall schedules will be
exclusive to boyzChannel and girlzChannel.
The lineup for the digital networks will include a two-hour
parenting block in primetime, a four-hour program block targeting six- to 14-year-olds and
a three-hour preschool block during the day.
The girls' network's schedule will include The
Adventures of Shirley Holmes, Breaker High and Princess Sissi,while
the boys' network will air Ned's Newt, The Tick and The Marvel Hour.
Fox Family itself is launching a new preschool block,
"It's Itsy Bitsy Time,"which will debut Sept. 6 and air without
commercial interruption. All About Kids and Parents is reportedly the parenting
show that Fox Family plans to use at 11 a.m. to act as a bridge from The 700 Club to
the new preschool block.
Fox Family also unwrapped some new shows that are slated
for its schedule. On Nov. 6, it will premiere S Club 7 in Miami, a live-action
series about a young British pop group that makes it big. The band was actually put
together by Simon Fuller, the power behind The Spice Girls, and the show has been airing
in Great Britain, where it's a hit.
Fox Family's other new shows include Random Acts of
Comedy, featuring comedian David Alan Grier, a primetime half-hour comedy that will
debut in November; and Cliffhangers, Fox Family's first original hour-long drama.
The network has ordered 22 episodes of Cliffhangers, which stars Joe Lando of Dr.
Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Fox Family's new half-hour animal series, Incredible
Animals, will premiere Aug. 16, hosted by actor John O'Hurley, who is known for his
role as the clothing cataloguer on Seinfeld.
