Yesterday we got a look at what NBC will be offering by way of scheduling and new series this fall, and now Fox has announced their upcoming 2012 schedule.  As far as shifts for returning series go, the Kiefer Sutherland drama Touch has been moved to Fridays, while Ryan Murphy’s Glee (which has been on a ratings downslide as of late) has been put in the post-X Factor/American Idol slot on Thursday nights.  Moreover, the network announced that Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Hudson will be doing guest star arcs on Glee for the show’s upcoming fourth season.

As far as new shows go, The Office star Mindy Kaling’s new show, currently titled The Mindy Project (hopefully a temporary title), and the new ensemble comedy Ben and Kate will join Raising Hope and the hit Zooey Deschanel series New Girl on Tuesdays for an all-comedy night.  I’m a huge fan of New Girl and I’m hoping The Mindy Project will be a nice companion show.  Another high profile new series, Kevin Williamson’s serial killer show The Following starring Kevin Bacon, has been slated to premiere at midseason.  Hit the jump to get a look at the full Fox schedule.

I like to see the guild awards, because the specificity allows for nominees that you won’t see on more general lists.  The Art Directors Guild is especially interesting because they separate the films into three categories: period, fantasy, and contemporary.  The 15 nominees highlight everything from Oscar favorites Hugo and The Artist, to crowd-pleasers Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Captain America, to poorly received films like Cowboys & Aliens and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  There’s a similar contrast in the TV nominees between the classy HBO programs you’d expect (Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, and Mildred Pierce) and the critical punching bags American Horror Story and The Playboy Club.  The full list of nominees is after the break.

With awards season in full swing, the Producers Guild of America has just announced the television series nominees for the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards which will be announced on January 21, 2012 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. In the comedy category, I can’t believe a show with such inconsistent writing quality as Glee beats out something like Community, but there you have it. There’s still some deserving nominations with Modern Family and Parks and Recreation though. On the dramatic side of things Game of Thrones gets some well-earned loved for their first season and both Mad Men and Dexter continue their collection of accolades. For the rest of the nominees in each category as well as talk shows, competition shows and non-fictions shows, hit the jump.

Midseason is just around the corner, and now Fox is chiming in with their premiere dates for new and returning series. First of all, let’s just get this out of the way, the reality competition giant American Idol will return for its eleventh season on Wednesday, January 18th and 8/7c and Thursday January 19th at the same time.

Now let’s get on with the real series starting with Kiefer Sutherland’s return to Fox with Touch from Heroes creator Tim Kring debuting on Wednesday, January 25th at 9/8c. That’s a prime slot right after an airing of American Idol too. However, the series run won’t actually start until Monday, March 19th at 9/8c. For more premiere dates and times for shows like Alcatraz, Breaking In, The Finder, Napoleon Dynamite and returning shows like New Girl and Glee, hit the jump.

Earlier this month, we listed the nominees for the first Critics’ Choice Television Awards from the Broadcast Television Journalists Association. Now the awards have been handed out and we have the full list of winners which include Modern Family rightfully winning “Best Comedy Series” and Mad Men taking home “Best Drama Series” along with star Jon Hamm winning “Best Actor in a Drama Series.” The always fantastic Neil Patrick Harris took home the award for “Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series” for his consistently hilarious work on How I Met Your Mother, while the award for “Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series” ended up in a tie. See which actresses are sharing the award, as well as the rest of the winners, after the jump.

March is a great month for people who like things en masse.  There’s March Madness, of course, for fans of college basketball.  There’s SXSW for lovers of movies and/or music.  And for the TV geek, there’s PaleyFest.  This year’s line-up features a metric ton of panels for The Walking Dead, True Blood, White Collar, Hot in Cleveland, Parks & Recreation, Eastbound & Down, Supernatural, American Idol, Community, Glee, and Raising Hope.  But the big draw has to be “An Evening with Jimmy Fallon.”  Wait — that can’t be right.

Oh, no it’s the combined Freaks & Geeks/Undeclared panel moderated by Judd Apatow.  Those shows launched more than their share of careers, including Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, and Jason Segel — all official guests.  Freak James Franco isn’t listed, but given how busy he likes to keep, my fingers are crossed for a surprise appearance as one of the “additional members of the casts & creative teams.”

PaleyFest 2011 unfolds March 4-17 at the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles.  Hit the jump to see the full list of panelists.

Today Fox became the second network to announce their schedule changes for current running series and premiere dates for the new midseason series hitting the air next year. First up, the biggest and most worrisome change comes in the form of J.J. Abrams sci-fi procedural Fringe being pushed to Fridays in 2011. As many TV buffs know, a Friday air date is usually the beginning of the end for any series, and since Fringe hasn’t been faring as well as it used to in the ratings, this definitely isn’t a good sign.

For more midseason schedule changes including new time periods for Human Target and Bones as well as premiere information for Fox’s new midseason series, hit the jump.

After much anticipation and speculation as to who would replace departing judges Ellen DeGeneres, Kara DioGuardi and most tragically Simon Cowell, Fox has finally announced what everyone online already seemed to know. Actress/pop star Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler have signed on as the new judges for the 10th season of the outrageously popular reality competition series American Idol. Meanwhile, record producer Randy Jackson is the only original judge and holdover from last season who has opted to return. Hit the jump for some quotes from the new judges:

American Idol is by far our nation’s most popular television program, and has been for the better part of a decade.  Still, Justin Timberlake is probably a bit beyond the not-inconsiderable reach of the reality giant.  THR reported yesterday that Timberlake and Elton John are on Idol producer Simon Fuller’s wishlist for the fourth judge’s chair following Simon Cowell’s exit — can’t blame a guy for dreaming big.

Deadline followed up today, confirming with an insider that the possibility is “just silly” due to Mr. Timberlake’s busy schedule.  In addition to working on a new album, he’ll be promoting David Fincher’s highly anticipated Facebook pic The Social Network this fall, with the comedies Bad Teacher and Friends with Benefits on the horizon.  Oh, and he was offered the lead opposite Amanda Seyfried in Andrew Niccol’s I’m.Mortal.  That was worth one sentence in Deadline’s post, but you and I need to talk about this further after the jump.

A couple of notable items have sprung from Fox headquarters this week.  First up, it turns out that the photogenic cast of the hit teen musical Glee are signed up for a trilogy of feature films if Fox fancies such a move.  Per their 2008 contracts:

“[The actor] hereby grants Fox three exclusive, irrevocable options to engage [the actor] in up to, respectively, three feature length motion pictures.” [Hollywood Life]

That’s not to say that Glee will ever hit the big screen.  But if Fox ever pulls the trigger, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Dianna Agron, Mark Salling and the gang are all contractually on board.

Hit the jump for details on the upcoming American Idol auditions, and the lead casting of the Steven Spielberg produced Terra Nova.

First, some happy news: an online petition [via Yahoo! TV] has begun to replace Disneyland’s Tom Sawyer Island with a Lost island attraction.  While I remain dubious about the efficacy of online petitions, I’ll happily sign it because who wouldn’t want to go to an island where people die on a regular basis, has a smoke monster, and you have no idea what’s going on?  On the flipside: animatronic polar bears.  Sold.

In all fairness, this sounds like a pretty cool idea and the organizers have come up with some creative ideas for the place like “Jacob’s Cabin” and “The Swan Station”.  Also, folks aren’t as crazy about Tom Sawyer Island after they discovered that painting a fence was not as fun as advertised.  It would also pull Disney out of the old age by having classic rides like “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Haunted Mansion” next to more modern fare.  You can check out the full list of “ride” suggestions after the jump.

Also after the jump is me complaining about the news of the White House possibly pushing the Lost season premiere back a week for Obama’s State of the Union address (and Obama didn’t even put out an 8:15 recap of his first year in office).

The new season of American Idol doesn’t premiere until January, but interesting things are afoot already behind the scenes. According to Simon Cowell’s brother, the caustic reality judge is looking to leave the show after the upcoming season to focus on adapting his British hit The X Factor for American television. This is not too surprising, as Cowell himself ruminated on leaving the show as early as last April, several months before Paula Abdul announced her departure.

To add intrigue to the matter, 58% of viewers said they would stop watching American Idol if Simon Cowell left the show in a recent survey. This would be a devastating blow to Idol, and would certainly knock it off its pedestal as America’s favorite show. Fox seems unfazed by such talk though, as the channel is near a deal to extend Idol‘s run by three seasons; even if half the viewers jumped ship, Idol would still be among the top rated shows on TV. So look forward to many more years of American Idol, regardless of Cowell’s involvement. In the meantime, catch judges Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi, Randy Jackson, Abdul replacement Ellen DeGeneres, and ubiquitous host Ryan Seacrest while you can when the ninth season of American Idol premieres on Fox on January 12, 2010.

FOX has announced their 2009-2010 midseason schedule.  As usual, American Idol returns in January with a two-night season premiere Tuesday, January 12^th and Wednesday, January 13^th.  The other big news from the press release is Lie to Me got picked up for a full season, Fringe airs its winter finale on February 4^th and returns April 1^st, Glee‘s fall finale is December 9^th and new episodes won’t start again until April 13^th, and Human Target premieres Sunday, January 17^th.

For a full listing of the schedule including info on all the new and returning shows, hit the jump for the press release: