The Fox Network's Fruit Basket Turnover

Fox, opting to reject traditional network scheduling models, has announced its new year-round schedule. I watch five shows on Fox, only one of which ("The Simpsons"), actually gets treated normally.

"Malcolm in the Middle" and "Arrested Development" get juggled around Sunday, but thankfully always remain in a 1.5-hour block with Simpsons. Fox gets my gratitude for renewing AD, though.

"The Bernie Mac Show" gets shuffled between two nights and three time slots, none of which are the slots it held this past season. And it's paired with "Method & Red," which I doubt will be a terribly family-friendly companion to Mac's show.

"24" moves to Mondays, which is good for me, since I have nothing to watch that night. But following ABC's lead with "Alias," the season won't begin until January. Does it occur to network execs that maybe we like having our shows spread out over the year? It's not like they're giving us other shows worth watching. If nothing else, maybe this means that the plotting for next season will be a little tighter than these last few.