FOX fills out summer schedule

By Rick Porter, Zap2It.com | March 27, 2009

Gordon Ramsay of 'Hell's Kitchen'

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Scripted show 'Mental,' new 'Hell's Kitchen' join 'SYTYCD'

FOX will fill its summer schedule with a slate of mostly familiar shows -- and it will also take a low-risk stab at original scripted programming.

A new season of "Hell's Kitchen" and the returns of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" and "Don't Forget the Lyrics" will join "So You Think You Can Dance" in the network's summer lineup. FOX will also unveil a scripted series called "Mental" on Friday nights, having picked up the international co-production earlier this month.

Those shows, combined with new episodes of "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted," will give the network original programming on five nights a week (Tuesday through Saturday) for at least part of the summer.

"So You Think You Can Dance" will kick things off with a two-hour premiere on Thursday, May 21, and will pick up its usual Wednesday-Thursday schedule the following week. "Mental," which stars Chris Vance as a psychiatrist at an L.A. hospital and Annabella Sciorra as his boss, debuts Friday, May 22 at 9 p.m., following the return of "Don't Forget the Lyrics."

New episodes of "Fifth Grader" will take over Fridays at 8 starting July 3, and the next installment of "Hell's Kitchen" fires up its burners on Tuesday, July 21. FOX will also broadcast the Teen Choice Awards in August.

Here's a rundown of FOX's summer premieres:

Thursday, May 21

8 p.m. "So You Think You Can Dance" (two hours)

Friday, May 22

8 p.m. "Don't Forget the Lyrics"
9 p.m. "Mental"

Wednesday, May 27

8 p.m. "So You Think You Can Dance" (time-period debut; two hours)

Friday, July 3

8 p.m. "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"

Tuesday, July 21

8 p.m. "Hell's Kitchen" (two hours)