Fox brings forward "Terminator" spin-off

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox's sci-fi midseason drama "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is getting a "Terminator" branding and a key Monday night berth alongside "24."

The series, an offshoot of the "Terminator" feature franchise, has been renamed "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." It will premiere 8 p.m. January 14.

At its presentation to advertisers in May, Fox announced a spring launch for "Sarah Connor" at 9 p.m. Sundays. That evoked parallels to the run of another sci-fi drama in the time period, "The X-Files," before the network switched to an all-comedy Sunday lineup.

The plan changed last month after Fox brass opted to extend the upcoming seventh season of "24" into June. (With a three-hour premiere instead of a four-hour/two-night premiere and no back-to-back episodes, "24" will run through June 16.) That led to shifting the return of "24's" regular companion, "Prison Break," to April so that the two series can wrap their seasons on the same night, opening the possibility to launch a 13-episode midseason series on Monday in January.

"We came around thinking this is a golden opportunity to make 'The Sarah Connor Chronicles' part of the huge surge of excitement in January," said Fox scheduling chief Preston Beckman, referring to the network's January rating surge from the return of "American Idol" and "24." "Fortunately, Sunday night is doing fine with our animated comedies, so we could do that."

"Terminator: Sarah Connor" stars Lena Headey ("300") as Sarah Connor, who, along with her son John (Thomas Dekker), battle attackers from the future. Linda Hamilton played the role in the first two features.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter