That's to avoid getting overwhelmed, Liguori says. "Our competitors get out of the gate in the fall, basically with a full arsenal."

Not Fox, which waits until January for "American Idol" and "24." It's already saving three new shows, all with female leads, to debut near "Idol."

To complicate things further, baseball games are scattered through Fox's fall schedule.

Liguori tries to shrug that off: In past years, he could lose as many as 26 nights to baseball playoffs and World Series; this year, that's down to 14, with the rest going to cable.

"We're very happy we have baseball," Liguori insists. "Who could say no to a World Series that could feature the Red Sox or the Cubs or the Yankees and the Mets? It's just great television."

But it complicates the schedule so Fox scrambles each fall. That includes stirring up new, unscripted shows.

"Anchorwoman" (a model anchors the news in Texas) starts early. "Kitchen Nightmares" (Gordon Ramsay remakes restaurants) and "Nashville" (young country hopefuls) starts Sept. 13-14.

Then there's "5th Grader," a quick hit.

"Teachers are saying, 'You have made it cool to be smart again,' " says host Jeff Foxworthy. "They record the show and take it into the classroom."

There's a new batch of fifth-graders this year, including a key difference:

For the first year, Foxworthy says, casting was rushed. All the kids were from Los Angeles and some were actors.

For the upcoming season? "None of the fifth-graders that we have are actors. ... They're just real kids."

Still, the kids on this first season were happy to be there.

"It was a joy to be on something that all the other kids could see," says Laura Marano, 11. "I told them I was an actress, but they never believed me."

She has three recurring roles: Anthony LaPaglia's daughter in "Without a Trace"; the younger version (in flashbacks) of Michael C. Hall's sister in "Dexter"; and Sarah Silverman's long-lost daughter in "The Sarah Silverman Program."