TV Enlisted

turning a movie premise into a TV idea has been pretty popular lately, with a Minority Report project and a Shutter Island-based series both in the works. Still, Fox’s latest purchase might come as a bit of curveball. On Tuesday, the network bought an event series that would be a remake of the classic 1988 Penny Marshall film, Big.

The most prominent TV trend lately has been to take some shows, revamp them with a different production budget and return them to television via a new station or service. Cougar Town did it. Community is doing it. Now, Fox’s failed freshman comedy, Enlisted, may be joining the ranks.

Everybody is getting in on the scripted programming game – we’re still waiting on you, The Weather Channel – and DirecTV is bursting out of the gate with the Audience Network’s first series, the comedy Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight, and it now has a full cast to go along with it.

For those paying attention, Fox is currently in the bonus stage round of their annual contest “How Many Series Can We Cancel?” and they’ve now officially cut all ties with freshman comedies Dads, Enlisted, and Surviving Jack, along with first-year drama Rake.

Geoff Stults is currently airing on the Fox comedy Enlisted, but that hasn’t stopped the handsome lead actor from signing on to a brand new project. On Friday, Stults joined the comedy pilot Cuz-Bros at rival network CBS. Since the gig on the CBS comedy won’t continue for the actor if Enlisted gets picked up for a second season, the actor is currently credited as a guest star.

Why aren’t you watching this show? Don’t lie. The numbers don’t. Audiences always whine about the lack of good sitcoms on network TV and then don’t tune in to series like Fox's Enlisted or Brooklyn Nine-Nine. While the cop comedy is guaranteed a second season thanks to its Golden Globe win, the former needs to earn its renewal the old fashioned way and, with an appearance by Kid ‘n Play, there's no excuse to not watch tonight’s episode.

The easiest way to describe Enlisted is probably to compare it to one of its contemporaries with the new series doing to the army what Brooklyn Nine-Nine does to the police setting, taking a potentially serious location and filling it with endearing, goofy characters. But instead of a P.D. in New York, the Fox Friday night comedy takes place in 'Rear D' with a 'super soldier' taking charge of a ragtag Rear Detachment Unit that his two hopeless brothers call home.

Believe it or not, we’re at the point in the year when the networks will start setting their January premiere dates. 2014 is not that far away, and for Fox, it marks the return of winter series American Idol and The Following, as well as the debut of new series Rake and Enlisted.

Fox is pairing Kevin Biegel's single-camera comedy Enlisted with returning comedy Raising Hope on Friday nights, this fall. The series stars Geoff Stults as Sergeant Pete Hill, the oldest of three brothers and the man in charge of a ragtag platoon in Fort McGee, a base on Florida. Among the soldiers serving on the Rear Detachment (or "Rear D") unit are Hill's brothers, Derrick (Chris Lowell) and Randy (Parker Young).

Fox announced their 2013-2014 lineup this morning, along with the planned schedule, which sets up new comedies on Tuesday nights and adds a number of other new series to the schedule, along with the returning shows. Among the new series is J.J. Abrams' sci-fi cop series Almost Human, Seth MacFarlane's new live-action comedy Dads and new animated comedy Murder Police.

Following word of a handful of drama pilots that received series orders at Fox for the 2013-2014 season, comes another batch of series orders at Fox, this time for comedies. Among the pilots going to series at Fox is the cop comedy starring Andy Samberg, and Surviving Jack, which will star Chris Meloni.

The cast of Fox's pilot Enlisted continues to take shape, filling the last of the three brothers set to be featured in the comedy. Last month, we learned that The Finder's Geoff Stults was set to star in the project, which would keep him at Fox, following the cancellation of the Bones spin-off and more recent cancellation of his last semi-steady gig, Ben & Kate. Today brings word that Chris Lowell has signed on to play one of Stults' character's brothers.

For all his charm and good looks, Geoff Stults hasn't had much luck with TV shows that stick in recent years. Since October Road's two-season run a handful of years back, the actor has jumped from project to project, and things just haven't worked out, with Happy Town and The Finder both cancelled. More recently, he recurred in Fox's promising but short-lived new comedy Ben and Kate.