By Toni Fitzgerald

Last fall, Fox launched five scripted series, and only one made it to spring. As the shows floundered, the network fell to a distant fourth in adults 18-49, as it has every fall for the past few years, only to be pulled out, once again, by "American Idol" through the spring.

Fox just can't see to make fall work, and that could become an even bigger problem with "Idol" in the midst of its first-ever down year.

So this coming fall the network is going back to something that has worked quite well the past: reality.

Two of Fox’s biggest-ever hits, “American Idol” and “Joe Millionaire,” are both reality series, and the network has arguably had more consistent success with the genre than any other broadcast network.

This fall Fox will roll out three new reality series, two of them spinoffs of sorts of successful current Fox programs, along with its three new scripted series, in hopes of curing its fall ills.

Thursdays and Fridays will be entirely unscripted.

The new reality shows include the self-explanatory “American Idol” spinoff “The Search for the Next Great American Band,” airing Friday at 8 p.m., and “Kitchen Nightmares,” which follows “Hell’s Kitchen’s” Gordon Ramsay as he tries to help disastrous restaurants turn around. It follows “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader,” the returning game show, on Thursday at 9.

The third new unscripted series, “Nashville,” Fox describes as a docu-soap, and it’s about people trying to make it in the music industry. It’s from the producers of MTV’s “Laguna Beach” and it airs Friday at 9.

Another key element of Fox's fall strategy: launching new scripted programs on the backs of returning dramas during the fall. It's something Fox has tried in the past, and it's a strategy media people have applauded.

Fox's new dramas are dominated by the same crime and justice theme of past years.

“K-Ville,” about the New Orleans police department post-Hurricane Katrina, airs Monday at 9 after “Prison Break.” “New Amsterdam,” about an immortal cop, leads into the network’s No. 1 scripted show, “House,” on Tuesdays.

The highly touted comedy “Back to You,” starring “Frasier’s” Kelsey Grammer and “Everybody Loves Raymond’s” Patricia Heaton, leads off Wednesday at 8, followed by returning sitcom “’Til Death” at 8:30 and returning drama “Bones” at 9.

Thursday and Friday have the three new reality shows and “Smarter.”

“Cops” and “America’s Most Wanted” remain on Saturday, and Sunday’s animated block returns starting at 8 p.m. after NFL overrun: “The Simpsons,” “King of the Hill,” “Family Guy” and “American Dad.”

Come January, Fox will once again revamp its schedule, with the return of “American Idol.”

The most interesting change is that the network is launching a new drama at 9 p.m. Sunday, where it has traditionally aired comedies and the occasional reality show. 

“The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is based on the “Terminator” movies, and many had expected it to make the fall schedule.

“King” and “Dad” will move back to the 7 p.m. hour to make room for “Chronicles.”

The midseason Monday schedule remains the same as it was this year, “Break” followed by “24.” Tuesday is also the same, “Idol” leading into “House.”

“You” and “Death” will remain on Wednesday leading into the “Idol” results show, and a new sitcom, “The Return of Jezebel James” from “Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, will be added.

The legal drama “Canterbury’s Law” will slide in behind “Smarter” on Thursday, and “Bones” and “New Amsterdam” will move to Friday.

Sitcom “The Rules for Starting Over” will launch at midseason. “The War at Home,” “Nanny 911” and “Trading Spouses” did not make the schedule.