Fox has renewed bubble shows "Human Target" and "Lie to Me" and picked up four pilots to season in advance of next week’s upfronts, a person close to the studio confirmed.
Tim Roth starrer "Lie to Me" will continue for a third season despite the exit of showrunner Shawn Ryan.
And now it’s clear why Ryan left: Fox picked up his pilot "Ridealong," a Chicago-set police drama starring Jennifer Beals, Jason Clarke. Billy Lush, Delroy Lindo, Devin Kelley, Matt Lauria and Todd Williams.
"Human Target" also changes showrunners. First-season showrunner Jonathan Steinberg continues as an executive producer, while Matt Miller ("Chuck") takes the reins for the second season.
Other pilots picked up to series are Texas-set "Lone Star," previously titled "Midland"; Greg Garcia’s comedy "Keep Hope Alive"; and comedy "Traffic Light." The latter two are single-camera half-hours.
"Traffic Light," based on an Israeli TV series of the same name, revolves around three male friends in different stages of relationships. It stars Nelson Franklin, David Denman and Kris Marshall. Bob Fisher, Adir Miller, Avi Nir, Elad Kuperman and Ran Telem are executive producers; Fisher also wrote the pilot.
"Keep Hope Alive" stars Lucas Neff, Martha Plimpton, Cloris Leachman, Garrett Dillahunt and Olesya Rulin. Neff plays a young man who winds up having to raise an infant with the help of his quirky family. Creator Garcia previously created "My Name Is Earl."
"Midland" follows a con man (Jimmy Wolk) juggling two lives in two Texas cities with two different women (Adrianne Palicki, Eloise Mumford). Bryce Johnson, David Keith, Hannah Leigh, Jon Voight and Mark Deklin round out the ensemble. Amy Lippman, Chris Keyser, Chris Weitz, Kerry Kohansky Roberts and Paul Weitz are also attached as executive producers.
All four of the greenlighted pilots are from 20th Century Fox TV.
Update:
Reports late Wednesday said Fox also had picked up Mitch Hurwitz-created pilot "Wilde Kingdom," starring Will Arnett. It’s from Lionsgate and Tantamount.
