Nashville News

Fox has announced the premiere of Nashville, a new Laguna Beach-like docu-reality series that will follow a group of young people trying to make their mark in Nashville's music industry.

Nashville is scheduled to debut on Friday, September 14 at 9PM ET/PT.  However, The Search for the Next Great American Band - a new American Idol-like reality competition series that Fox previously announced will serve as Nashville's Fridays at 8PM ET/PT lead-in - won't proceed Nashville's September 14 premiere.

Instead, Fox has announced that it will delay American Band's debut until after the network's October coverage of Major League Baseball's 2007 concludes.

While Friday nights have traditionally proven to be a ratings graveyard for younger-skewing programming like reality shows, newly-promoted Fox Entertainment chairman Peter Liguori was enthusiastic about attempting to buck that trend with Nashville and The Search for the Next Great American Band when the network unveiled its Fall 2007 primetime programming schedule back in May.

"Why Fridays?  It's kind of appropriate," Liguori told reporters during a conference call following the announcement in mid-May.  "You know, there's kind of a lot of older female shows on Friday nights, and we feel that there's a big opportunity to go a bit younger, provide some alternative choices, and do it with some real heart.  And I think both these show have some real heart."

We just hope this show produces another Kristin Cavallari. Yum.

Laguna Beach is so last year.

Welcome to Nashville, FOX is telling viewers.

The network has announced that Nashville, a new Laguna Beach-like docu-reality series that will follow a group of young people trying to make their mark in Nashville's music industry, will debut as part of the network's Fall 2007 primetime programming schedule.

FOX Entertainment president Peter Liguori, who announced the new show during a Thursday conference call in which the network unveiled its 2007-2008 primetime programming schedule, told reporters that Nashville - created by Go Go Lucky Productions, the same production company behind MTV's Laguna Beach, The Hills, and 8th & Ocean reality shows - came about as the result of the network's "[interest] in looking at an unscripted drama."

"I fell in love with the casting," said Liguori about Nashville. "When you see it, these kids are beautiful and they're talented and they have great back stories. I mean we have the proverbial coal-miner's daughter as someone who is talented. Their stories... each and everyone one of them has a great one.

And honestly, they're going into something that is meaningful. They're going into Music City to land a record deal and I feel like their stories are very aspirational and really, really Americana."

You know, just like how Heidi Montag is very Americana.

Because Nashville revolves around a young cast trying to break into the music industry in "the biggest small town in America," Liguori said musical performances by the cast can be expected by viewers, but will not be the driving force behind the series.

"Look the emphasis is going to be on the soap, not on music," he said. "These kids are talented... they're really good songwriters. But the songs and their performances are going to play to fuel drama. It's not going to be vice versa. The drama's not setting up the songs. So by far and away, I want to put the emphasis on an unscripted soap that happens to have a music foundation, not vice versa."

Nashville will air in the Fridays at 9PM ET/PT time slot, immediately following broadcasts of The Search for the Next Great American Band, Fox's new recently announced American Idol-like reality competition series.