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Fox fall schedule: A modest harvest, with a degree of Kevin Bacon

Fox announced its fall lineup on Monday with great fanfare and minimal changes. The presentation at the Beacon Theater in New York began with a video of the cast from New Girl interviewing prospective additional roommates — everyone from Fringe’s Walter Bishop to the Rubber Man from FX’s American Horror Story.

Fox announced its fall lineup on Monday with great fanfare and minimal changes.

The presentation at the Beacon Theater in New York began with a video of the cast from New Girl interviewing prospective additional roommates — everyone from Fringe's Walter Bishop to the Rubber Man from FX's American Horror Story.

Afterward the network executives introduced two new sitcoms and a drama series, a modest harvest by any measure.

The Mob Doctor is taking over House's practice on Monday nights. It stars Jordana Spiro as a Chicago surgeon with some nasty obligations. That slot will be taken over at midseason by the eerie serial killer drama The Following. Because of star Kevin Bacon's contract demands, the number of episodes of The Following is limited.

The two new comedies Ben and Kate and The Mindy Project will both join the Tuesday schedule, bumping Glee to what should be a friendlier slot on Thursdays. The musical comedy announced today that Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Hudson will each be joining the series for extended story arcs next season.

Surprise renewal Touch slides over to Fridays, where it will open for the final chapters of a departing Fringe.

Here are synopses of Fox's new shows:

Jordana Spiro is The Mob Doctor. While a surgical resident she made a disastrous deal to pay off her brother's gambling debt. Now after operating at a Chicago hospital all day, she must perform a variety of demeaning and illegal medical procedures for mobbed-up criminals at night. Floriana Gilford, Jaime Lee Kirchner, Zeljko Ivanek, Zach Gilford, and Jesse Lee Soffer costar.

Ben and Kate is a comedy about a brother and sister who seem to have come from different worlds. Dakota Johnson is a responsible single mom who has every eventuality accounted for. Her sibling Nat Faxon is a total wild card who seems to sow anarchy everywhere he crashes (which at the moment is on his sister's couch). Lucy Punch, Echo Kellum, and Maggie Jones costar.

The Office's loss is The Mindy Project's creator and star. Mindy Kaling plays a successful ob/gyn whose personal life is a spectacular mess. Despite her very best intentions, she can't seem to stop sabotaging her own romantic life. Chris Messina, Ed Weeks, Anna Camp, and Zoe Jarman costar.

Kevin Bacon stars in The Following, the midseason replacement series everyone is already waiting for. He plays an FBI profiler called out of retirement to hunt down a serial killer who is putting together a network of murderous psychopaths. James Purefoy, Mike Weston, Natalie Zea, and Jeananne Goossen round out the cast in this thriller from Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries).

Contact David Hiltbrand at 215-854-4552 or dhiltbrand@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @daveondemand_tv. Read his blog, "Dave on Demand," at www.philly.com/dod.