TCA Tidbits - Fox

Here are some initial highlights from the beginning salvos of the Fox portion of the TCA press tour:

* Tony Award winning actress Cherry Jones has been confirmed as the next president of the United States for the upcoming season of 24. Which means two things: The acclaimed Jones likely is going to get the highest profile role of her career, and chances are that she'll be blown up real good or be revealed to be an archvillain before the proceedings are over.

* Also regarding 24, producers have announced that they plan to make their season finale as carbon neutral as possible. Now all they have to do is come up with a season finale - and, for that matter, a season to begin with.

* Among the voices scheduled to appear on the new season of The Simpsons: Jon Stewart, Jack Black, Lionel Richie, Matt Dillon, Placido Domingo and Topher Grace. Also there will be a mini-Frasier reunion when Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce and John Mahoney team up as, respectively, Sideshow Bob and his brother and father. Guess Jane Leeves was unavailable to play Bob's saucy British sister-in-law.

*Kevin Reilly, the recently deposed (i.e. sh*tcanned) ex-president of NBC programming who has found a home (i.e. refuge) in a similar position on Fox, found himself answering as many questions about the schedule of his former network as about his new one. Awkward!!! (Still, Reilly's co-prez Peter Ligouri got a nice slam in, noting that he and his pal weren't concerned "about the No. 4 network". Snap!)

* Ligouri confirms that the pilot for the long-anticipated Terminator follow-up The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which includes a shooting in a high school, will be reshot in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Luckily, the show is set for midseason (that is, unless K-Ville falls on its ass), so they have time for touch-ups.