Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 8:21 AM FOX No Longer ’Playing It Straight’ By Brian Ford Sullivan

CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) — FOX is dumping its reality dating series "Playing It Straight," while "Wonderfalls" and "Forever Eden" are swapping time periods permanently beginning this week.

The news comes as little surprise for "Straight," as last Friday’s broadcast averaged a paltry 2.1 rating/4 share and 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 according to fast national data. Both those scores would mark the network’s worst Friday, 8:00/7:00c time period performance this season should they hold up nationally.

FOX plans to fill the show’s time slot with clip shows "Totally Outrageous Behavior" and "World’s Craziest Videos" starting on April 2. "Behavior" and "Videos" previously aired for five weeks in said time slot earlier this year.

"Straight" will get the hook after just three weeks on FOX’s schedule, a rarity for a reality series. Only a handful of series in the genre - such as ABC’s "The Family," NBC’s "Lost" and UPN’s "Under One Roof" - have gotten shelved mid-run. "Straight" most likely will burn off its remaining installments this summer.

Meanwhile as for "Wonderfalls" and "Forever Eden," both shows were previously announced as having test runs this week in each others time periods (read the story). Various sources have indicated both moves have now been confirmed as permanent swaps with "Wonderfalls" airing Thursdays at 9:00/8:00c following "Tru Calling" and "Eden" airing Fridays at 9:00/8:00c following the aforementioned "Behavior" and "Videos."

To review, here’s a look at FOX’s Thursday and Friday schedules:

Thursdays, as of April 1 8:00/7:00c - "Tru Calling" 9:00/8:00c - "Wonderfalls"

Fridays, as of April 2 8:00/7:00c - "Totally Outrageous Behavior" 8:30/7:30c - "World’s Craziest Videos" 9:00/8:00c - "Forever Eden"