Fox sets '24' return date, spring schedule

PASADENA, Calif. — Fox has set the date for Jack Bauer's return.

The 12-hour series 24: Live Another Day will premiere with a two-hour installment May 5 at 8 p.m. ET/PT and settle into its old Monday at 9 slot on May 12.

The series stars Kiefer Sutherland, of course, as agent Jack Bauer, but this version is set in London and will no longer be beholden to the ticking clock, in which each episode took place in real time, a single hour of a very trying day.

Among other scheduling moves unveiled to TV critics today:

• Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a 13-part series that's been a passion project of Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, will air in Guy's timeslot, Sundays at 9 ET/PT, starting March 9, and will re-air on National Geographic Channel Mondays at 10 ET/PT, as part of a simultaneous global launch.

• Surviving Jack, a new family comedy series set in the 1990s starring Chris Meloni (Law & Order: SVU) will debut March 27, Thursdays at 8:30 ET/PT, following American Idol's results show.

• And Gang Related, a new action drama, will also get the summer treatment, airing Tuesdays at 9 ET/PT starting May 20, when it will premiere after Idol's final performance episode.

Fox and other networks are trying to step up summer programming to keep viewers from fleeing once the traditional TV season ends in mid-May.