Open season on sci-fi shows at Fox . . .

This week Fox announced that it has cancelled the high concept J.J. Abrams TV series Alcatraz about 1960s inmates from the famous penitentiary appearing in the present day.  The show only ran 13 episodes.

Fox however extended Kiefer Sutherland’s show Touch for a second season.

Both shows had viewership problems: numbers for Alcatraz decreased steadily each week until it had lost more than half of its viewers by the end of March when it ended its run.

Same goes for Touch which started off with an impressive 12 million viewers for a special series premiere preview, but also lost about half of its viewers throughout its run.

Fox however apparently has more faith in Touch and extended the drama for a second season.

Science fiction shows had a tough time as of late. Fox cancelled the expensive Terra Nova TV series and has ordered only half a fifth season to wrap up Fringe.