Can a Fox Audience Love a Serial Killer?

6:00 AM PST 11/13/2012 by Marisa Guthrie

The network can't put ads near schools as it courts a cable crowd for "The Following"

Is it Fox or FX? Viewers of the upcoming Kevin Bacon series The Following might need to double-check their DVRs. The gory psychological thriller from Scream and The Vampire Diaries producer Kevin Williamson that centers on an Edgar Allan Poe scholar (James Purefoy)-turned-serial killer features all the auspices of a cable drama: a flawed protagonist (Bacon is a damaged FBI agent in alcohol-infused semi-retirement), an A-list cast (it's his first regular series role), literary undertones, operatic violence and lots and lots of blood.