Superman Returns Star Brandon Routh To Appear on FOX's Enlisted Next Week

Fox's struggling new military comedy Enlisted got reinforcements yesterday in the form of a nearly unheard-of 67% ratings increase over the previous week, and now they're looking for an additional lift up, up and away with a guest appearance by former Superman Brandon Routh. (Yeah, that sentence made me groan as much as it did you.) The surge came as a result of a scheduling move that seems to have helped all involved; the series swapped places with Raising Hope, another Friday comedy, and retained more of its lead-in from Bones than Raising Hope had done the week before by a fairly significant number (56% audience retention versus 46% the week before--even though there were more eyeballs on Bones this week). Raising Hope, for its part, rose in the ratings too when it was moved to Enlisted's spot, suggesting that maybe the audience for Bones is more interested in Enlisted than in Raising Hope and that the audience for Raising Hope, used to having the show moved around the schedule, will follow it more or less wherever. Enlisted, created by Cougar Town co-creator Kevin Biegel, is one of a couple of projects set to really raise the profile of star Chris Lowell, who got the sitcom lead around the same time he was generating heat again as Stosh "Piz" Piznarski in the big-screen adaptation of the cult teen detective series Veronica Mars. That's him shaking hands with our erstwhile Man of Steel above. Routh, who has also starred in fanboy-friendly fare like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night and Chuck, will make a guest appearance on next Friday's episode, airing at 9 p.m. EST.