A shelf of Oscars® and big Monday morning box office doesn't count for much in prime time television. And that's why even Steven Spielberg bows down to the power of American Idol. His new reality series, On The Lot launches May 16th-- but not without a big Idol boost.

The great director's collaboration with Survivor's Mark Burnett hopes to be a commercial version of Project Greenlight, pitting 16 wannabe moviemakers against each other for a million-dollar DreamWorks development deal (babe). Its premiere will be right behind the third-to-last Idol episode.

After that superbowlian start, Lot takes a week off to make way for the mega-Idol finale on May 22nd and 23rd. Then it's on its own, returning Monday, May 28th, with a two-hour episode, featuring films produced by all 16 contestants. Four contestants will be kicked off the Lot the following night. The show gets into a pattern the following week: one-hour "Film Premiere" episodes Mondays at 9; half-hour "Box Office" results shows and eliminations Tuesdays at 8.

And that's not the only summer territory Fox is marking early:

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