When the new TV season starts next fall, something will be missing (almost) from Fox: Scripted, live-action (not animated) shows.
Indeed, the network will only have five of them, all wedged into a Monday-through-Wednesday stretch. The rest of the week has football, wrestling, “The Masked Singer” and Sunday’s animation.
Gone are “Star,” “Lethal Weapon,” “The Cool Kids,” “Rel,” “The Gifted” and more. In addition, this will be the final season of “Empire” (shown here), which Fox is painting as a positive. “We are turning the last season of ‘Empire’ into a large event,” said programmer Michael Thorn. “We really want to go out with a bang.”
This is being billed as the “new Fox” era. The network is on its own, after the Fox movie studio was separately sold to Disney, which owns ABC.
“Fox is not only open for business,” insisted Charlie Collier, the network CEO, “but we’re stronger than ever.”
All networks have been weakened by viewers’ tendency to time-shift. For Fox, the solution involves sports – pro football on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons, college football on Saturdays, wrestling on Fridays. The result “will have great Thursday-through-Sunday circulation,” Eric Shanks, the sports chief, said.
Reality shows also tend to avoid time-shifting. Rob Wade, the network’s alternative-programming chief, points to “The Masked Singer,” a surprise hit this year. It starts its second season this fall … then jumps right into he third, after the Super Bowl.
And the new shows? “Prodigal Son” is about a crimesolver who is the son of a serial-killer. “Not Just Me” — from the producer of “Parenthood” and “Friday Night Lights” — is about a young woman who learns that her father, a fertility doctor, has used his own sperm, giving her new half-siblings. “Bless the Harts” is a blue-collar, animated comedy from the “Lego Movie” guys.
The changes hit hardest at diversity – four cancelled shows had black stars – and at live-action comedies. There will be none of the latter this fall; with Fridays consumed by wrestlers, Tim Allen’s “Last Man Standing” will wait until mid-season.
Here’s the Fox line-up:
— Mondays: “9-1-1,” 8 p.m.; “Prodigal Son” (new), 9.
— Tuesdays: “The Resident,” 8 p.m.; “Empire,” 9.
— Wednesdays: “The Masked Singer,”8 p.m.; “Not Just Me,” 9.
— Thursdays: Pro football.
— Fridays: Wrestling.
— Saturdays: College football.
— Sundays: Football and/or reruns, 7-8 p.m.; “The Simpsons,” 8; “Bless the Harts,” 8:30; “Bob’s Burgers,” 9; “Family Guy,” 9:30.
— Mid-season returns: “Last Man Standing,” “The Orville.”
— Mid-season new dramas: “Deputy,” “Filthy Rich,” “NeXt: and “9-1-1: Lone Star.”
— Mid-season new comedy: “Outmatched.”
— Mid-season new animated comedies: “Duncanville” and “The Great North.”