This year is a particularly interesting year for Fox’s upfronts. Back in December 2017, Disney announced that it would acquire 21st Century Fox, which includes FOX network. Their Upfront presentation acknowledged this by unveiling “New Fox” – or what Fox will look like with Disney at the helm.
For starters, they are pivoting hard with live sports and the addition of Thursday Night Football. Unscripted shows are also getting their fair share of the lineup. In fact, “New Fox” only had four new shows to announce at their presentation. Here’s the full rundown of their scripted series for 2018-2019.
Canceled or Ending
The Exorcist
The Last Man on Earth
Lucifer
The Mick
New Girl (ending)
Shots Fired
Still on the Fence
Ghosted
LA to Vegas
Prison Break
X-Files
Returning
9-1-1
American Grit
Empire
Family Guy
The Four
The Gifted
Gotham
Lethal Weapon
The Orville
The Resident
The Simpsons
New Shows
The Cool Kids
There are a few laughs in this boisterous multi-cam about a fun group of guys, and one girl, in a retirement home. It seems to be a tip-off that “New Fox” wants to appeal to a broader audience. Either way, that laugh track is having the time of its life.
Proven Innocent
Podcasts like Serial and docs like Making a Murderer have sparked a few shows set in “Innocents Project” type firms over the years. Proven Innocent seems to have all the elements of a decent network drama: an unsolved crime, a personal vendetta, and a twist on the idea of a weekly case. Perhaps the phrase, “my best friend never got justice” sends me into a pavlovian Veronica Mars fit of excitement, but this one might be worth checking out.
The Passage
Fox makes a huge bet on serialized drama in this adaptation with some big names behind it. Ridley Scott produces the thriller about a man (Mark Paul Gosselaar) who goes on the run with a little girl after he refuses to bring her in for top-secret CDC research. Loosely based on the novel of the same name, it will be interesting to see how the story fills its episode order. Also is that Desmond? Psyched.
Rel
Another multi-cam order for New Fox. This one stars LilRel Howery as a dramatized and sometimes disguised version of himself. Hopefully, this proves to be a fun vehicle for the comedian who stole quite a few scenes in Get Out and Insecure.
What shows will you be watching on Fox this fall?
Instinct Culture 