Updated 5/20: Pitch and Bones will swap places, with the former now debuting in the fall rather than at midseason. Prison Break has also been pushed back to a spring premiere.
Our comprehensive coverage of the TV network upfront presentations this week in New York continues with a look at Fox's plans for the 2016-17 season. We'll have additional reports for the other networks each day this week. See more upfronts coverage...
Highlights and notes
- Fox has ordered 12 new series for next season, and will rely quite a bit more on scripted programs rather than reality series (especially with American Idol off the schedule for the first time in over a decade).
- In addition to those new programs (detailed at the bottom of this page), Fox will revive Prison Break (last seen in 2009) as an event series
early next yearnext spring, with much of the original cast and crew returning. - Only three of the newcomers will air this fall. But the new year will see a vastly different Fox lineup, with new shows nearly every night of the week. (Fox is alone among the networks in revealing its winter and spring schedules at such an early date.) Many shows will be rotated through the lineup, with the goal to minimize the number of repeats throughout the season.
- As previously announced, Bones will end
this fallwith a 12-episode run. Update 5/20: The final season of Bones will now launch in early 2017. - Following the success of January's live presentation of Grease, Fox will air another live musical this fall: a production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Laverne Cox will play Dr. Frank-N-Furter, with that role's originator, Tim Curry, serving as narrator. Expect it in October, with a second (still unnamed) live musical potentially to follow in 2017.
- Fox will air the next Super Bowl, and will use that big audience to launch its reboot of 24 (24: Legacy) immediately after the game.
Renewed and canceled
Fox's cancellations (announced late last week) include all four of its first-year comedies, as well as two freshman dramas. Only three 2015-16 newcomers (Lucifer, Rosewood, and Scream Queens) will return, with the fate of a fourth—the just-launched Houdini and Doyle—still undetermined. Fox also sounds likely to pick up additional episodes of its X-Files revival should it be able to come to contractual agreements with cast and crew, though those episodes probably wouldn't air until the 2017-18 season.
Scripted shows are in bold below.
| Renewed | Canceled or Ended | Fate Uncertain | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob's Burgers Bones Brooklyn Nine-Nine Empire Family Guy Gotham Hell's Kitchen The Last Man on Earth Lucifer MasterChef Junior New Girl Rosewood Scream Queens The Simpsons Sleepy Hollow |
American Idol Bordertown Cooper Barrett's Guide ... Famous ** Grandfathered The Grinder Knock Knock Live Minority Report Second Chance |
American Grit Coupled * Home Free * Hotel Hell * Houdini and Doyle MasterChef * Megyn Kelly Presents * Party Over Here So You Think You Can Dance * Wayward Pines * World's Funniest The X-Files |
Fox's 2016-17 primetime schedule
New programs are indicated in bold in the schedule below. All times are ET/PT unless otherwise indicated.
| 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUN | (NFL) | Bob's Burgers | The Simpsons | Son of Zorn | Family Guy | The Last Man on Earth |
| MON | Gotham | Lucifer | ||||
| TUE | Brooklyn Nine-Nine* | New Girl* | Scream Queens | |||
| WED | Lethal Weapon | Empire | ||||
| THU | Rosewood * | Pitch | ||||
| FRI | Hell's Kitchen | The Exorcist | ||||
| SAT | Fox Sports Saturday (College Football) | |||||
| 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUN | (reruns) | Bob's Burgers | The Simpsons | Making History | Family Guy | The Last Man on Earth |
| MON | 24: Legacy | APB | ||||
| TUE | New Girl * | The Mick | Kicking & Screaming | |||
| WED | Lethal Weapon | Star | ||||
| THU | Rosewood | Bones * | ||||
| FRI | MasterChef Junior | Sleepy Hollow | ||||
| SAT | Fox Sports Saturday | |||||
| 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUN | (reruns) | Bob's Burgers | The Simpsons | [tbd] | Family Guy | The Last Man on Earth |
| MON | Gotham | Lucifer | ||||
| TUE | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | The Mick | Prison Break * | |||
| WED | Shots Fired | Empire | ||||
| THU | Rosewood | Bones | ||||
| FRI | [tbd] | [tbd] | ||||
| SAT | Fox Sports Saturday (College Football) | |||||
Fox's new shows at a glance
The 12 first-year series ordered for Fox's 2016-17 season are detailed below. Shows that did not get picked up include Recon (a terrorist drama from Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec that could potentially be reworked for consideration at midseason), an adaptation of the 1980 John Travolta film Urban Cowboy that nobody was clamoring for, an adaptation of the nonfiction medical book Zoobiquity, the Judy Greer/Patton Oswalt workplace comedy HR, and the Courteney Cox comedy Charity Case.
24 Legacy
DRAMA Mondays at 8p starting February 5
A reboot of Fox's one-time hit 24, Legacy will exist in the same universe (and retain the real-time format) but feature an all-new cast of characters. Heading the cast is Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, The Walking Dead), who plays a troubled military hero who enlists CTU to save his life and prevent yet another large-scale terrorist attack. Miranda Otto, Jimmy Smits, Dan Bucatinsky, and Teddy Sears also star. The original producers return, joined by Kiefer Sutherland as an executive producer (though don't expect him to appear on screen unless his new ABC series, Designated Survivor, meets a quick demise). As was common with the previous series, Legacy will premiere over two consecutive nights, though this time it will get Super Bowl LI as a lead-in.
APB
DRAMA Mondays at 9p starting early 2017
From Person of Interest producer David Slack comes this new crime procedural that's sort of a cross between that show and Chicago PD. Justin Kirk stars as a Chicago tech billionaire who, fed up with his city's sky-high crime rate, puts up his own money to privatize the police department's 13th Precinct and implement cutting-edge technology to fight crime. Natalie Martinez and Ernie Hudson also star, while Matt Nix (Burn Notice) will serve as showrunner. Len Wiseman (Sleepy Hollow, Hawaii Five-0) directs the pilot and produces.
The Exorcist
DRAMA Fridays at 9p
Two different priests attempt to aid a family troubled by demonic possession in this modern-day psychological thriller based on the classic 1973 horror film and William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel. Geena Davis, Ben Daniels, Alfonso Herrera, and Alan Ruck star. The adaptation comes from screenwriter Jeremy Slater (2015's Fantastic Four, though in his defense it was changed quite a bit in rewrites), with Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) directing the pilot and producing.
Kicking & Screaming
REALITY Tuesdays at 9p starting early 2017
This competition series pairs survivalists with whatever the opposite of a survivalist is (let's just call them "city folk") and drops them into the jungle in Fiji. (Presumably to then film them competing.)
Lethal Weapon
DRAMA Wednesdays at 8p
Yes, it's that Lethal Weapon. Matt Miller (Chuck, Forever, and the just-picked-up NBC series Trial & Error) adapts the classic Los Angeles-based buddy-cop film series to TV, with the help of director McG. Damon Wayans, Sr. inherits the Murtaugh role from Danny Glover, while Clayne Crawford (Rectify) plays the Riggs role originated by Mel Gibson.
Making History
COMEDY Sundays at 8:30p starting midseason
Of the three new time travel series headed to primetime next season, this is the only one that's a comedy. Adam Pally, Leighton Meester, and writer-comedian Yassir Lester star as three friends—who happen not to live in the same century (most of the time). Fox is pitching the series as two shows in one, with one being a modern-day relationship comedy and the other a historical adventure. It's one of two Fox newcomers produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (who already have The Last Man on Earth on Fox and are directing the upcoming Han Solo film), and it comes from The Grinder writer Julius Sharpe.
The Mick
COMEDY Tuesdays at 8:30p starting early 2017
This single-camera comedy from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia veterans John Chernin and Dave Chernin features one of the stars of that show, Kaitlin Olson, as the lead. She plays a "brash, blue collar, two-bit hustler" who avoids all responsibility—until her wealthy sister flees the country to evade legal issues, leaving her to care for her sister's three very spoiled children.
My Kitchen Rules
REALITY tbd midseason
In this American version of the Australian reality hit, semi-celebrity pairings (including Brandy and Ray J, Lance Bass and his mom, and Naomi Judd and husband Larry Strickland) will compete to throw the best dinner parties. Chefs Curtis Stone and Cat Cora are the judges.
Pitch
DRAMA Thursdays at 9p
A young pitcher becomes the first woman to play in the majors when she is called up by the San Diego Padres in this sports drama from Dan Fogelman (Galavant) and Rick Singer. Star Kylie Bunbury (Under the Dome, Twisted) has already been generating great buzz for her strong performance in the pilot. The show's creators are aiming for realism in the baseball scenes, so another plus is a license from Major League Baseball, which means that you'll see actual team uniforms, stadiums, and potentially even players. Bob Balaban, Ali Larter, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mark Consuelos, and Dan Lauria also star, and Paris Barclay (Sons of Anarchy) directs the pilot and produces.
Shots Fired
MINISERIES/DRAMA Wednesdays at 8p starting spring
Think of it as Fox's answer to ABC's American Crime. This event series from Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights) and Reggie Rock Bythewood follows the political, societal, and media aftermath of racially charged shootings in a small Tennessee town. The strong cast includes Helen Hunt, Stephen Moyer, Richard Dreyfuss, Stephan James, and Aisha Hinds.
Son of Zorn
COMEDY/ANIMATION Sundays at 8:30p
Fox's most unusual newcomer is the other series produced by the aforementioned Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Originally ordered last fall, Zorn stars Jason Sudeikis as a legendary warrior who returns home to Earth after a decade away (fighting battles in his homeland of Zephyria) to reconnect with his son and ex-wife while adapting to a new office job. One catch: he is animated, while everyone and everything else in the show is live-action. Cheryl Hines, Johnny Pemberton, and Tim Meadows also star. The show was created by Eli Jorne and Reed Agnew (who both wrote for Wilfred, which also featured one unusual character who was not like the others), though the former has since departed the series due to creative differences.
Star
DRAMA/MUSICAL Wednesdays at 9p starting early 2017
Can Lee Daniels duplicate the success of Empire? Ordered to series without a pilot (and sharing Empire's timeslot next year), Daniels' second Fox series is another music drama, this time focusing on artists rather than executives. The series centers on three young women (played by newcomers discovered after a nationwide talent search) who form a band in Atlanta and attempt to make it big. Expect original songs and over-the-top musical fantasy sequences. Benjamin Bratt and Queen Latifah star, while Lenny Kravitz guests.
Bonus trailers
Rocky Horror Picture Show live musical
Prison Break season 5
More coverage of the 2016-17 upfront presentations ...
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