Fox is moving “Family Guy” to midseason, marking the first time the animated staple hasn’t been on the network’s fall schedule since 2005 (when it returned to the air after being canceled for a few years). That’s one of the major shifts to come this fall as Fox announced a 2024-2025 lineup that includes two new dramas and a new animated series in the fall, with more freshman launches to come in midseason.
New dramas include lifeguard actioner “Rescue: HI-Surf,” from executive producer John Wells, which will air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET behind “9-1-1: Lone Star” and crime procedural “Murder in a Small Town,” which will run Tuesdays at 9 p.m., paired with Season 2 of anthology series “Accused.” Later in the season will premiere medical drama “Doc,” based on the Italian series “Doc — Nelle tue mani” and starring Molly Parker.
On the comedy side, new animated series “Universal Basic Guys,” from Fox’s Bento Box Entertainment and Sony Pictures TV, will air Sundays in the fall at 8:30 p.m., leading out of “The Simpsons.” (Fox is so high on that show that it has already ordered a Season 2.) In live action, Denis Leary, Jack Leary and Joel Church-Cooper are behind the new series “Going Dutch,” a series starring Denis Leary that will premiere in midseason.
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Fox was set to unveil its 2024-2025 lineup on Monday afternoon at the Manhattan Center in New York. The network has made it a priority to increase program ownership from in-house business units under the Fox Entertainment Studios banner — “Going Dutch,” for example, is Fox’s second wholly-owned comedy, following “Animal Control.”
Among the shows returning, “Accused” in Season 2 will continue its anthology format with different stars each episode. Among those cast in this year’s segs: Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy, Nick Cannon and Michael Chiklis (who will play a different character than the one he did in the show’s Season 1 premiere). Real-life married couple Huffman and Macy will appear together in their episode.
Other renewed Fox series include dramas “9-1-1: Lone Star” (Season 5), “alert: Missing Persons Unit” (Season 3) and “The Cleaning Lady” (Season 4). Comedies back include live-action “Animal Control” (Season 3) and animated “Bob’s Burgers” (Season 15), “Family Guy” (Season 23), “The Great North” (Season 5), “Grimsburg” (Season 2), “Krapopolis” (Season 2) and “The Simpsons” (Season 36).
Unscripted series that are back include “Crime Scene Kitchen” (Season 3), “The Floor” (Season 2), “Hell’s Kitchen” (Season 23),”Lego Masters” (Season 5), “The Masked Singer” (Season 12), “MasterChef”(Season 15), “Name That Tune” (Season 5), “Next Level Chef” (Season 4) and “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” (Season 3).
Fox also picked up the reality series “Extracted,” which it describes as “a groundbreaking new survival competition series, in which, for the first time ever, the contestants are not in charge of their destiny.” B17 Entertainment (a part of Sony Pictures Television), Balboa Productions and Fox Entertainment are behind that show, to premiere at a later date.
Fox said it still planned to make additional series renewals at another date; shows still in limbo include “America’s Most Wanted,” “Farmer Wants a Wife,” “Kitchen Nightmares,” “Snale Oil,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Stars on Mars,” “TMZ Investigates” and “We Are Family.”
Fox’s other announcements included a cast for “The Real Full Monty,” led by Anthony Anderson, and the news that an episode of “Rescue HI-Surf” will air after Super Bowl LIX.
This reps the return of scripted drama to Fox’s lineup, after those shows sat out the 2023-2024 TV season due to the Hollywood strikes.
In announcing the schedule, Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade laid out his vision for the company, which he took over in 2022 and restructured earlier this year. “Since last year’s Upfront, our industry has seen a massive market shift. And for us, that translates into massive opportunity. A catalyst to move us forward, as we transform Fox Entertainment into a dynamic media company for the future,” Wade said in a call with reporters on Monday morning. “To get there, we formed Fox Entertainment as an independent, right-sized company that’s now ready and able to seize opportunity, invest and grow. Not by rebuilding where we were, but by creating something new to take advantage of today’s entertainment playing field. Something unencumbered by the long-standing legacy frameworks that can weigh you down. Something where smart bets alongside innovative production models can make our shows cost effective, at no cost to the creative. And something that reflects the modern consumer and how they consume content.”
Wade pointed to Fox’s relationship with Gordon Ramsay as an example of that. “We can apply this model to any number of categories,” Wade added, arguing that Fox is in “a unique position, unburdened by the challenges of an SVOD P&L.” He pointed to a new “three-pillar” structure of Fox Entertainment Studios, Fox Entertainment Global and the Fox TV network.
There’s strategy to Fox’s schedule lineup: Mondays are procedural dramas (“a night of rescues”), with “9-1-1: Lone Star” and “Rescue: HI-Surf.” Tuesday is a night for mystery, with “Accused” and “Murder in a Small Town.” Shiny floor family-friendly competitions hit Wednesday with “The Masked Singer” and “The Floor.” Thursday is more about challenges, via “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.” Then it’s sports on Friday (no more WWE Smackdown, which is moving to USA), Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Later on Sunday, it’s “Animation Domination.” The decision to push “Family Guy” to midseason comes after the show shifted to Wednesdays this spring — the first time it had aired on a weeknight since 2002.
Fox execs said not to read too much into the “Family Guy” shift, despite the scheduling shifts and the recent announcement that Hulu would run two “Family Guy” holiday specials later this year. “Family Guy” will get a full, no-repeat run in the spring, they noted. “We have a long history of programming and launching and relaunching animation,” Fox TV network prexy Michael Thorn said. “Our goal really is to keep the strength of our longtime running series while launching our own Fox animated series like we did with ‘Krapopolis.’ We’re also going to be launching in ‘Universal Basic Guys’ this year, which we want to give a very specific impactful launch for that series. At the same time, our long running series like ‘Family Guy’ are still of crucial importance to us. So bringing it back midseason with a full order is absolutely our plan.”
That’s the schedule. But here it is, one more time.
FOX FALL 2024 SCHEDULE
MONDAY
8 p.m. “9-1-1: Lone Star”
9 p.m. “Rescue: HI-Surf” (new series)
TUESDAY
8 p.m. “Accused”
9 p.m. “Murder in a Small Town” (new series)
WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. “The Masked Singer”
9 p.m. “The Floor”
THURSDAY
8 p.m. “Hell’s Kitchen”
9 p.m. “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test”
FRIDAY
8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT Fox College Football Friday/Fox College Hoops/Fox UFL
SATURDAY
7 p.m. Fox Sports Saturday
SUNDAY
7 p.m. NFL On Fox
7:30 p.m. “The OT” / Fox Animation Encores
8 p.m. “The Simpsons”
8:30 p.m. “Universal Basic Guys”
9 p.m. “Bob’s Burgers”
9:30 p.m. “Krapopolis”
MIDSEASON
DRAMAS: “alert: Missing Persons Unit,” “The Cleaning Lady,” “Doc”
COMEDIES: “Animal Control,” “Family Guy,” “Going Dutch,” “The Great North,” “Grimsburg”
UNscriptED: “Crime Scene Kitchen,” “Extracted,” “Lego Masters,” “MasterChef,” “Name That Tune,” “Next Level Chef”
SPECIALS
“Lego Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular,” “The Real Full Monty”
THIS SUMMER
“I Can See Your Voice” (May 16), “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars” (May 22), “Don’t Forget The Lyrics” (May 23), “Beat Shazam” (May 28), “The Quiz With Balls” (May 28), “MasterChef” (May 29), “Name That Tune” (June 3), “The 1% Club” (June 3).
