Pasadena, Calif.--Fox has renewed freshman dramas Empire and Gotham and picked up comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine for a third season. The network announced the renewals Saturday at the TCA winter press tour.
Empire’s pickup comes after the midseason drama’s second episode drew a 4.0 live-plus-same day Nielsen rating among adults 18-49 Wednesday night—up 5% from its premiere a week earlier. The 4.0 is the highest rating thus far this season for a broadcast drama. The 3.8 premiere rating matched ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder as the season’s highest rated premiere. Empire is produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television.
Gotham, which premiered in fall 2014, is averaging a 4.2 rating in Nielsen live numbers plus seven days of playback—averaging a 27% increase from live-plus-three day. The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine, from Universal Television, 3 Arts Entertainment and Fremulon, has averaged a 2.7 live-plus-seven rating this season.
Fox also announced that its live production of Grease has been scheduled for Jan. 31. Julianne Hough has been cast to play Sandy and Vanessa Hudgens to play Rizzo in the production, currently titled Grease: Live.
In addition, Joe Manganiello, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin and Keke Palmer have been cast in the network’s upcoming Ryan Murphy-produced comedy-horror anthology Scream Queens. Singer Ariana Grande has been cast in a recurring role.
