Fox’s new dramas set to launch in the fall include Not Just Me and Prodigal Son, and the comedies include Bless the Harts and The Great North. Charlie Collier, CEO, Fox Entertainment, will unveil the Fox primetime slate for the 2019-2020 season May 13 at the Beacon Theatre.
“Today marks a new beginning for Fox Entertainment. So it is with a start-up mindset and, upon an incredible foundation of assets, that we deliver our first slate of new comedies, dramas and unscripted series,” said Collier. “Alongside top creators and talent, and through innovative partnerships across the industry, we are redefining what it means to be an entertainment company, and what it means to be Fox, for 2019 and beyond.”
For the fall, it will be 9-1-1 and Prodigal Son on Mondays. Tuesdays feature The Resident and Empire. Wednesdays are The Masked Singer and Not Just Me. Thursdays feature Thursday Night Football pre-game and the game, and Fridays are WWE’s Smackdown Live.
Saturday is college football and Sunday is NFL on Fox, The OT/Fox encores, The Simpsons, Bless the Harts, Bob’s Burgers and Family Guy.
Not Just Me comes from Jason Katims and Annie Weisman. It’s the story of a family formed through extreme odds, exploring hot-button issues such as identity, human connection and what it truly means to be a family. An only child finds her life turned upside down when her father, a fertility doctor, reveals that, over the course of his career he used his own sperm to conceive upwards of a hundred children, including two new sisters. The three women form a unique bond.
Brittany Snow plays the daughter and Timothy Hutton the father.
Prodigal Son comes from Greg Berlanti. Fox calls it a fresh take on a crime franchise, with a “provocative and outrageous lead character and a darkly comedic tone. Tom Payne plays the son of a convicted serial killer who has made hunting murderers his life’s work. The series also stars Bellamy Young and Lou Diamond Phillips.
Animated comedy Bless the Harts comes from Emily Spivey. The Harts are a broke Southern family that is rich “in friends, family and laughter,” said Fox. Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph are in the voice cast.
WWE’s Smackdown Live debuts Oct. 4. The two-hour live show goes 52 weeks a year. Collier said the show represents Fox well, with its mix of entertainment and sports.
The Resident moves to Tuesdays at 8, followed by Empire, which will be in its sixth and final season.
“Six years is really a pretty remarkable run for a drama series,” said Collier, who promised Empire will “go out with a bang.”
Collier said the network has "no plans" to bring Jussie Smollett back after his legal issues.
9-1-1 spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star premieres Jan. 19. Rob Lowe stars.
Season three of The Masked Singer begins after the Super Bowl February 2. Its time period premiere begins Feb. 4.
Other new series include drama Deputy, which is a mix of a western and a modern cop drama; Filthy Rich, a southern Gothic family drama; neXt, about a deadly rogue artificial intelligence; live-action comedy Outmatched, about a blue-collar couple with some genius children; and animated comedies Duncanville, from Amy Poehler, and The Great North, from Bob’s Burgers mastermind Loren Bouchard, about a family in Alaska.
Outmatched and Duncanville will run in the midseason.
Ultimate Tag is a competition show hosted by brothers JJ, TJ and Derek Watt. It will premiere in 2020, as will new seasons of Last Man Standing and The Orville.
