SHILO’S PREDICTIONS: 8:00 Hell’s Kitchen; 9:00 The Exorcist
CRAIG’S PREDICTIONS: 8:00 Hell’s Kitchen; 9:00 The Exorcist
ACTUAL SCHEDULE: 8:00 Hell’s Kitchen; 9:00 The Exorcist
SHILO: With FOX deciding to cancel both Rosewood and Sleepy Hollow, and none of their non-Hell’s Kitchen unscripted content seemingly earmarked for fall, The Exorcist was a weird move that was expected, if that makes sense. I’m still not sure what the financials that made The Exorcist a more attractive renewal than Rosewood were, given that the latter was one of FOX’s cheapest dramas and a network-owned procedural that was on the cusp of syndication, but if FOX really didn’t want to commit to 44 more episodes of Rosewood, The Exorcist is one of their better options. If it has to be renewed, returning to the fall is much better than having a hiatus go over a year and with its SVOD rights recently acquired by Hulu, I’m guessing the network is going to make a push for people to catch up over the summer. I don’t think it has a whole lot of upside, but if it suffers the sophomore limited series curse, it’s only ten episodes and FOX can remake the night come midseason, so it’s not a huge hit if The Exorcist doesn’t, well, become a hit.
CRAIG: I think the difference between The Exorcist and Rosewood is that the former, over time, seemed to develop a buzz, even though it aired on Friday nights. Now we’ll see if it can keep it after almost a year off the air. I think it’s a good sign, though, that The Exorcist hasn’t inspired any “They renewed THAT?” responses like Scream Queens or Sleepy Hollow did this past year.
