After a one-day break thanks to that great thing known as “sinusitis,” we’re back with our analysis posts for the networks’ Fall 2013 schedules. We’ve posted The CW and ABC so far; now the spotlight shines on FOX. We did our predictions a few weeks ago, now, how right were we? And what do we think of FOX’s final choices?
Providing commentary here, again, are KSiteTV’s Craig Byrne and Shilo Adams from TVOvermind & TVHackr.
SUNDAY
Craig’s Picks: 7:30 Bob’s Burgers; 8PM The Simpsons; 8:30 Dads; 9PM Family Guy; 9:30 American Dad!
Shilo’s Picks: 7:30 American Dad!; 8PM The Simpsons; 8:30 Bob’s Burgers; 9PM Family Guy; 9:30 Dads; Murder Police (midseason)
Actual Schedule: 7:30 The OT; 8PM The Simpsons; 8:30 Bob’s Burgers; 9PM Family Guy; 9:30 American Dad!
CRAIG: Neither of us factored in “The OT” Football coverage when putting together our schedules, and FOX pretty much kept to what works, without too many changes. I can’t fault them for wanting to keep “Animation Domination,” well, dominating.
SHILO: Aside from our stupid oversight regarding The OT, I’m not too surprised that FOX has decided to sit on its current Animation Domination lineup. They have other nights that need to be rebuilt and require attention, so after previous failures like Napoleon Dynamite and Allen Gregory disrupted what flow the night had, it makes sense for them to hold what they have for right now. I still expect American Dad to move to 7:30 come midseason and Murder Police’s run to be behind Family Guy, though.
MONDAY
Craig’s Picks: 8PM Bones; 9PM Delirium; The Following (midseason)
Shilo’s Picks: 8PM Bones; 9PM Rake; The Following (midseason)
Actual Schedule: 8PM Bones; Almost Human (Late Fall); 9PM Sleepy Hollow; The Following (midseason)
CRAIG: I really thought Delirium would have a chance, but apparently FOX didn’t, so we’ll have to just wonder “what if” there. We both correctly guessed that Bones will go in on Mondays at 8. They say “Late Fall” for Almost Human; what does that mean? After the World Series?
I am in the minority, I’m sure, in that I don’t see a Friday scheduling as a “banishment;” with that said, I really think Fridays would have been a better night for Almost Human. Like Fringe, it’s one of those shows that will have a certain fan base regardless of where it is scheduled; but also, I think it’s one that would leave the audience thinking afterwards. Having a weekend to take it in might have worked better. Also, that would have prevented a possible move for Bones, which has been so solid on Mondays at 8, it would be risky to take it away… even though, yes, I know, its audience will also follow it anywhere.
One thing is for sure… in my delirium over Delirium, I totally overlooked Sleepy Hollow by thinking it might just go straight to Friday… I think I may have underestimated it. It’s a great show, with a great trailer, and a great “hook” that I think will really keep certain audiences guessing. Following Bones, at least for a time, certainly wouldn’t hurt its success, but I think it’ll do just fine no matter what. It’s a very accessible show.
Is anyone surprised that The Following is taking Mondays at 9 at midseason? I’m not.
SHILO: And here we go with FOX’s complicated scheduling. On one hand, I greatly appreciate seeing them having a plan for how to deal with baseball interruptions, which hasn’t always been the case. On the other, it’s a lot of time slot jostling, facilitated by ordering a heck of a lot of shows and needing somewhere to put them all. I’m assuming their thinking regarding Bones is that it’s not strong enough to boost any new show and Sleepy Hollow’s name value and flashy trailer will carry it to success, hence the latter only getting a short time behind the former. Despite both being new and untested, pairing Sleepy Hollow with Almost Human should be a strong match that serves as solid male-centric, procedural-y counterprogramming to the likes of The Voice and Dancing with the Stars. Of course, as long as FOX can keep people straight on when what airs and how long certain episode orders are.
TUESDAY
Craig’s Picks: 8PM Raising Hope; 8:30 The Mindy Project; 9PM New Girl; 9:30 Friends & Family (now Us & Them)
Shilo’s Picks: 8PM Glee; Delirium (midseason); 9PM New Girl; 9:30 The Mindy Project
Actual Schedule: 8PM Dads; 8:30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine; 9PM New Girl; 9:30 The Mindy Project
CRAIG: So, the second hour remains the same where the first hour is completely new. I’m really surprised by the move of Raising Hope to Fridays, but maybe somehow it’ll work in a counter-programming sort of way. As for the new shows? Dads could go either way for me; it could be really funny or really tasteless, possibly both, or possibly tasteless and unfunny. Some of the early feedback hasn’t been pleasant. Still seems like more of a 9:00 show, now that trailers and such are out for it. If they’re leading the night with it, there must be some belief in it, though it’ll be up against some tough competition. Brooklyn Nine-Nine had a trailer that made me laugh at least once, while at the same time Andy Samberg really gets on my nerves. Between him and Zooey Deschanel’s “Jess” on New Girl at 9, that’s a whole lot of annoying for one hour.
SHILO: I was mildly surprised to see the comedy bloc stay together and, moreso, with two very male-friendly comedies leading off the night. FOX’s development shied away from the female-centric for the most part, so I assumed that they would put their most compatible drama (Glee) here and center 2014-2015 development on landing at least one more female-friendly comedy. Not so, as we have Seth MacFarlane multi-cam Dads and cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine going up against Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and NCIS. (Good luck with that.) Tonally, they both seem to be broader than the 9:00 and 9:30 comedies and might not make for the best fit, which could damage New Girl even more than Raising Hope/Ben & Kate did this season. In wanting to steer clear of a situation like that, I think that FOX overcorrected and will be searching for a happy medium later this season.
WEDNESDAY
Craig’s Picks: 8PM The X Factor; American Idol (Midseason)
Shilo’s Picks: 8PM The X Factor; American Idol (Midseason)
Actual Schedule: 8PM The X Factor; American Idol (Midseason)
CRAIG: Aside from possibly moving to different nights, there was nothing particularly surprising that FOX could do with X Factor and Idol, so the scheduling there doesn’t surprise me either. But – if The X Factor fails to take off on its third try, could it be “three strikes and you’re out” for Simon Cowell’s new show? How much would it cost and/or what would it take to get him back on Idol?
SHILO: Bold prediction: this is the last year that Wednesdays and Thursdays will be wall-to-wall singing competitions for FOX. Idol will likely live on for at least another season or two, but The X Factor is living on borrowed time and although I (mostly) like the judging choices Simon Cowell made, insofar as Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio have talent show judging experience, I don’t think it will be enough to reverse ratings declines. The show doesn’t have all that much farther to fall before it becomes vulnerable to cancellation and with FOX in desperate need of scripted hits, they’re likely antsy over all the scheduling space that X Factor is taking up and will be looking for a reason to boot it and (maybe) fold Simon Cowell back into American Idol.
THURSDAY
Craig’s Picks: 8PM The X Factor; American Idol Results (Midseason); 9PM Glee
Shilo’s Picks: 8PM The X Factor; American Idol Results (Midseason); 9PM Sleepy Hollow; Brooklyn 99 & Enlisted (Midseason)
Actual Schedule: 8PM The X Factor; American Idol Results (Midseason); 9PM Glee; Rake (Midseason)
CRAIG: So they didn’t move Glee from Thursdays after all. I’m a bit curious, though, if Rake will just be a midseason filler until Glee would inevitably return to Thursday while Idol is on. Rake doesn’t really come across to me like a show that would lead out of Idol. Then again, a big part of House’s success was its airing around Idol, so anything can happen, I guess.
SHILO: I expected FOX to move Glee, if only because it’s still doing well in 18-34 demos and would continue to get crunched by Grey’s Anatomy like it has been doing in this slot. However, they’ve opted to leave it here and use Rake as a bridge between halves of the season – not the worst idea, especially given the House comparisons, movie star leading man, and male skew of the latter. Rake seems to be the surest of the dramas in terms of safety from coming in DOA, so I understand putting it on Thursdays, where The X Factor and American Idol haven’t shown to be powerful lead-ins in recent years. Both it and Glee should help keep Thursdays from being too much of a problem this season and counterbalance whatever declines the talent competitions will undergo.
FRIDAY
Craig’s Picks: 8PM Kitchen Nightmares; 9PM Sleepy Hollow; Almost Human (Midseason)
Shilo’s Picks: 8PM Raising Hope; 8:30 The Gabriels; 9PM Kitchen Nightmares
Actual Schedule: 8PM Junior Masterchef; Bones (Late Fall); 9PM Sleepy Hollow encores; Raising Hope (Late Fall); Enlisted (Late Fall)
CRAIG: All this “Late Fall” stuff continues to confuse me. And uhh.. Junior Masterchef? Mmkay. I still kind of think Fridays would be a better night for Almost Human, with Bones remaining at 8PM Mondays to boost whatever is on at 9. And like I said earlier, the 9PM hour being comedies is a pretty bold move.
SHILO: Every year, it seems like FOX has Bones headed to Fridays and every year, it finds a reason to leave the character procedural on during the week. Will this be the year that the move comes to fruition? Personally, I doubt it, since it feels like FOX is using Fridays as a holding ground for its misfit shows in the same vein that NBC did last season with Community and Whitney. This is less a “putting a veteran out to pasture” move and more “letting a known commodity stew until scheduling space fills up” bet hedging; if FOX doesn’t have a Mob Doctor-sized disaster in the ratings, I could see Bones (and the comedies) airing here. Otherwise, at least one of them will be on the move.
SO, HOW DID WE DO?
Tallying it all up, counting what we actually know rather than the unannounced, here is how much we got right. .5 points are given per half hour if we got the night right but not the slot; fractions of a point are also given if we had more than one selection for a timeslot. Regardless, it’s a scoring system that will probably not make any sense to much of anyone but ourselves.
Craig: 8/12.5
Shilo: 7.5/12.5
CRAIG: In the end, FOX’s schedule had a few surprises in store for us, while still playing it safely on certain nights of the week.
SHILO: I don’t hate FOX’s schedule, but I think it’s the worst of the five we saw unveiled during upfronts. If the new dramas don’t disappoint and they can stave off ratings erosion from The X Factor, things might turn out to be alright. However, the Tuesday comedies are definitely under the gun, Fridays are a giant question mark, and the amount of shows they ordered might end up working against them.
