THURSDAY
SHILO:Â 8:00 Bones; 9:00 Rosewood
CRAIG: 8:00 Bones; 9:00 Rosewood
SHILO:Â With Thursday Night Football still a thing, this time on two networks, and FOX still lacking major resources for every night, I think the network should lay low on Thursday and wait to attack come midseason. The biggest piece that could go here is probably 24: Legacy, but bringing in another limited order show when the network will have to replace Empire, (possibly) Pitch, Scream Queens, and (spoiler alert) MasterChef Junior come midseason feels like a lot, especially since male-friendly Legacy would be bumping up against football here in the fall. It could be especially disastrous considering the lack of Jack Bauer in this iteration of the show, so FOX should save it for another night/time and go more conservative.
The final season of Bones at 8:00 is the network allowing the show to go out during a time of high viewing and without yet another move to endure. Although it’s not going to be a huge lead-in for what goes in the next hour, this is a night where FOX can afford to be safe with its scheduling due to the level of competition. And since this is going to be a low priority lineup, Rosewood at 9:00 makes sense; not only is the show a good match with Bones, with their lighter tones and procedural structure, it’s something that hasn’t performed on the level of a Lucifer or gotten the type of buzz of a Scream Queens, making it the sophomore drama that FOX can use to fill other slots on the schedule. If nothing else, Rosewood is nice counterprogramming against darker Scandal and The Blacklist and if it can hold steady and not take too much of a hit due to competition, could take some of the pressure off of finding a lead-in at 8:00 come January.
CRAIG: Basically, a comfortable night since FOX really can’t heavily compete on Thursdays, between football, Shonda, and everything else. Rosewood and the final season of Bones probably won’t set the ratings world on fire, but they also won’t be fails.
