FURTHER THOUGHTS FROM CRAIG
Most Surprising Possible Renewal: Gracepoint Season 2, everybody! Kidding. (Though it amazes me that after that, they’d even consider a U.S. remake of Luther.) Backstrom would surprise me, though it seems creator/EP Hart Hanson is well-loved at FOX, so who knows. I’m tempted to say something really absurd like Weird Loners here. I was a little surprised that they renewed Sleepy Hollow after those ratings declines, but it’s pretty clear FOX wants to push it and get success out of it if they can. With likable leads like Tom Mison, Nicole Beharie, and Orlando Jones, I can’t blame them. I would also be pretty surprised at this point if The Following gets renewed.
Show That Should Have Been Renewed: As you said, they renewed almost everything that one could expect them to. I, too, will miss Red Band Society – such a talented group of kids supported by great writing. It just was a tough sell, doing a show about kids who were dying or ill.
Possible Biggest Surprise: TV comedy is dying, but if any of FOX’s new sitcoms take hold and get a following, that could be the good kind of surprise FOX is waiting for. And, like I said, the script for Frankenstein was really solid, and while it’s not the most original story (several shows and movies have had similar themes), it could be a Sleepy Hollow Season 1 kind of hit.
Safest Bet: Studio City. Assuming it’s paired with Empire, we could be looking at two hours of good TV…. and good ratings. I also think the X-Files limited-run series will be very big.
Biggest Need: More Empires. FOX got really lucky in that people loved Empire. Now is time to have more solid hits like that, and bring FOX back to being that edgy, cool network people saw it as before. On that same note, FOX needs more solid nights, as one can’t rely on Animation Domination and Empire alone… and Idol isn’t the schedule-saver it used to be, either.
CRAIG’S SCHEDULE
SUNDAY 7:00 NFL on FOX; 7:30 Bob’s Burgers; 8:00 The Simpsons; 8:30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine; 9:00 Family Guy; 9:30 The Last Man on Earth
MONDAY 8:00 Gotham; 9:00 Minority Report
TUESDAY 8:00 The Grinder; 8:30 New Girl; 9:00 Scream Queens
WEDNESDAY 8:00 Studio City; 9:00 Empire
THURSDAY 8:00 Bones; 9:00 Frankenstein
FRIDAY 8:00 MasterChef Junior; 9:00 Sleepy Hollow
