Fox has remake fever with 'Lethal,' 'Exorcist'
More than ever, the big broadcast networks are playing it safe with established franchises, and Fox is not immune to TV's remake fever: The network will add two fall dramas — Lethal Weapon, a sequel of the 1980s film franchise — and The Exorcist, based on the 1973 horror film. And for midseason, it's even remaking its own shows, with a limited return of Prison Break and a revamped 12-episode season of thriller 24, with a new cast.
Exorcist portrays two priests (Ben Daniels, Alfonso Herrera) trying to solve a case of demonic possession, and also stars Geena Davis. It will get a Friday-night slot against NBC's Grimm. Lethal Weapon features Damon Wayans Sr. and Clayne Crawford in the L.A. buddy-cop roles made famous by Danny Glover and Mel Gibson, and will be paired with hit Empire on Wednesdays. On May 20, four days after announcing its fall schedule, Fox tweaked it, moving up Pitch, a drama about the first female Major League Baseball player, produced in tandem with MLB, and holding back the final season of Bones for winter. The network's lone new fall comedy is Son of Zorn, a live-action/animation hybrid featuring a warrior (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) who returns to California to reclaim his live-action family, led by Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm).
Fourth-place Fox is averaging 5.9 million viewers this season, and is the only network not to lose viewers. (Among its target young-adult audience, it ranks third, and is down 2%).
But it struck out with seemingly bankable stars in John Stamos and Rob Lowe, whose Grandfathered and The Grinder, respectively, were cancelled after one season, and American Idol, once TV's top series, ended its 15-year run last month. Other series to get the ax include Second Chance, Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life, the animated Bordertown and Minority Report, another movie remake that never got off the ground.
For midseason, 24: Legacy will premiere behind the Super Bowl on Feb. 5, then shift to its old home on Mondays. Prison Break, with original stars, is due on Thursdays. And Sleepy Hollow is set to return on Fridays. Also due is Star, about a girl singing group and featuring Queen Latifah, from Empire producer Lee Daniels. (It will be a winter fill-in for Empire). Along with two more comedies, The Mick and Making History, drama APB stars Justin Kirk as a tech billionaire who takes over a troubled Chicago police precinct. And Shots Fired is a limited series about racially motivated killings in a Southern town.
Fox Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden also says "everyone is on board to do another installment" of The X-Files, but it won't happen until the 2017-18 season.
Fox's fall schedule (all times ET/PT; new shows in bold; new time slots in italics)
Monday: 8 p.m.: Gotham; 9 p.m.: Lucifer
Tuesday: 8 p.m.: Brooklyn Nine-Nine; 8:30 p.m.: New Girl; 9 p.m.: Scream Queens
Wednesday: 8 p.m.: Lethal Weapon; 9 p.m., Empire
Thursday: 8 p.m.: Rosewood; 9 p.m.: Pitch
Friday: 8 p.m.: Hell's Kitchen; 9 p.m.: The Exorcist
Saturday: 8 p.m.: Fox College Football
Sunday: 7 p.m.: NFL on Fox; 7:30 p.m.: The OT/Bob's Burgers; 8 p.m.: The Simpsons; 8:30 p.m.: Son of Zorn; 9 p.m.: Family Guy; 9:30 p.m.: The Last Man on Earth