Friday, May 11, 2018
Fri-Yay: Fox's Comedy Bloodbath: What Does It Mean?; Fox Orders Second Multi-Camera Sitcom

by Vincent
Yesterday, Fox cancelled nearly its entire slate of comedies, including the quirky, high-concept veteran The Last Man on Earth, once promising Kaitlin Olson launching pad The Mick, and most heartbreakingly, the internet-beloved Brooklyn Nine-Nine. This is in addition to the departing New Girl, which will wrap up its seven-year run next week. The jury is still out on freshman comedies Ghosted and LA to Vegas, but either way, it's clear this marks a big change for Fox.
Fox, as you may remember, is going through a major shake-up as its parent company 20th Century Fox was recently bought by Disney. Fox (the network) is still owned by News Corp and not Disney, but this shake-up does change the course for Fox a bit - they no longer have stake in a production company, which means any scripted series they air will be owned by another company. Many have speculated that this will result in Fox going "broader" and relying primarily on sports and live events for its primetime series. If this slate of cancellations, along with Fox's rumored revival of Last Man Standing, is indicative of the future, those people might just be right.
Still, these cancellations certainly come as a surprise - while all of these shows were low-rated, much of Fox's line-up is, and over the past several years Fox has consistently renewed shows in worse ratings shape than these 3 shows are. Despite the reputation the network had in the 2000s as a "murderer" of fan favorite shows like Arrested Development, Futurama and Firefly, the Fox of the 2010s has been almost the opposite. There is no other network, for example, where a low-rated, high-concept sitcom like The Last Man on Earth could've survived for four seasons, or where shows like New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine could see renewal after renewal despite being low-rated niche hits. And yet, all of that seems to be ending soon. It's a real shame that it had to end so abruptly, as these shows - particularly longer-running Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Last Man on Earth, had done enough to at least earn a proper farewell, the kind that New Girl is getting this season. These shows had large, passionate fanbases and were inventive, creative shows that clearly had a lot of love put into them. To have them ripped away without warning is cruel and cold. But hey, that's the television business for you. We're living in a post-streaming world and a world of reboots, so there's always the chance a streaming show or even another network will scoop up and save at least one of these shows. But if not, we can at least be thankful for the years of great TV they provided us with.
And sticking with Fox, they have ordered another multi-camera sitcom for 2018-19: Rel. Lil Rel, a prideful, self-made success who lives by the code to "always believe in yourself and great things will come," finds that attitude put to the test when he learns his wife is having an affair with his own barber. He tries to rebuild his life post-divorce as a long-distance single father on the South Side of Chicago who's on a quest for love, respect and a new barber. Inspired by Lil Rel's real life.
The sitcom stars Lil Rel Howery as Lil Rel, Sinbad as Rel's Dad, Jess "Hilarious" Moore as Brittany, and Jordan L. Jones as Nat. The sitcom will be produced by Jerrod Carmichael, Mike Scully, Kevin Barnett, Josh Rabinowitz and Lil Rel Howery. Rel joins multi-camera sitcom The Cool Kids in the only Fox comedy orders so far.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Friday, May 9
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 5)
Friday, May 9
- Paul Rudd (The Shrink Next Door/Living with Yourself/Wild Oats) - Watch Paul on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Matt Bomer (Mid-Century Modern) - Matt appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Asif Ali (Deli Boys) and Saagar Shaikh (Deli Boys) - Asif and Saagar are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Busy Philipps (Girls5eva/Vice Principals/Cougar Town/Love, Inc.) - Busy chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Christine Baranski (The Big Bang Theory/Happy Family/Welcome to New York/Cybill) - Christine talks about Nine Perfect Strangers on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper/For Your Love/Like Family/Love, Inc.) - Holly swings by for a chat about her new film Hats Off to Love on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Crazy Ones) and Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother/Free Spirit) - NBC's Today catches up with Sarah and Alyson in the 9am hour.
- Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - In this a little bit extra episode Drew shares more of her conversation with Brooke at the news desk on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel joins Sherri to talk about starring in the new film Juliet & Romeo, so check your local listings.
- Terri J. Vaughn (She the People/Mann & Wife/Meet the Browns/All of Us/The Steve Harvey Show) - Terri talks about starring in the new Netflix series She the People on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Julia Sweeney (Shrill/Work in Progress/Maybe It's Me/George and Leo) and Marsha Mason (Grace and Frankie/The Middle/Sibs) - Julia and Marsha talk about My First Ex-Husband on PIX11 Morinng News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/08 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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