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
Sunday, September 8
Universal Basic Guys - "Pet Projects (Pilot)" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Threatened by a doctor's kindness toward Tammy, Mark tries to get her an exotic animal; Hank bonds with the chimpanzee via its bluetooth; David's dog saves David and Mernft Man from a pet snake.
Bob's Burgers - "The Big Stieblitzki" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
The family gets invited to Rudy's father's birthday party; Tina attempts to convince a woman to commit to a relationship with Rudy's father.
The Great North - "Welcome To Miami Adventure" / "Worst Drives Club Adventure" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Coming off the heels of her break-up, Judy is taken on a wild adventure with Honeybee and Aunt Dirt; Judy tries to learn to drive.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 2)
Friday, September 6
- Kumail Nanjiani (Bless the Harts/Silicon Valley) - Watch Kumail on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Michael Keaton (Report to Murphy/Working Stiffs/All's Fair) - Michael appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Conner O'Malley (Shrill) - Conner is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Edie Falco (Bupkis/Nurse Jackie) - Edie talks about her film I'll Be Right There on NBC's Today in the 10am hour and on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Josh Gad (Wolf Like Me/Avenue 5/The Comedians/1600 Penn/Back to You) - Josh is joining Drew and telling her about getting denied from his college's musical theater program and making his return to Broadway after eleven years with bestie Andrew Rannells on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Diane Farr (Splitting Together/Like Family/The Job) - Diane discusses the CBS drama series Fire Country on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
04/03 - Too Close for Comfort - The Complete Series (VEI)
04/08 - Check It Out! - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/21 - Frasier (2023) - Season One
06/11 - The Jeffersons - The Complete Series (2024 Release)
06/11 - Welcome Back, Kotter - The Complete Series (2024 Release)
07/05 - Letterkenny - Season 12 (Final Season)
07/30 - Ted Lasso - The Richmond Way (The Complete Series) (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/10 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-7
09/10 - Ted - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/17 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
09/17 - Top Cat - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/24 - Friends - The Complete Series (4K Ultra HD)
09/24 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Seventh Season (DVD) / The Complete Series (DVD) (Blu-ray)
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
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