Fox cancels Lucifer, while CBS picks up God.
Fox picks up Last Man Standing, drops Last Man on Earth.
The more things change, the more things stay the same.
This fall will be remembered for continued stability mixed with aggressive moves. It makes sense not to change too much, thereby keeping your brand known as a convenient location for your favorite shows. But, as networks examine their weak spots, it makes sense to shake things up.
The glacial shift we have observed for years continues as networks want to own their shows. This has never been more transparent. But when ownership changes, as it will with Disney acquiring Fox, we see the metamorphosis as Fox becomes "New Fox." The first signs of change occurred with Fox's cancellation of weaker performers. They cut loose "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Last Man on Earth," "The Mick" and "Lucifer" while negotiating a final 13-episode season for "Gotham." Devoted viewers were outraged, but for a network struggling to survive, it wasn't a bad move. The next step during these times was wondering if these shows would go elsewhere. After all, "Last Man Standing" went to New Fox a year after ABC cancelled it. Not only was this a sign of ownership, it also shows the shift at Fox (and other networks) to more traditional family comedies that broadcast networks for which networks are known. Niche shows are having a harder time. I thought this might have happened last year.
While viewers logically expected a streaming service to pick up "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," a still creatively viable comedy, it turned out that it's owner NBC Universal brought it in-house. This way, more episodes would be produced for the after-market. This scenario occurred to me the day before the show was saved:
It's debatable if "B99" even needs more episodes as its run on TBS in syndication has not been a ratings winner. But, as a viewer, it's great to have more new episodes. They didn't wind up on the fall schedule so time will tell how prominent the show's return will be on the schedule. Many years ago, shows like "Perfect Strangers" and "In the House" were picked up for an additional season with the intention of having new episodes for syndication but were summarily "burned off."
This leads to another aspect about returning series: legacy. Whether it be restoring an old show with the original cast as with "Roseanne" and "Murphy Brown" or keeping a familiar favorite available to its viewers, legacy is the i.p. (intellectual property) that studios crave. Likewise, there are remakes such as "Magnum P.I." with a new cast on CBS. Broadcast television is becoming more of a familiar night at home, while streaming originals are like "a night out."
It was no surprise that networks would play it safe but you can't guess everything right. Not knowing that "Last Man Standing" would return on Fox when I did my "fall guess" blog, I naturally thought shows like "B99" and "The Mick" would be back and that Fox couldn't languish on Tuesdays with comedies anymore. Once the dust settled, I thought "LMS" would launch a new comedy night on Fox and that Monday was ripe. But, the series got its old Friday slot from its ABC days, which also may have been a preference of star Tim Allen, who liked being a big fish on a night that was not known for hits. The series began on ABC on Tuesdays but built on Fridays after season one where it won the time slot. Instead, Fox loaded up Mondays and Tuesdays with sophomore success stories "The Resident," "9-1-1," "The Gifted" and a re-cast "Lethal Weapon." It's likely they will improve these nights.
When NBC unveiled its schedule, it was expected that they would continue building night by night and using prime slots to grow new shows. As I guessed, they used Mondays and Tuesdays at 10 for new dramas and Thursdays at 9:30 for a new comedy. They kept Wednesdays with returning favorites but few would have expected a Dick Wolf all-Chicago night. A smart way to brand the night as ABC did with "TGIT." We now have Wolf Wednesday. (Windy City Wednesday?)
ABC had leaks to plug and got creative. I expected reality Sundays at 10 but not the first prime-time talk show in a long time with "Sundays with Alec Baldwin." I imagined a Sunday comedy block at 8 with "Speechless" which did not happen. They conservatively went back to Friday comedies moving "Fresh off the Boat" and "Speechless" there, but now they go up against "Last Man Standing." They also recreated the reality hour at 9 where "Shark Tank" reigned for years with the family-friendly "Child Support." These are building blocks to restoring the TGIF brand. Their surprise was pulling a spin-off, "Dancing with the Stars Juniors" which wisely got the Sunday slot.
In an attempt to make a hit a bigger hit, they kept "The Good Doctor" Mondays at 10. Predictors think new hits should always move to save other nights, but sometimes it's wiser to let a hit grow. Then they used the post-"Roseanne" slot and "Modern Family" slots to launch new comedies and a 10 PM Wednesday drama. The big question mark is Tuesday at 10 with "The Rookie" where this cursed slot has destroyed many shows this past decade.
CBS always surprises. Whereas pundits wondered if they would shift many of their comedies to new slots to improve Mondays (a night CBS must have known needed saving), they moved none. They cut "Kevin Can Wait" and "Superior Donuts" while keeping the three Chuck Lorre shows on Thursday intact. The surprises happened when the "Murphy Brown" got the protected 9:30 slot and Monday was totally overhauled for the first time ever. This is the first time since 1949 that its Monday night has no shows that were there the previous season. "Magnum P.I." anchors the 9:00 slot as they again cut back from four comedies to two. The two comedies will feature diverse casts and coincidentally two "New Girl" alumni so that Schmidt and Coach are back-to-back. I did guess the hit "Bull" would move from Tuesdays to stabilize Mondays at 10, and to open up the post "NCIS" slot for a new show. CBS, the home of the "NCIS" and "CSI" franchises, introduces three more letters to the procedural: "FBI." "FBI is also the first Dick Wolf drama for CBS since 1997's "Feds."
Another prime slot, Sundays at 8, was the natural place for "God Friended Me." "Touched by an Angel" reigned there for years. And, of course, God knows "60 Minutes" is a great lead-in. Much of the rest of their schedule stayed intact. It took years to have a stable Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night so they will continue to flourish.
The CW, the youngest of the networks, played it safe while using its success to restore a Sunday night of programming. New hit "Riverdale" and long-timer "Supernatural" lead into new dramas on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The lower-rated shows like "Dynasty" and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" are kept on Friday. "Supergirl" moves to Sundays which may be tougher than Kryptonite on this competitive night, leading into a reboot of a Sunday-night staple from The WB, "Charmed."
It looks like all five broadcast networks have strengthened their positions. There are fewer trouble spots for each of them.
There ought to be a board game.
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