Fox Unveils 2023-24 Programming Slate, Does Not Announce Fall Schedule For Second Straight Year

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Fox Entertainment will have its new CEO, Rob Wade, making his debut at the network’s upfront presentation today. In a sign of continuity, he will unveil the Fox content slate for the 2023-2024 television season but not a schedule. The network first broke with tradition by not presenting a fall grid at the upfront last year; Fox announced fall schedule and premiere dates June 6.

The network did away with unveiling a fall schedule at its May 2022 presentation because, in media companies’ multi-platform pitch to advertisers, that does not have the importance and urgency it once did. That strategy is even more timely this year because of the uncertainty surrounding the networks’ fall schedules amid the ongoing WGA strike.

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“One of the big lessons we learned from the pandemic is how to pivot and be flexible. The WGA strike has a similar effect on our business requiring us to be agile and adapt to evolving circumstances. Rather than announce a schedule today that we may not be able to meet this fall, we will hold back until we have a better handle on what programming will be available to us and when,” Dan Harrison, EVP of Program Planning and Content Strategy, Fox Entertainment, said during the network’s pre-upfront press call. “No one has a crystal ball about the duration or impact of the strike. Once we have a clear view we will announce our plan. We are confident our primetime schedule will be presented with original entertainment for our audience.”

With Wade — previously Fox’s head of alternative — at the helm, the network is ramping up reality fare with a 2023-24 slate that has scripted and unscripted content almost on par vs. the longtime traditional scripted skew. That was done with the potential work stoppage in mind.

“Our content portfolio continues to deliver balance and variety in its storytelling,” he said.

Overall, Fox’s 2023-24 programming slate features 13 returning series, five Season 2 renewals of all of the network’s freshman shows, and six new series.

In scripted, Fox is not bringing back the last two remaining live-action series ordered under the old business model when the network was vertically integrated with 20th Television, 9-1-1 and The Resident, as it is focusing on owned and co-owned content. The void left by 9-1-1, which was picked up by 20th TV sibling ABC, will be felt as it was Fox’s highest-rated scripted series.

Returning Fox series include dramas 9-1-1: Lone Star (Season Five), Accused (Season Two), Alert: Missing Persons Unit (Season Two) and The Cleaning Lady (Season Three); comedy Animal Control (Season Two); animated series Bob’s Burgers (Season 14), Family Guy (Season 22), The Great North (Season Four) and The Simpsons (Season 35); and unscripted series Farmer Wants a Wife (Season Two), Hell’s Kitchen (Season 22), I Can See Your Voice (Season Three), LEGO Masters (Season Four), The Masked Singer (Season 10), Name That Tune (Season Three), Next Level Chef (Season Three) and Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test (Season Two). (The only current Fox series whose fate has not been decided is comedy Welcome To Flatch.)

New series include medical drama Doc and action-drama Rescue: HI-Surf, from executive producer John Wells; two Bento Box animated comedies originally unveiled at last year’s upfront, Krapopolis, from Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon, and Grimsburg, starring and executive-produced by Jon Hamm; as well as unscripted series Snake Oil, a game show hosted and produced by David Spade and executive-produced by Will Arnett, and music guessing game show We Are Family, hosted by Jamie Foxx and co-hosted by his daughter, Corinne Foxx. Fox also is resurrecting Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and is ordering a second LEGO Masters multiple-night holiday event LEGO Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular.

Here are more details about Fox’s new series:

Dramas:

DOC

Based on the globally acclaimed Italian series, Doc — Nelle tue mani, which was created and is produced by Lux Vide, a Fremantle Company, and featured Simona Tabasco and Beatrice Grannò of The White Lotus, Fox’s Doc is a new medical drama centered on the hard-charging, brilliant Dr. Amy Elias, Chief of Internal and Family Medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis. After a brain injury erases the last eight years of her life, Amy must navigate an unfamiliar world where she has no recollection of patients she’s treated, colleagues she’s crossed, the soulmate she divorced, the man she now loves and the tragedy that caused her to push everyone away. She can rely only on her estranged 17-year-old daughter, whom she remembers as a 9-year-old, and a handful of devoted friends, as she struggles to continue practicing medicine, despite having lost nearly a decade of knowledge and experience. Doc is co-produced by Sony Pictures Television and FOX Entertainment Studios. Barbie Kligman serves as Showrunner and Executive Producer. Hank Steinberg (Channel Road Productions) and Erwin Stoff (3 Arts Entertainment) are Executive Producers. Created by Francesco Arlanch and Viola Rispoli, Doc — Nelle tue mani debuted in Italy on Rai 1 in 2020, where it ranked as the network’s #1 series premiere since 2007. Since then, the series format has been sold in 12 countries with seven versions already made.

HI-SURF

From prolific, award-winning executive producer/director John Wells (Shameless, The West Wing, ER) and executive producer/writer Matt Kester (Animal Kingdom, Outsiders), pulse-pounding Hawaii lifeguard drama Rescue: HI-Surf follows the personal and professional lives of the heavy-water lifeguards who patrol and protect the North Shore of O’ahu—the most famous and dangerous stretch of coastline in the world. Each episode will feature these dedicated, heroic, and adrenaline-seeking first-responders saving lives in the difficult and often life-threatening conditions of Hawaii’s Seven Mile Miracle. Rescue: HI-Surf is co-produced by Warner Bros. Television and Fox Entertainment Studios. Matt Kester created the series. Kester, John Wells and Daniele Nathanson are Executive Producers and co-Showrunners. Erin Jontow (John Wells Productions) is also an Executive Producer. Kester will write the first episode, and Wells will direct the first two episodes.

Animated comedies:

KRAPOPOLIS

Krapopolis: L-R: Hippocampus (Duncan Trussell), Shlub (Matt Berry), Tyrannis (Richard Ayoade), Deliria (Hannah Waddingham) and Stupendous (Pam Murphy)/Fox
Krapopolis: L-R: Hippocampus (Duncan Trussell), Shlub (Matt Berry), Tyrannis (Richard Ayoade), Deliria (Hannah Waddingham) and Stupendous (Pam Murphy)/Fox

From Emmy Award-winning creator Dan Harmon (Rick and Morty, Community) comes Krapopolis, an animated series like no other. Set in mythical Ancient Greece, the series centers on a flawed family of humans, gods and monsters that tries to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other. The series’ voice cast features Emmy Award winner Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd), Matt Berry (What We Do in The Shadows), Pam Murphy (Mapleworth Murders) and Duncan Trussell (The Midnight Gospel). In the series, Ayoade voices “Tyrannis,” the mortal son of a goddess. He’s the self-involved, narcissistic King of Krapopolis trying to make do in a city that lives up to its name. Waddingham plays “Deliria,” Tyrannis’ mother, goddess of self-destruction and questionable choices. Within her extended Olympian family – forged in patricide and infidelity – she’s known as the trashy one. Berry is “Shlub,” Tyrannis’ father, a mantitaur (half centaur [horse + human], half manticore [lion + human + scorpion]). He is oversexed and underemployed, claims to be an artist and has literally never paid for anything, in any sense of that word, for his entire life. Murphy voices “Stupendous,” Tyrannis’ half-sister, daughter of Deliria and a cyclops. Trussell plays “Hippocampus,” Tyrannis’ half-brother, offspring of Shlub and a mermaid, and, obviously, a hot mess, biologically speaking. Krapopolis is owned by Fox Entertainment and produced by Bento Box Entertainment. Dan Harmon is Creator and Executive Producer. Jordan Young is Executive Producer and Showrunner (Season One). Alex Rubens is Executive Producer and Showrunner (Seasons Two & Three).

GRIMSBURG

All-new animated comedy Grimsburg stars Emmy Award winner Jon Hamm (Mad Men, Top Gun: Maverick), who also serves as an executive producer on the series. In Grimsburg, Marvin Flute (Hamm) is a brilliant detective with opinions as eccentric as his taste, who can’t help but prioritize his own personal problems — whether it be his family or petty differences among his co-workers — over the crimes he’s tasked with solving. Now that he’s back in Grimsburg, a town where everyone has a secret or three, Flute will follow every lead he’s got to redeem himself with the ex-wife he never stopped loving, even if it means hanging out with the son he never bothered to get to know. Grimsburg is owned by FOX Entertainment, and produced by Bento Box Entertainment. Catlan McClelland and Matthew Schlissel created the series and serve as co-Executive Producers. Gail Berman, Hend Baghdady, Chadd Gindin, Connie Tavel and Jon Hamm serve as Executive Producers. Chadd Gindin serves as Showrunner.

Unscripted series:

SNAKE OIL

All-new game show Snake Oil is hosted and produced by Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated comedian David Spade (Saturday Night Live, Just Shoot Me) and executive-produced by Emmy nominee Will Arnett (LEGO Masters, Arrested Development), through his Electric Avenue Productions. In the show’s all-new original format, contestants are pitched unique products by convincing entrepreneurs – some of whom are showcasing real business ventures, while the others are “Snake Oil Salesmen,” whose products are fake. With the help of guest celebrity advisors, contestants must determine which products are real and which are a sham, for a chance to win life-changing money. In each round of Snake Oil, contestants choose a pair of entrepreneurs and learn about their extremely unique (and often bizarre) products through visuals, a custom-made infomercial exclusively produced for Snake Oil, and by quizzing the business representative themselves. With the help of their celebrity advisors, the contestants must then decide who is selling an authentic product and who is hawking a sham. Will they make the right choice or be duped by snake oil?! Snake Oil is produced by FOX Alternative Entertainment and Electric Avenue. Will Arnett, Marc Forman and Neal Konstantini serve as Executive Producers, and Konstantini serves as Showrunner. David Spade is a Producer.

WE ARE FAMILY

We Are Family is an all-new music guessing game show hosted and executive-produced by Jamie Foxx and co-hosted by his daughter, Corinne Foxx. Showcasing non-famous relatives of celebrities performing duets with their hidden famous family member, We Are Family will feature a studio audience entirely comprised of 100 contestants playing through multiple rounds of clues and gameplay to win up to $100,000 each by correctly guessing which celebrity the performer is related to before they are revealed. Celebrities appearing on We Are Family will range from musicians and professional athletes to actors and beyond. The series is co-produced by Apploff Entertainment and Fox Alternative Entertainment, which created the program. Jeff Apploff, Jamie Foxx and Matilda Zoltowski are Executive Producers, and Zoltowski is Showrunner.

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