Fox announced on May 12 its fall prime-time schedule would include an origin story of the Batman universe and a comedy from longtime “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels.
Series that won’t be returning include the first-season comedy “Dads;” the first-season science fiction crime drama “Almost Human;” three series that premiered at midseason, the comedies “Enlisted” and “Surviving Jack” and the drama “Rake;” the animated comedy “American Dad!’ which ran for 10 seasons and will be moving to cable’s TBS; the comedy “Raising Hope,” which ran for four seasons; and the singing competition “The X Factor,” which ran for three seasons.
Of the five series Fox introduced last fall, three will return for second seasons – the drama “Sleepy Hollow,” the comedy “Brooklyn Nine- Nine,” and the cooking competition “MasterChef Junior.”
“Gotham” will star Ben McKenzie (“Southland”) as the future Commissioner James Gordon when he was a rookie detective. The series will also explain the circumstances that created such Batman villains as Catwoman (Camren Bicondova) and The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor).
The cast also includes Jada Pinkett Smith as gang boss Fish Mooney, David Mazouz as the orphaned 12-year Bruce Wayne and Sean Pertwee as his butler Alfred.
Michaels is among the executive producers of “Mulaney” an ensemble comedy created and starring former “Saturday Night Live” writer and performer John Mulaney as an aspiring comedian coming of age in New York City under the influence of his boss (Martin Short), his roommates (Nasim Pedrad and Seaton Smith) and a 71-year-old gay neighbor (Elliott Gould).
Fox’s other new fall drama is “Red Band Society” described by Fox as “a provocative, unconventional and at time comic high school drama” about a group of teenagers who meet as patients in the pediatric ward of a Los Angeles hospital. Its cast includes Oscar winner Octavia Spencer as the nurse running the ward, and executive producers include famed filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
“If you go back to ‘Beverly Hills 90210,’ ‘Glee,’ and ‘The OC,’ we have a history of young-appeal soaps,” Fox Broadcasting Entertainment Chairman Kevin Reilly told reporters on a conference call.
“This feels like the next iteration of it. It’s inspirational. It really feels like it moves the genre forward.”
Fox’s other new fall programming is the competition series “Utopia” and the 10-episode event series “Gracepoint.”
“Utopia,” billed by Fox as “television’s biggest social experiment,” will have 15 people move to an isolated, undeveloped location for a year where they will seek to create their own civilization from scratch.
“Utopia” will premiere before the start of the official television season and initially run twice a week for six weeks, Reilly said. It is created by John de Mol, who has developed such series as “The Voice,” “Big Brother,” “Deal or No Deal,” and “Fear Factor.”
“Utopia’s” Friday 9 p.m. airing is expected to be replaced by drama reruns.
“Gracepoint,” stars David Tennant, who starred in the British crime drama “Broadchurch” on which it is based, as a detective leading the investigation into the murder of a young boy (Nikolas Filipovic) in a small California seaside town. The cast also includes Emmy winner Anna Gunn (“Breaking Bad”), Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver (“Silver Linings Playbook”),
and Nick Nolte.
Fox also announced it has ordered three drama series, two live-action comedies, an animated comedy about two families living on the U.S.-Mexico border and an “event series” about a town whose residents have no communication with the outside world that will premiere at yet-to-be announced dates in 2015.
Fox also announced plans to air live an attempt to cross Idaho’s Snake River Canyon to mark the 40th anniversary of Evel Knievel’s failed effort.
Here is the Fox fall schedule:
– Sunday: Football overrun; “The OT”/”Bob’s Burgers,” “The Simpsons,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Family Guy,” “Mulaney”
– Monday: “Gotham” and “Sleepy Hollow”
– Tuesday: “Utopia,” “New Girl,” “The Mindy Project”
– Wednesday: “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Red Band Society”
– Thursday: “Bones” and “Gracepoint”
– Friday: ”MasterChef Junior” and “Utopia”
– Saturday: “Fox Sports Saturday: Fox College Football”
