All the broadcast networks have been struggling mightily in the ratings this Fall season with FOX hurting the most, and as I have been predicting, that network is going through a major schedule revamp at mid-season.. I had also been saying that sci fi comedy The Last Man on Earth would likely end up on the wrong side of that and Sleepy Hollow is likely on its way out, and this new lineup appears to prove that out. The former series is getting put on hold after Fall and the later series it getting moved to Fridays, likely as a burn-off for its remaining season three episodes. We already know that Minority Report will wrap up after its Fall run as its episode order was cut to ten from thirteen. And under-performing Scream Queens will air out the rest of its “limited run” and likely just get tacked on to the American Horror Story syndication package as a bonus season (FOX owns both shows). The only survivor of all this will be Gotham which will return to Mondays after the X-Files revival has its limited run starting in January. Two new genre entries will debut at mid-season and FOX is giving them both good timeslots to start off their runs. Lucifer (based on the Vertigo comic by Neil Gaiman) will get the post X-Files timeslot and Second Chance (previously title The Frankenstein Code then Lookinglass) will get the Wednesday post-American Idol timeslot (you can see the full FOX schedule at this link). As for the shows that ended up on the wrong end of FOX’s shuffling (The Last Man on Earth, Sleepy Hollow, Minority Report, and Scream Queens), none have been officially cancelled at this point. But we likely will not learn their fates until season end (more on that at this link), and I wouldn’t put good money on those returning for another year.
Also announced yesterday, FX has renewed American Horror Story for a sixth season. That announcement does not come as a huge surprise despite the fact that the show’s numbers are down this year. It started out its fifth season with an impressive 3.0 score based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic, though its most recent episode had slipped to just half that number. But it is still the highest rated scripted show on the cable channels not named The Walking Dead and it is outpacing or holding even with quite a number of shows on the Big Four broadcast networks. Plus, one more season gets the show to an episode count of 77 total which makes it more attractive to the syndication market and that could push ninety if Scream Queens is tacked onto the package as I have suggested above. So AHS gets to stick around for at least one more season and possibly more.
The announcements keep coming in this crazy season, so be sure to keep an eye on this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for any more breaking news over the coming weeks because I am sure there are more developments on the way.
