Schedule Rewind: The Fall 2025 Broadcast Network Schedule Shows a Significant Drop in Sci Fi TV and Scripted Programming in General

Schedule Rewind: A look back at the Prime Time schedule from seasons past and network decisions impacting sci fi and fantasy shows.

I am taking a slightly different, numbers-based approach to this column this time around as I compare the schedule for the Fall 2025 broadcast networks ten years back to demonstrate how sci fi TV—and scripted programming in general—is on the decline at those venues. When you look at the lineup from the five broadcasters (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and The CW) that started off the current season, you will see a notable shift in programming compared to the Fall 2015 schedule. This emphasizes the trend that scripted programming is getting fewer and fewer hours in Prime Time as reality shows and other non-scripted programming become more prevalent. This trend is also true among the basic cable channels, as the old-school linear networks are shying away from costly originals and replacing those with less expensive shows to fill up their lineup.

When tallying up all the hours in Prime Time across the five channels, the 2025 season kicked off with only 37.1% scripted original shows vs. 62.9% unscripted. Reality/competition shows are taking a larger chunk of the schedule, but the networks are also increasing sports programming, news/documentary, and encore movie runs (which I do not count as original scripted content). Comparing back ten years earlier to the Fall 2015 schedule, only 24.4% of the schedule hours were unscripted, so we are definitely seeing a notable change.

Looking at this by network, you see that ABC basically flip-flopped its programming from where it was ten years ago. Scripted went from 73.7% to 26.3% and vice versa. CBS, on the other hand, only saw a slight decrease in its scripted programming, going from 84.2% in Fall 2015 to 70.3% in Fall 2025. Its unscripted programming did increase, but that network is still leaning more heavily on originals, many of which fit the Prime Time–friendly format like cop shows, sitcoms, and general dramas. Fox is another network that made a dramatic shift to unscripted programming, going from 19.2% of its lineup in 2015 to 71.4% in 2025. NBC had the most unscripted programming back in 2015 at 42.1% of its lineup, and it has increased to 63.2%, but it is not as leveraged there as ABC and Fox. The CW had only one unscripted show in Prime Time at the start of Fall 2015, back when the Arrow-verse and other genre entries were dominating the schedule, but by Fall 2025, 81.8% of its schedule consisted of non-scripted shows.

Taking a look at this by category emphasizes how sci fi and fantasy entries have fallen out of favor with the broadcast networks. As Fall 2015 kicked off, 21.3% of the scripted shows across the broadcasters fell into that bucket, the second-highest among the category breakouts. But by Fall 2025, that fell to 1.2%–the lowest among the categories–comprising just two shows (Ghosts and Krapopolis). And while the earlier numbers were heavily driven by The CW, there were still some notable genre entries across the other broadcasters including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Once Upon a Time, Grimm, Sleepy Hollow, Limitless, and more. Of all the scripted categories, sci fi/fantasy has experienced the biggest drop, and I don’t expect to see a turnaround on that any time soon—if at all.

This follows along with trends that I have been tracking as we see the number of genre entries decline along with scripted shows in general. This is in part a consequence of the excesses of the Peak TV era, as we are seeing a market correction verging on a bursting of the bubble. The linear channels—particularly the broadcast networks—have shown less interest in sci fi and fantasy, in part because it is not a safe Prime Time genre. These shows tend to draw smaller audiences based on the Nielsen tracking, and they are more expensive to produce. So the old-school networks are leaning more heavily on Prime Time-friendly scripted shows (particularly action/crime dramas, which saw only a slight decline over that ten-year period) or turning to reality, competition, sports, and other options.

The streaming services continue to put out a fair amount of scripted shows in the sci fi and fantasy genres, but their numbers have decreased over the last few years as well (more on that at this link). Again, this is a post-Peak TV reaction, and I do believe that genre entries will continue to thrive on those venues (and to a lesser extent the premium cable channels like HBO). But the broadcast networks and basic cable channels continue to decrease their scripted output as they also become less of a force in the television landscape. I believe that as streaming continues to increase its hold on the television audience, and as viewers continue to flee from cable and satellite providers, those old-school channels will become second- and third-tier networks and eventually jump to the digital airwaves or streaming to survive.

Below are the full Fall schedules for both seasons:

Keep up with the status of all the current sci fi and fantasy shows as well as news and updates on new and upcoming shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

Cancellation Watch: Status updates and breaking news on renewals and cancellations

Sci Fi TV Highlights: Listings for the upcoming week along with the latest sci fi TV news and trailers.

Sci Fi TV Production Report: News on which sci fi TV shows are moving into production.

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