Fox 2019-2020 Primetime Schedule and New Series
By Will Thorne
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Fox’s first primetime schedule since the Disney merger leans heavily on animated, with only two new dramas and one new animated comedy premiering this fall.
Here’s the schedule and descriptions of the new scripted series:
FALL 2019-20 SCHEDULE
(New programs in UPPER CASE; all times ET)
MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM — 9-1-1
9:00-10:00 PM — PRODIGAL SON
TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM — The Resident
9:00-10:00 PM — Empire
WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM — The Masked Singer
9:00-10:00 PM — NOT JUST ME
THURSDAY
7:30-8:00 PM — Thursday Night Football Pregame Show
8:00 PM — NFL Football
FRIDAY
8:00-10:00 PM — WWE’S Smackdown Live
SATURDAY
7:00-10:30 PM — Fox Sports Saturday: Fox College Football
SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM — NFL On Fox
7:30-8:00 PM — The OT / Fox Encores
8:00-8:30 PM — The Simpsons
8:30-9:00 PM — BLESS THE HARTS
9:00-9:30 PM — Bob’s Burgers
9:30-10:00 PM — Family Guy
NEW FALL DRAMA SERIES
“NOT JUST ME”
Executive producer Jason Katims and writer Annie Weisman bring you the story of an unusual family formed through extreme odds. Exploring such hot-button issues as identity, human connection and what it truly means to be a family, this unconventional dramedy taps directly into the zeitgeist, harnessing the emotional complications that new generations of IVF-bred children all face. Only child Julia Bechley (Brittany Snow) finds her life turned upside down when her father, Leon Bechley (Timothy Hutton), reveals that, over the course of his prize-winning career as a pioneering fertility doctor, he used his own sperm to conceive upwards of a hundred children. Reeling from this explosive revelation, Julia discovers two new sisters – her former best friend, Edie Palmer (Megalyn Echikunwoke), and an ex-Olympic athlete, Roxy Doyle (Emily Osment). As these three young women begin to embrace their new reality, Julia must figure out what life is like without Leon by her side; Edie comes to grips with her burgeoning sexuality, as her marriage falters; and Roxy faces adulthood out of the spotlight. Against all odds, the three women will attempt to form an untraditional bond as sisters, even as they must welcome a tidal wave of new siblings into their rapidly expanding family.
The series is produced by Universal Television and Fox Entertainment
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Jason Katims, Jeni Mulein, Imogen Banks, Sharon Levy
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/WRITER: Annie Weisman
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Leslye Headland
“PRODIGAL SON”
From Emmy Award-nominated executive producers Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter and writers Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver, “Prodigal Son” is a fresh take on a crime franchise with a provocative and outrageous lead character and a darkly comedic tone. Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne) has a gift. He knows how killers think, how their minds work. Why? Back in the 1990s, his father was one of the best, a notorious serial killer called “The Surgeon.” That’s why Bright is the best criminal psychologist around; murder is the family business. He will use his twisted genius to help the NYPD solve crimes and stop killers, all while dealing with a manipulative mother, annoyingly normal sister, a homicidal father still looking to bond with his prodigal son and his own constantly evolving neuroses.
Meet the happy family. Dr. Martin Whitly (Michael Sheen) is intelligent, wealthy and charismatic, and also happens to be a predatory sociopath who killed at least 23 people. Bright’s mother, Jessica Whitly (Bellamy Young), an elegant and WASPy New Yorker, wields sarcasm like a samurai sword and has an opinion on every aspect of Bright’s life. Perhaps Bright’s only ally is his sister, Ainsly Whitly (Halston Sage), a TV journalist who wishes her brother would “take a break from murder” and have a normal life. Unfortunately for his sister, the only way Bright feels normal is by solving cases with the help of his longtime mentor, NYPD Detective Gil Arroyo (Lou Diamond Phillips). Arroyo’s one of the best detectives around, and he expects no less from his team – Detective Dani Powell (Aurora Perrineau), a headstrong no-nonsense cop who quickly becomes impressed with Bright’s work; and Detective JT Tarmel (Frank Harts), a born-and-bred New Yorker who questions whether Bright is a psychopath himself. So much for normal.
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Warner Bros. Television, Berlanti Productions, FOX Entertainment
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS/WRITERS: Chris Fedak, Sam Sklaver
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Lee Toland Krieger
NEW COMEDY SERIES
“BLESS THE HARTS”
Created and executive-produced by Emily Spivey, “Bless The Harts” is a new half-hour animated comedy that follows the Harts, a Southern family that is always broke, and forever struggling to make ends meet. They one day hope to achieve the American dream, but they’re already rich – in friends, family and laughter. Jenny Hart (Kristen Wiig) is a single mother supporting her family working as a waitress in the small town of Greenpoint, NC.
While Jenny’s the head of her family, she’s often at odds with, or scheming with, her lottery scratcher-obsessed mother, Betty (Maya Rudolph), and her witty, creative daughter, Violet (Jillian Bell). Jenny’s doting, eternal optimist boyfriend of 10 years, Wayne Edwards (Ike Barinholtz), is the love of her life and a surrogate father to Violet. He’s a charming dreamer who may never hit the big time, but he’s not going to give up the fight. In the end, the Harts may not have much, but they may just have everything they need.
PRODUCTION COMPANY: 20th Century Fox Television, FOX Entertainment
CREATOR/EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Emily Spivey
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Kristen Wiig, Seth Cohen
NEW MIDSEASON DRAMAS
“9-1-1: LONE STAR”
9-1-1, expands its reach to the city of Austin, TX, with new installment, 9-1-1: Lone Star, starring Rob Lowe. From 9-1-1 co-creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear, 9-1-1: Lone Star follows a sophisticated New York cop (Lowe), who, along with his son, re-locates, and must try to balance saving those who are at their most vulnerable with solving the problems in his own life.
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox Television, Ryan Murphy Television, Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision
CO-CREATORS/WRITERS/EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Tim Minear
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Rob Lowe
“DEPUTY”
From writer/executive producer Will Beall and director/executive producer David Ayer, Deputy blends the spirit of a classic Western with a modern-day attitude and emotionally driven, visceral storytelling. Featuring an ensemble of ambitious and complicated human beings who won’t rest until justice is served, Deputy brings a gritty authenticity to the modern cop drama. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is one of the largest police forces in the world, but when the elected Sheriff dies, an arcane rule in the county charter, forged back in the Wild West, suddenly thrusts the most unlikely man into the job. That man is Bill Hollister (Stephen Dorff). A fifth-generation lawman, Bill is only interested in justice; his soul wears a white hat. The bad guys don’t stand a chance, but neither do the politicos in the Hall of Justice.
Under Bill’s command is a county-wide crew of LA’s finest, including Deputy Cade Ward (Brian Van Holt), a former Marine stationed in Afghanistan, eight years sober and one of Bill’s few confidantes; Deputy Rachel Delgado (Siena Goines), Walker’s partner, a meticulous officer who is knee-deep in a nasty divorce; Deputy Breanna Bishop (Bex Taylor-Klaus), the whip-smart, sarcastic driver in charge of Bill’s security detail; and Deputy Joseph Blair (Shane Paul McGhie). The dangers associated with the job often lead the police to LA County General Hospital, where Bill buts heads with Dr. Paule Reyes (Yara Martinez), the hospital’s chief trauma surgeon – and his wife. Given a job he never wanted, in an unfamiliar sea of politics, Bill quickly learns that doing what is expected and doing what is right are two different things, and that his innate, dogged pursuit of justice is the only skill the job truly requires.
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Entertainment One, FOX Entertainment
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/WRITER: Will Beall
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: David Ayer
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Chris Long, Barry Schindel
“FILTHY RICH”
From writer/director Tate Taylor comes Filthy Rich, a southern Gothic family drama in which wealth, power and religion intersect – more correctly, collide – with outrageously soapy results. Meet the Monreauxes, a mega-rich Southern family famed for creating a wildly successful Christian television network. On the cusp of launching a digital retail arm of the company, the family’s patriarch, Eugene (Gerald McRaney), dies in a plane crash (or so we think), leaving Margaret (Kim Cattrall), a now-“Oprah” to the religious and Southern communities, to take charge of the family business. Not surprisingly, Eugene’s apparent death greatly impacts the Monreaux children: Eric (Corey Cott), the couple’s ambitious son, who assumes he will now run the show; and daughter Rose (Aubrey Dollar), a budding fashion designer, who constantly struggles to evade the vast shadow cast by her mother. If that wasn’t enough, the Monreauxes are stunned to learn that Eugene fathered three illegitimate children, all of whom are written into his will.
Now, Margaret must use her business savvy and Southern charm to control her newly legitimized heirs, whose very existence threatens the Monreaux family name and fortune: Ginger (Melia Kreiling), the tough-as-nails daughter of a Vegas cocktail waitress, whose life was virtually destroyed by Eugene’s rejection; Antonio (Benjamin Levy Aguilar), a single dad and boxer from Queens, NY; and Jason (Mark L. Young), another scion, who is not what he seems to be. With monumental twists and turns, not to mention lies, deceit and shade from every direction, Filthy Rich presents a world in which everyone has an ulterior motive – and no one is going down without a fight. The series is based on the New Zealand format created by Filthy Productions Limited.
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox Television, Imagine Entertainment, FOX Entertainment
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tate Taylor
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo, John Norris, Abe Sylvia
PRODUCER: Kim Cattrall
“neXt”
From creator and executive producer Manny Coto and executive producers and directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, neXt is a propulsive, fact-based thriller about the emergence of a deadly, rogue artificial intelligence, a series that asks us to look closely not only at our relationship to technology, but to one another. Silicon Valley pioneer Paul LeBlanc (John Slattery) built a fortune and legacy on the world-changing innovations he dreamed up, while ignoring and alienating the people around him, including his own daughter, Aabby (Elizabeth Cappucino), and his short-sighted younger brother, Ted (Jason Butler Harner), who now runs Paul’s company. After discovering that one of his own creations – a powerful A.I. called neXt – might spell doom for humankind, Paul tried to shutter the project, only to be kicked out of the company by his own brother, leaving him with nothing but mounting dread about the fate of the world. When a series of unsettling tech mishaps points to a potential worldwide crisis, LeBlanc joins forces with Special Agent Shea Salazar (Fernanda Andrade).
Having escaped crime, poverty and a deadly criminal father to remake herself as a force for good, Salazar’s strict moral code and sense of duty have earned her the respect of her team – a talented but contentious group held together by her faith in their ability to defy expectations and transcend their differences, including Gina (Eve Harlow), a high-strung cybercrime agent; Ben (Aaron Moten), a straight-laced, buttoned-up hard worker, who is boring to the point of being interesting; and CM (Michael Mosley), an ex-con hacker with a genius IQ. But the demands of Shea’s challenging job have taken their toll on her home life, where Salazar’s young son, Owen (Evan Whitten), has been raised primarily by his father, TY (Gerardo Celasco), a recovering alcoholic. Now, LeBlanc and Salazar are the only ones standing in the way of a potential global catastrophe, fighting an emergent super-intelligence that, instead of launching missiles, will deploy the immense knowledge it has gleaned from the data all around us to recruit allies, turn people against each other and eliminate obstacles to its own survival and growth. Marrying pulse-pounding action with a layered examination of how technology is invading our lives and transforming us in ways we don’t yet understand, neXt presents us with a villain unlike anything we’ve ever seen – one whose greatest weapon against us is ourselves.
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox Television, FOX Entertainment
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/WRITER: Manny Coto
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: John Requa, Glenn Ficarra
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Charlie Gogolak
MIDSEASON COMEDIES
“DUNCANVILLE”
From Golden Globe winner Amy Poehler and Emmy Award winners Mike and Julie Scully comes Duncanville, an animated family comedy centered around a spectacularly average 15-year-old boy with a rich fantasy life, and the people in his world. Like most 15-year-olds, Duncan (Poehler) can see adulthood on the horizon: money, freedom, cars, girls…but the reality is more like: always being broke, driving with your mom sitting shotgun and babysitting your little sister. He’s not exceptional, but he has a rich fantasy life where he’s never anything less than amazing. Duncan’s mom, Annie (Poehler), a parking enforcement officer who dreams of someday being a detective, lives in perpetual fear that her teenage son is one bad decision from ruining his life and will do anything to stop him from doing so. Duncan’s father, Jack (Ty Burrell), a classic-rock-obsessed plumber who’s determined to be a better dad than the one he had, is constantly posting on Facebook – and annoyed that his kids won’t “friend” him. Duncan’s younger sisters are 12-year-old Kimberley (Riki Lindhome), an awkward, emotional girl who can hold grudges forever; and six-year-old Jing, who adores her older brother maybe a little too much and whose catchphrase is, “Watch me!,” followed by the world’s slowest cartwheel.
Helping Duncan navigate adolescence are his friends, class clown Bex (Betsy Sodaro); trendy influencer Yangzi (Yassir Lester); aspiring troubled youth Wolf; and his on-again, off-again crush, Mia (Rashida Jones), who never met a cause she wouldn’t dedicate her life to. The coolest guy in their school is Mr. Mitch (Wiz Khalifa), the universally loved teacher/guidance counselor, and occasional gym coach and school nurse, due to budget cuts. Animated by Bento Box Entertainment, Duncanville is in the long tradition of Fox Sunday night animation, and has just started production on a line of over-priced, shoddily produced merchandise for the whole family.
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox Television, Universal Television, FOX Entertainment
CO-CREATORS/EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Mike Scully, Julie Scully, Amy Poehler
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Dave Becky
“OUTMATCHED”
From writer/executive producer Lon Zimmet comes Outmathced, a multi-camera family comedy about a blue-collar couple in Atlantic City trying to raise four kids – three of whom just happen to be certified geniuses. For most parents, parenting is hard. But for Cay (Maggie Lawson), a caustic, take-no-prisoners casino pit boss, and husband Mikr (Jason Biggs), a handyman and uncultivated guy’s guy, parenting may as well be advanced calculus. Dealing with the demands and egos of three high-IQ children would be tricky for any parent, but it’s especially hazardous for two working stiffs who barely got through high school. Mike and Cay are committed to bringing some normalcy to their kids’ hectic, unconventional childhoods, but these geniuses don’t make it easy. Leading the charge is Brian (Connor Kalopsis), a condescending and pretentious 16-year-old math whiz, who thinks he already knows more about the world than Mike and Cay ever will, even though he’s never actually been out of New Jersey.
His 15-year-old sister, Nicole (Ashley Boettcher), is a deceptive and fiercely competitive language prodigy who can manipulate her parents into getting anything she wants. The youngest and most recently anointed child prodigy is Marc (Jack Stanton), a 10-year-old music savant. Introverted and idiosyncratic, he just wants everyone to leave him alone, so he can become the next Beethoven in peace. The only child not driving their parents crazy is eight-year-old Leila (Oakley Bull), who is decidedly not a genius. In fact, she might be kind of dumb. She’s the only kid Mike and Cay even remotely understand. Outmatched takes an honest and heightened look at every parent’s worst fear – that they’re “ruining” their kids. When you have children with the type of gifts that can change the world, the pressure is really on. Raise them right, and these kids could cure cancer, stop global warming or invent time travel. But screw it up, and you could unleash three new super villains into the universe – good luck!
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox Television, FOX Entertainment
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/WRITER: Lon Zimmet
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Judge
DEBUTING IN 2020
“THE GREAT NORTH”
From executive producer Loren Bouchard, animated comedy The Great North follows the Alaskan adventures of the Tobin family, as a single dad does his best to keep his weird bunch of kids close, especially as the artistic dreams of his only daughter lead her away from the family fishing boat and into the glamorous world of the local mall.
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox Television, FOX Entertainment
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Loren Bouchard
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS/WRITERS: Wendy Molyneux, Lizzie Molyneux, Minty Lewis
VOICE CAST: Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Jenny Slate, Will Forte, Paul Rust, Aparna Nancherla, Dulcé Sloan
GUEST VOICE CAST: Alanis Morissette
