The Super Bowl Gave Fox a Boost. Now The X-Files and a New Marvel Series Must Maintain Momentum

Fox climbed to second place in the 18-49 demo this season, largely on the backs of the Super Bowl and an epic seven-game World Series. And it hopes a shot of new supernatural-themed programming next season will help keep it there. The network’s new schedule, which it revealed ahead of Fox’s upfront presentation for buyers this afternoon at New York’s Beacon Theatre, includes its first Marvel series—an X-Men spinoff called The Gifted,—the return of The X-Files and a new X-Files-esque comedy. The network is shaking up five nights of its schedule in all, with only Fridays and Saturdays untouched from last fall. It will debut two dramas and one comedy this fall, with two additional dramas and one comedy being held for midseason. "The past few seasons were about building a strong foundation of new shows," Fox Television Group chairman and COO Dana Walden said this morning. The network is bringing back 17 series, "more than we've had in a decade." Fox’s highest-profile new series is The Gifted, which stars True Blood’s Stephen Moyer and is about a suburban family on the run because its kids have mutant powers. The pilot was directed by Bryan Singer, who has been in the director’s chair on four X-Men movies. "It’s perfect for Fox: It’s big, it’s cinematic, it’s commercial," said Walden. That series will air Mondays at 9 p.m. following Lucifer, which moves an hour earlier. [kickout id="1"] Tuesday, which for several years has started with comedies, will instead kick off with Lethal Weapon, the network’s surprise freshman hit. That will lead into a pair of returning comedies, The Mick and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. “We really see enormous potential in it," said Walden of The Mick, which broke out when it debuted midseason. Last year, Fox slotted Lee Daniels’ Star during the midseason hiatus of his other show for the network, Empire. But this season, the network is airing them simultaneously, and is shifting Empire an hour earlier for the first time. Walden called them "two great, music-infused shows that are perfectly matched, tonally and thematically." While the series is still one of TV’s most-watched, Empire's ratings fell sharply this past season. The relocated Gotham will kick off Thursdays, followed by The Orville, a science-fiction series created by and starring Seth MacFarlane, which is set 400 years in the future and is about the crew on an exploratory spaceship. It's a "really funny, accessible hour," said Walden, who noted that it will launch on Sunday, after a pair of NFL doubleheaders in the first two weeks of the season, before moving to Thursday. The Friday Hell’s Kitchen/The Exorcist combo remains intact, as does college football on Saturday. Sunday’s NFL post-game/comedy block is also largely unchanged, except for the addition of Ghosted at 8:30 p.m. That new comedy stars The Office’s Craig Robinson and Parks and Recreation’s Adam Scott as an X-Files-like duo—one is a skeptic, one believes in the paranormal—investigating strange phenomena in L.A. At midseason, Fox will have two new dramas (9-1-1 and The Resident), a comedy (LA to Vegas) and a 10-episode return of The X-Files, which was one of the network’s biggest hits—averaging 16 million viewers across all platforms—when it was first revived last season. It will also air the seventh and final season of New Girl. From Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, 9-1-1 is a procedural drama about emergency-response providers and stars Angela Bassett. Medical drama The Resident focuses on three doctors and a nurse at different stages of their careers, and stars The Good Wife’s Matt Czuchry and Revenge’s Emily VanCamp. And comedy LA to Vegas, from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, about an airline crew that takes a roundtrip flight each weekend from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Stars include Dylan McDermott. Next spring, The Simpsons will surpass Gunsmoke’s record of 635 scripted series episodes, which had previously held the record for a scripted series. Meanwhile, Family Guy will also air its 300th episode next season. After the success of Grease: Live, Fox will debut a pair of live musicals next season: A Christmas Story, which will air this December and combine elements from the 1983 classic holiday film and the Broadway musical it inspired (and feature several new songs), as well as a live version of the hit musical Rent, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Missing from the schedule: 24: Legacy, Fox's highly anticipated 24 reboot, which was given the prime post-Super Bowl slot in February. The network had hoped the franchise could survive without Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer, but audiences didn’t agree. A second season is "very much still in the mix," said Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Gary Newman, but nothing has been decided yet. While Prison Break won't be on the schedule next season, "we would definitely consider more episodes" down the line, said Walden. Fox Fall 2017-18 Schedule (New programs in ALL CAPS) MONDAY 8-9 p.m. — Lucifer (new time slot) 9-10 p.m. — THE GIFTED TUESDAY 8-9 p.m. — Lethal Weapon (new time slot) 9-9:30 p.m. — The Mick (new time slot) 9:30-10 p.m. — Brooklyn Nine-Nine (new time slot) WEDNESDAY 8-9 p.m. — Empire (new time slot) 9-10 p.m. — Star THURSDAY 8-9 p.m. — Gotham (new time slot) 9-10 p.m. — THE ORVILLE FRIDAY 8-9 p.m. — Hell's Kitchen 9-10 p.m. — The Exorcist SATURDAY 7-10:30 p.m. — Fox Sports Saturday: Fox College Football SUNDAY 7-7:30 p.m. — NFL on Fox 7:30-8 p.m. — The OT/Bob's Burgers 8-8:30 p.m. — The Simpsons 8:30-9 p.m. — GHOSTED 9-9:30 p.m. — Family Guy 9:30-10 p.m. — The Last Man on Earth MIDSEASON LA to VEGAS, New Girl, 9-1-1, THE RESIDENT, The X-Files