Fox Loads Up on Unscripted Series for 2023-24
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For the second straight year, Fox is not releasing a fall schedule at its upfront presentation. Whenever the network does announce its plans, it will include a healthy dose of unscripted programming.
The broadcaster did release its slate of primetime series for the 2023-24 season Monday morning, and it features near parity between the number of scripted (13) and unscripted (12) shows. The latter category includes renewals for Farmer Wants a Wife and Special Forces; new game shows Snake Oil, hosted by David Spade, and We Are Family, hosted by Jamie and Corinne Foxx and from the same producers as Beat Shazam; and the returns of I Can See Your Voice, which took the 2022-23 season off, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, last seen on Fox way back in 2014 — when it shared space on the schedule with the first seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Sleepy Hollow.
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(The news of We Are Family comes a few days after Corinne Foxx announced on social media that dad Jamie Foxx had been released from the hospital and was recuperating following a health scare last month.)
Animated series Krapopolis and Grimsburg will also join the network in 2023-24 after giving series orders to both in 2021. The two shows have already been picked up for additional seasons.
“Across every genre of FOX’s 2023-24 lineup, we continue to attract the brightest, most prolific creators in the industry,” Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade said in a statement. “As a result, our content portfolio continues to deliver balance and variety in its storytelling through the strength and stability of our returning favorites and tremendous creativity of our new series.”
With the Writers Guild of America strike putting production on potential fall scripted shows very much in limbo, the lack of a schedule announcement from Fox makes some sense. CBS largely ignored the strike in announcing its fall plans, while NBC’s schedule is at least partly strike-proof as some of its scripted shows filmed before the strike began.
“Rather than announce a schedule today that we may not be able to meet, we’re holding back until we see what’s going to be available when,” Dan Harrison, Fox’s executive vp program planning and content strategy, told reporters Monday. “We will have original entertainment scheduled in a coherent way in the fall.”
Harrison also noted that due to the way animation production works, Fox will have original episodes of its Sunday animated block ready for the fall. The network doesn’t have any live-action scripted shows in the can, but Fox did give an early renewal to The Cleaning Lady that allowed the show to get ahead on writing.
In addition to the new unscripted shows, Fox is also adding two dramas to its 2023-24 lineup: Doc is a medical show about a doctor recovering from a traumatic brain injury, and Rescue: Hi-Surf follows a group of heavy-water lifeguards in Hawaii.
We Are Family is a musical game show in which non-famous relatives of celebrities — athletes, actors and recording artists — perform musical duets with their famous family members (who are hidden from view). The studio audience will be made up of contestants trying to win money by guessing the identities of the hidden celebrities. Apploff Entertainment (Beat Shazam) and Fox Alternative Entertainment are producing, with Jeff Apploff, Jamie Foxx and showrunner Matilda Zoltowski executive producing.
Snake Oil will feature contestants hearing pitches for outlandish products from entrepreneurs — some of whom are genuine and others of whom are fake. The show comes from Fox Alternative Entertainment and Electric Avenue (Lego Masters), with Will Arnett, Marc Forman and showrunner Neal Konstantini exec producing. Spade is a producer.
Fox has yet to make decisions on the futures of the animated series Housebroken and its mockumentary comedy Welcome to Flatch. The recently ordered animated show Universal Basic Guys/Hoagie Bros is targeted for 2024 but might fall outside of the 2023-24 season.
The network’s primetime slate for 2023-24 is below.
Comedy
Animal Control
Bob’s Burgers
Family Guy
The Great North
Grimsburg
Krapopolis
The Simpsons
Drama
911: Lone Star
Accused
Alert: Missing Persons Unit
The Cleaning Lady
Doc
Rescue: Hi-Surf
Unscripted
Farmer Wants a Wife
Hell’s Kitchen
I Can See Your Voice
Kitchen Nightmares
Lego Masters
Lego Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular
The Masked Singer
Name That Tune
Next Level Chef
Snake Oil
Special Forces
We Are Family
Sports
Fox College Football
WWE Smackdown
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