The TV Column

Fox following a supernatural trend with 3 shows

Star Trek spoof The Orville is on the Fox fall schedule. It stars (from left) Seth MacFarlane, Penny Johnson Jerald, Adrianne Palicki, Halston Sage and guest star Brian George.
Star Trek spoof The Orville is on the Fox fall schedule. It stars (from left) Seth MacFarlane, Penny Johnson Jerald, Adrianne Palicki, Halston Sage and guest star Brian George.

Today we continue our look at the broadcast networks' recent upfront presentations that highlighted their fall lineups for advertisers.

We covered NBC on Thursday and today we'll focus on the Fox Network, where the trend is supernatural for the three new shows -- one drama, one tongue-in-cheek spoof and one comedy.

Getting the early buzz is The Orville, a live-action Star Trek spoof from the prolific Seth MacFarlane and Jon Favreau.

Viewers will know MacFarlane as the creator of Family Guy, co-creator of American Dad! and The Cleveland Show and the writer, director and star of the Ted films.

The live-action series is set 400 years in the future and follows the adventures of The Orville, a midlevel exploratory spaceship, and its human and alien crew. Of course there's the requisite android.

Science buff MacFarlane plays the ship's commanding officer. Adrianne Palicki (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Friday Night Lights) is his ex-wife and first officer.

Fox is billing this as "an ensemble comedic drama." It will remind some of Tim Allen's Galaxy Quest.

The lone straight-up drama is The Gifted, produced with Marvel. Stephen Moyer (True Blood) and sci-fi icon Amy Acker (Angel, Dollhouse, Person of Interest) star as a suburban couple who discover their children have mutant powers.

They are forced to go on the run from the government and seek help from an underground network of mutants.

The solitary new comedy is Ghosted, starring Craig Robinson (The Office) and Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) as a sort of Mulder and Scully recruited to investigate unexplained phenomena in Los Angeles. Robinson is the skeptic and Scott is the true paranormal believer in this team.

Speaking of The X-Files, 10 new episodes starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are set for midseason. I wasn't all that impressed by the last "event" effort, but plenty of viewers were, enough to bring it back for another "limited" round.

Music? Fox will present a live musical of A Christmas Story in December, as well as a live presentation of the musical Rent sometime during the season.

Also for midseason, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk will produce 9-1-1. It's about the lives of first responders after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The series will include Angela Bassett.

The Resident will deal with three doctors at different stages of their careers and a dedicated nurse. It stars Matt Czuchry (The Good Wife) and Emily VanCamp (Revenge).

And Will Ferrell will produce LA to Vegas, a workplace comedy starring Dylan McDermott about a cheap airline and its eccentric passengers.

For concerned fans of New Girl, the series will get a seventh and final season, but it was the end of the road for Pitch, Rosewood, Scream Queens, Sleepy Hollow, Son of Zorn, APB and Making History.

24: Legacy is off the table at the moment, but could return once star Corey Hawkins is finished with his Broadway run, and Prison Break: Resurrection was always considered a one-shot deal, but has not been ruled out if all the stars align.

Here's what the Fox fall nightly schedule looks like.

Monday: Lucifer; The Gifted.

Tuesday: Lethal Weapon; The Mick; Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Wednesday: Empire; Star.

Thursday: Gotham; The Orville.

Friday: Hell's Kitchen; The Exorcist.

Saturday: Fox Sports Saturday -- Fox College Football.

Sunday: NFL on Fox; The OT/Bob's Burgers; The Simpsons; Ghosted; Family Guy; The Last Man on Earth.

PROGRAM NOTE

Still Star-Crossed premieres at 9 p.m. Monday on ABC. The period drama is produced by Shonda Rhimes' ShondaLand and ABC Studios.

Premise: Following the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet, the rivalry between the Montague and Capulet families escalates in Verona, which is far more racially diverse since the show comes from ShondaLand and is designed for a modern audience.

Newcomer Lashana Lynch shines as Rosaline Capulet.

Otherwise, there's plenty of swashbuckling soap opera mayhem in this lavish, overwrought production that takes itself extremely seriously.

The series is rated TV-14 for dialogue and violence.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Style on 05/28/2017

Upcoming Events