FOX Renew/Cancel (Reality Update): House of Fear Should Have No Fear

 

Photo Credit: Fox

Below are the February 22nd Fox renew/cancel predictions for reality programming in the 2025-2026 television season. The table embedded includes the Adults 18-49 ratings average of each program.

Fear Factor: House of Fear: Recently, Fox has been spreading the wealth by gifting NFL lead-ins to multiple non-animated offerings. Fear Factor: House of Fear was perhaps the luckiest beneficiary, debuting with a 1.6 rating thanks to that assistance. But the true test came when House of Fear moved to its actual home on Wednesday nights. There, it posted a 0.26 rating, retaining more than three-fourths of its lead-in. Since then, it has lost some steam, but its latest installment came with a promising uptick (0.21, +0.02). Fox clearly has confidence in this revival, as they first aired it after an NFL playoffs game and then gave it a slot behind The Masked Singer. There also appears to be genuine interest for the series on Hulu, so House of Fear begins as a likely renewal. 


The Masked Singer: If the football-inflated premiere rating was taken out of House of Fear's average, The Masked Singer would be the top-rated reality program on Fox. While it is no longer the ratings phenomenon it was in its early years, the series remains reliable and consistent. It begins as a certain renewal. 

99 to Beat: 99 to Beat finished its season with a solid 0.26 rating, and it is currently scheduled to air repeats on Saturday nights until late April. The signs remain positive, so it is a likely renewal.


The Floor: Earlier this month, Fox renewed The Floor for multiple seasons. This was a correct prediction for The TV Ratings Guide, as it was previously listed as a certain renewal. 

Next Level Chef: Next Level Chef scored a multi-season renewal in 2025, so it will be returning next season. 

Next Level Baker: Next Level Baker is the lowest-rated reality series on a network that is potentially set to expand its scripted presence. Being tied to the Ramsay brand could boost its chances, but Fox has stronger options. Baker is likely to be canceled. 

The TV Ratings Guide	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30
Mon	Extracted		Memory of a Killer
Tues	Best Medicine		Doc
Wed	The Masked Singer		Fear Factor: House of Fear
Thurs	Next Level Chef		Animal Control	Going Dutch
Fri	Fox College Hoops
Sun	Family Guy	Universal Basic Guys	American Dad!	Family Guy

Renewed

Certain Renew

Likely Renew

Likely Cancel

Certain Cancel

Canceled

FOX Renew/Cancel Week 2: FOX Has 99 Problems, But "Beat" Ain’t One

Photo Credit: FOX

Below are the October 19th Fox renew/cancel predictions for the 2025-26 television season. The table embedded includes the Adults 18-49 ratings average of each program. The "Y2Y (year-to-year) Change" column compares a show's current average to its average from the previous season.  

Monday: Name That Tune continues to be one of the weaker offerings on Fox, stabilizing at a tepid 0.14 rating for the past three episodes. Tune's streaming presence is nonexistent, and its numbers are below the other unscripted offerings, but Fox has kept it around for years despite shortcomings. Unless it truly dips into dire territory, it should be set to return for another go. The same could be said for Celebrity Weakest Link, which started out at a decent level but has since been dragged down by Tune. Link recently showed some life again by building on its lead-in and rising to a 0.16. Growing from a show that airs after local programming is no easy feat, so it remains in the green.

Tuesday: A previous headline about Doc having more patients than before has not stood the test of time. The sophomore drama recently dropped to a new series low, posting a mere 0.15 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. The once promising drama actually fell behind Murder in a Small Town (0.16) in its latest outing, a show that few would classify as a ratings winner. But Nielsen ratings are only one part of the picture, and Doc is still one of the network's best performers on Hulu. While it has been a disappointing season overall, Doc remains certain to return.

Wednesday: Aside from The Simpsons and The Floor, new game show 99 to Beat is the only Fox show to consistently stay above a 0.20 this season. While its latest rating (0.21) serves as a new low, this performance still places it ahead of the Monday and Tuesday shows. At least for now, Beat is the least of Fox's problems and likely to score a renewal.

Thursday: Hell's Kitchen started the season with a 0.18 but has since worked its way up to a 0.23. This is a common trend for a Gordon Ramsay series and means that this long-running staple is a certain renewal. Special Forces is not quite as strong, often posting a 0.16 or 0.17, but it is doing well enough to start as a likely renewal.

Sunday: After a sluggish spring, The Simpsons (0.27) returned with a surprising amount of life in it. Since then, it has gotten enough help from The OT to land at the top of the chart. And with a football-boosted Treehouse of Horror installment set to air on the 19th, it will stay #1 for quite some time. Universal Basic Guys has not done nearly as well as last season, but it remains somewhat serviceable at 8:30. Krapopolis, on the other hand, has been very underwhelming as the 9 p.m. anchor, which has taken a toll on Bob's Burgers. All four are already renewed for next season.

The TV Ratings Guide	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30
Mon	Name That Tune		Celebrity Weakest Link
Tues	Murder in a Small Town		Doc
Wed	The Floor		99 To Beat
Thurs	Hell's Kitchen		Special Forces: World's Toughest Test
Fri	College Football
Sun	The Simpsons	Universal Basic Guys	Krapopolis	Bob's Burgers

Renewed

Certain Renew

Likely Renew

Likely Cancel

Certain Cancel

Canceled

FOX Renew/Cancel Week 23: Is "Krapopolis" Secretly In Its Second Season? + FOX March Madness Voting Continues!

Predictions for 03/30/24 

Photo Credit: Fox

Below are the Week 23 renew/cancel predictions for the Fox network in the 2023-24 television season. The numbers listed in the table mark the Nielsen rating low, average, and high for each respective program in the Adults 18-49 demographic. The "Y2Y (year-to-year) Change" column denotes how much the series has risen or fallen when compared to its average from the previous season. Because of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, there is a limited amount of scripted programming this spring. As a result, reality television will continue to be included in this column. Now that scripted programming is returning, scripted and reality will be split into two separate charts. 

Scripted

Reality

Krapopolis: Though it almost felt like the star of Fox's fall 2023 lineup for being the only new scripted series on the network, Krapopolis has fallen off the radar since. Ratings have diminished to slivers as those prime football lead-ins are no longer in the picture. The animated comedy can currently be found hovering in the frighteningly low 0.11-0.15 range in the Adults 18-49 demographic. The latest episode of Krap managed a meager 0.13 rating and declined from a Simpsons episode (0.17) that serves as the latter's lowest-rated installment. To cut Krap some slack, retention here really isn't all that different from the 8:30 offerings of years past, but The Simpsons is just so low this spring that the show airing after it can't even afford to drop from it. Regardless, it seems Fox is disappointed in this show's performance. According to Futon Critic, an episode with the production code "KRA-201" aired on February 18th. Since then, episodes 209, 204, 202, and 203 have also aired. This makes it clear that Fox has finished airing the 13-episode first season of Krapopolis and is now trying to burn through episodes from its second production cycle as fast as possible. Episodes with a "20_" production code would probably have been saved for Fall 2024 if Krapopolis was a ratings winner. Instead, it appears Fox has buyer's remorse and is trying to get rid of their Krap stockpile. So, even though Krapopolis scored a three-season renewal last year, it will probably be gone a lot sooner than expected. 

Animal Control: Animal Control climbed to a 0.22 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic, setting a new season high in the process. This looks great on paper, but it only seemed to happen because its Masked Singer lead-in (0.43) rose significantly and comedy competitor Abbott Elementary was in repeat-mode. Up is up, but this growth does not signify that Animal Control is suddenly building an audience, it just benefited from better circumstances. But, considering the early renewal it got, this is more than enough for it to survive on Fox. 

Hell's Kitchen: Fox recently renewed Hell's Kitchen for two more seasons. This serves as a correct prediction for this column and should come as no surprise. Outside of The Floor and The Masked Singer, Hell's serves as one of the network's strongest reality options. Fox seems to have a solid relationship with Gordon Ramsay, and his shows almost always deliver when it comes to Nielsen ratings. This one was a given. 

Fox Renew/Cancel March Madness Continues!

Our NCAA-style "March Madness" bracket tournament continues this week and will wrap up next week. Alert fans put up a good fight, but it was The Simpsons that pulled ahead. Family Guy, meanwhile, completely trounced Grimsburg in its match-up. The Cleaning Lady pulled off a similar feat against Krapopolis. And Bob's Burgers held a comfortable lead against Animal Control. The remaining two matches are shown below, please vote!

Note: The bracket above depicts the voting data collected between March 23, 2024 and March 30, 2024. Any voting that happens after that cannot be recorded for the sake of moving the tournament forward.

Second Chance and Hell's Kitchen Switch Time Slots

Today I predicted Second Chance as Certain to be Canceled, and right after that FOX decided to

FOX

move it to Friday. Definitely not a sign of hope for the show that's aired two episodes behind their highest-rated show at the moment, with Empire on hiatus.

Taking Second Chance's spot on Wednesday will be...Hell's Kitchen, which was originally supposed to air on Fridays. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below, and remember first-time commenters, you no longer need a Disqus account to comment!