The Disappointing End to Fox’s Comedy Renaissance

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily express those of The TV Ratings Guide. 

After ruthlessly yanking the series off the schedule and haphazardly tossing the remaining episodes on an island of repeats during the summer months of 2018, Fox announced that they had pulled the plug on freshman comedy Ghosted after a single season in late June of that same year. For those who follow Nielsen ratings, this came as a fairly predictable decision. Taking a program out of circulation in the middle of January and forcing it to undergo a “soft reboot” conveys that the network has all but given up on the program. It was only a matter of time before the Disney-owned company ejected its rotting carcass and fashioned together a cancellation announcement. Although the demise of Ghosted itself took no one by surprise, it marked the end of an era for the broadcasting company. Out of nowhere, Fox ordered a purge of their live-action comedy roster in May 2018.The Mick, Brooklyn Nine-Nine,The Last Man on Earth, and LA To Vegas were all erased from the network’s lineup during this overhaul. To fill the void that these unique, inventive, and acclaimed sitcoms left, the ones in charge decided to select broad, multi-camera comedies (that critics generally rip to shreds) as replacements. Ghosted remained the lone soldier in the battle to preserve the creativity that Fox had cherished during the mid-to-late 2010s. While not without flaws, the Adam Scott-led sitcom had an enticing premise that put paranormal activity and sci-fi adventure in the forefront. Its departure signaled the start of a new phase for the network. Innovation and originality lost. The cheap, bland, and lackluster have taken over.  

While CBS adored their stilted, formulaic multicams and ABC felt content with family sitcoms, Fox paved their own path by stockpiling a variety of dissimilar situational comedies. None of them fell under a single bracket or classification, each one brought its own unique traits to the table.The Last Man on Earth displayed a post-apocalyptic dystopia and consistently strayed away from ordinary sitcom storylines.Son of Zorn had a fresh concept that focused on an animated warrior interacting with humans in a real-life setting.The short-lived Making History told the story of three friends traveling back in time and witnessing various historical moments. If pitched to a network like CBS, these ideas would have never seen the light of day. Unlike its older counterparts, Fox was never afraid to try something that would not appeal to the common viewer. Sadly, that itself turned into the downfall of this collection of imaginative programming and caused the company to sever ties with the experimental. Although many appreciated these projects, critical acclaim simply does not pay bills. In reality, none of these comedies performed nearly as well as those on CBS or ABC in the lucrative 18-49 demographic. Even those that ran for multiple seasons, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Last Man on Earth, garnered ratings that other broadcast networks would have never tolerated. 

To put things into perspective, the nine comedies that aired on the Los Angeles-based network during the 2017-18 television season averaged a pitiful 0.9 rating. If one excludes the three, healthy cartoon staples (The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers) from the equation, that number drops to an outright pathetic 0.76 rating in the 18-49 demographic. In contrast, ABC managed a respectable 1.4 average for the eleven sitcoms it housed and CBS achieved a 1.32 for the ten it aired. Although Fox narrowly edged out NBC’s mean score (a 0.89 rating), the peacock network also aired comedies that year that did not fall under a single umbrella. Superstore, AP Bio and The Good Place all differed greatly from each other. Unsurprisingly, the two networks that created comedies using an assembly line thrived while the ones that attempted to stray away from the norm crashed and burned. Through this, one can easily comprehend why the Fox network decided to cleanse themselves of struggling sitcoms and start over with a clean slate.Their valiant efforts to craft a diverse, engaging group of comedies completely backfired.

Christopher Sanders (left) & Tim Allen (right)

Through reviving Last Man Standing and picking up Rel and Cool Kids for the fall 2018 season, the network seemingly adopted CBS’s strategy. They began to invest in cheap, multi-camera sitcoms. Although the latter two were canned after airing a single season apiece, the network continues to try their luck in the arena populated with blaring laugh tracks and tired clichés. In fact, the only new live-action comedy to be ordered by the network for the 2019-2020 television season was Outmatched, a multicam (not counting the miniseries The Moodys). Not one single-camera comedy is around in 2020. In sharp contrast, the 2017-18 season had six of them.The once dominant species has become extinct. 

In all, high-concept comedies simply do not belong on broadcast television. One certainly cannot put the blame on Fox for the change of heart. For many years, they populated our airwaves with eccentric shows like The Grinder, Son of Zorn, The Mick, Making History, and more. Unfortunately, they either performed poorly out the gate or only pulled strong numbers initially. Fox had no choice but to shift to a new method to revive their underwhelming sitcom department. Putting the viewpoint of critics aside, no live-action comedy they have churned out in the past decade can comfortably be called a hit when it comes to Nielsen ratings. New Girl may have performed well at one point, but it nearly became the lowest-rated comedy on broadcast television for its final season.The Last Man on Earth may have opened with a healthy 2.4 rating, but it dropped down to a 1.4 by the end of its first season and only performed worse as the years went by.

It was almost foolish to think that this fantastic resurgence that birthed wonderful single-camera gems would last very long. On the contrary, one should be thankful that it even made it this far. While Brooklyn Nine-Nine has found itself a home on NBC until at least its eight season (thanks in part to massive fan outcry), most of their comedies died a premature death. Similar to how one would handle a breakup, Fox has cleared out any last remnants of a time period that gave life to many quality programs. At the end of the day, television is a business. None of the networks cater to everyone’s taste. Even if moving to multi-cams served as a rather wise business decision, it’s painful to see what broadcast television has become. With streaming services and cable television breaking boundaries and offering unique projects that do not need to fill a certain time-span or omit inappropriate language and suggestive scenes, it’s becoming clear that broadcast has turned into a desolate land of retreads, reboots, and spinoffs. Nonetheless, while the renaissance may be over, the silver lining comes with the fact that some wonderful pieces of television were created in the process.

What did you think of this article? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Saturday TV Ratings, 3/31/18: ’The Ten CommandmƎnts’ Leads a Quiet Night (UPDATED)

Here are the final broadcast ratings for Saturday, March 31, 2018. 

Whoops. This isn't the Ten CommandmƎnts, wrong picture! (My sad attempt at an April Fools joke)

Finals Update: All shows held their preliminary rating. 

Time	Show	18-49 Rating	Total Viewers    (In Millions)
8:00pm	The Ten CommandmƎnts (ABC)	0.6	4.61
	Dateline NBC (NBC)	0.5	3.20
	NCIS (R) (CBS)	0.3	2.70
	MasterChef Junior (R) (FOX)	0.3	0.90
9:00pm	NCIS: New Orleans (R) (CBS)	0.4	3.05
	Showtime at the Apollo (R) (FOX)	0.3	0.88
10:00pm	SNL Vintage (NBC)	0.6	2.49
	48 Hours (CBS)	0.5	3.47

(R) = repeat

ABC's showing of 'The Ten Commandments' (0.6) tied for the highest-rated program of the night and was the most-watched in total viewers. 

NBC had an original 'Dateline' (0.5) and a solid 'SNL Vintage' (0.6).

CBS had drama repeats with 'NCIS' (0.3) and 'NCIS: New Orleans' (0.4). They rounded out the night with an original of '48 Hours' (0.5).

FOX had encores of 'MasterChef Junior' (0.3) and 'Showtime At the Apollo' (0.3).

#BringBackSonofZorn

The Trends Part 3: Less Reliance On The Super-Creator (UPDATED)

Welcome to The Trends! In this season, I talk about the general trends we saw come out of upfronts. If you missed the first two articles, they are found here:
Part 1: Renewing More Low-Rated Shows
Part 2: Massive Time Slot Upgrades to Newer Comedies

Every network has one or two super-creators. For example, ABC has Shonda Rhimes, who has given them Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and The Catch. Her shows used to be automatic pick-ups, and although she is still a super-creator, her popularity isn't what it was even a year ago. While President Channing Dungey mentioned she'd take what Shonda would give her, the second season of The Catch did even worse than the first, and got canceled. Her newest entry, Still Star-Crossed, is going to air over the summer and doesn't have a ton of promotion. While it is airing after The Bachelorette, that far from means automatic hit. She does have two shows on next season's schedule; upcoming law drama For The People, as well as a Chicago Fire-like Grey's Anatomy spinoff. If those shows don't do well, with Scandal ending and How to Get Away with Murder declining, Shonda Rhimes soon may not have the presence she once did. Of course, Grey's Anatomy is still going strong.

While Shonda Rhimes is ABC's only super-creator, they were very close to having two more in Goldbergs creator Adam Goldberg and Blackish creator Kenya Barris. Goldberg gave ABC their midseason comedy entry Imaginary Mary, which was fractional throughout its run and promptly got canceled. He also had in development a Goldbergs spin-off named Schooled, which was to take place in the 90s starring a tertiary character. It wasn't ordered, and Adam Goldberg will have to stay content with The Goldbergs, when he could have had three shows on the air. Kenya Barris had an even worse last couple weeks. His drama pilot Unit Zero was officially passed on, and prized possession Blackish will air on Tuesday now instead of the comfy post-Modern Family time slot that it's known for its three years on the air. Furthermore, while some considered political comedy Libby & Malcolm to be a frontrunner of the pilot season, ultimately it wasn't ordered to series. With both of those passed on, it seemed like the Blackish spin-off would receive a series order. While it did, the backdoor pilot wasn't overly well-received, and the show will air on Freeform where it will almost certainly see much lower ratings.

The above is a key art for Dick Wolf's newest Chicago series, Chicago Justice. He's been cranking out a new show every season, with Justice being the fourth show in the franchise. While its ratings were nothing to brag about on Sundays, they also seemingly weren't terrible. Regardless, it is in a unique situation where a week after NBC released their fall schedule, and it was just recently canceled. Meanwhile, four post-Voice occupants--dramas Taken and Timeless as well as comedies Trial & Error and Great News--have been renewed with lower ratings. Deadline mentioned that Chicago Fire and PD haven't sold into syndication, which has gotten NBC to rethink the whole Chicago plan and maybe downsize. Even breakout freshmen hit Chicago Med, which fizzled out in its move to Thursday but still did better than those post-Voice shows, did not make the fall schedule. Furthermore, Dick Wolf was planning on making a reality show called Law & Order: You the Jury, but between both the existence and failure of FOX's series You the Jury, the consensus is that it probably won't ever make it to air. Wolf can take solace in the fact that his anthology series Law & Order: True Crime will be airing after This is Us, though the shows do not seem to be thematically compatible and it isn't an automatic success. While Dick Wolf is doing better than the days where NBC canceled both Law & Order and new spin-off Law & Order: LA, it seems that a Chicago show is no longer an automatic renewal. It also shows that four shows of one franchise on the air at the same time may be too much, and Dick Wolf fans would rather see Law & Order take on the theme of law than a Chicago show.

Over on FOX, they were very close to having a comedy super-creator with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who became famous for directing The Lego Movie. With their first FOX show, The Last Man On Earth, becoming a breakout hit in spring 2015, FOX gave the green light to two more of their shows: half-animated, half-live action comedy Son of Zorn, which aired in that highly-coveted Sunday at 8:30 fall time slot; and time traveling comedy Making History. Most of Son of Zorn's run was masked by boosts from football overrun, but without it the show went lower than any other FOX comedy. Making History, meanwhile, premiered low and went lower. FOX rightfully canceled both shows, with The Last Man On Earth hanging in there for a 4th season, though it's no longer a breakout hit. At this point, if we're looking at super-creators at FOX, we should look at the slight resurgence of Seth MacFarlane. He recently lost both The Cleveland Show and American Dad (moved to TBS), and Bordertown was also abruptly canceled after just 13 episodes. With hour-long drama Orville on the fall schedule, MacFarlane will go back to having more than one show on the air. Lee Daniels is another one to watch; while Empire has fallen tremendously, it's still one of the biggest hits on television, and next season they will air the second season of his other music drama, Star, right after it to make up their Wednesday nights.

So to recap, Shonda Rhimes lost The Catch, Adam Goldberg and Kenya Barris didn't exactly have the pilot season they may have wanted, Dick Wolf went from four to two Chicago shows on the schedule, and Lord/Miller went from three and back to one. But Great News carries on. Great News, which comes from Tina Fey, recently hit a 0.7 A18-49 Live + Same Day demo airing directly after The Voice. Like fellow Fey products 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, as well as fellow NBC comedy Superstore, Great News may have a solid streaming fanbase. Or NBC could be in love with Tina Fey and/or really, really hated The Sackett Sisters. Next season, it will air between Will & Grace and This is Us, anticipated to be a time slot that is the best NBC could offer a show in years. The story of Great News is so unprecedented that it has made it into all three installments of The Trends so far. It seems that NBC did not want to keep Tina Fey off the schedule, and gave Great News the treatment not given to The Catch, Libby & Malcolm, Chicago Justice, Son of Zorn, etc. Also, there is Greg Berlanti, who has given The CW Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Riverdale, and the upcoming Black Lightning. He also has Blindspot still kicking at NBC despite the ratings not being what they used to be. Berlanti's shows make up half of The CW's fall schedule, and it doesn't seem like he'll stop any time soon.While his production company had some shows pitched to other networks that weren't ordered to series, he's still right up there with the ranks of Shonda, Wolf, and co.

What do you think of all this? Let me know in the comments below!

Son of Zorn Season 1 Review

Son of Zorn wrapped up its inaugural (and possibly sole) season tonight, and I've got lots of thoughts on it.

Son of Zorn, since the day I first heard about it, has intrigued me. The season has had its share of good, great, and disappointing episodes. This show was so inconsistent, with some great episodes like the Thanksgiving episode followed by a good but not great episode. One thing was undeniable, the show found its footing after weaker start, and I loved to tune in each week to see what kind of an episode we would get. Sometimes, I'd be disappointed, but most times I'd sit through 20 minutes of enjoyable TV that I'm going to miss greatly. What I loved about this show is that yes, the premise is weird. But that weird premise allowed it to do things other sitcoms could not. The ability of this show to be different and funny was why I was always excited to watch each week.

The cast of this show was great, and weirdly had great chemistry with Zorn. Tim Meadows made me laugh every single episode as the dorky but lovable Craig, and me was my favorite member of this all-around strong cast. Even though I loved Craig, there's no denying that the heart and soul of this show was Zorn. He provided laughs constantly, and the best plots always involved him.

I'm not going to say that this show was without its flaws, it had problems. It didn't quite reach its full potential in this season. I feel that not going to Zephyria was a mistake. I think that could have provided some funny moments, as the animated characters and the pure weirdness of Zephyria was great. Ultimately, despite the show being named after him, Alan was one of the weakest parts of the show. His character rarely provided laughs, and the best scenes involving his character always involved Zorn.

Ultimately, Son of Zorn was a good show that was always enjoyable and never anything less than fun. I never found myself bored, which is always a good thing. I always found myself enjoying the performances by everyone. I don't expect to see another season of this weird, funny, and interesting show, but I will welcome it with open arms if it happens.

Season Grade: 8.5/10
Season Score: B+
MVP: Tim Meadows
Episode of the Season: The Battle of Thanksgiving

Beyond The TV Grave: Son of Zorn

This is the 'Beyond The TV Grave' series where I shell out my thoughts on shows that were canceled after airing no less than 5 episodes and no more than 50. 

photo: geek.com

From the first moments I laid eyes on the trailer in mid-May to the season finale in late-February, there was always something I saw in Son of Zorn: potential. Whether it fulfilled that potential or not is entirely up in the air. It's very unlikely that we'll see any more of Zorn outside the initial 13-episodes thanks to disappointing ratings so I will treat this as more of a series recap.

One thing stands, an animated warrior returning home to his live-action son and ex-wife is a solid concept. The execution is where Zorn falls a bit flat. Many times in the season, I felt that it wouldn't make much difference whether Zorn was on the screen or simply a live-action Jason Sudeikis. Take, for example, the radioactive ex-girlfriend episode. Without the cool animation of Zorn deteriorating after having sex with Wilde's character, it's simply a story about an ex who is jealous that his fiance is engaged, a plotline we have seen countless of times. Another example of this is in the drinking buddy episode. In that episode, an old buddy of Zorn comes to visit, but to Zorn's dismay, he has matured. Son of Zorn may coat the picture with a different color but at the end of the day, it's the same picture.

Don't get me wrong, Zorn does go outside the standard sitcom box many times. One of my favorites is the episode where Zorn uses a body double to get out of work. In the end, the body double is about to self-destruct with Edie, Linda, and Craig attempting to stop it. This episode, while embodying some standard sitcom tropes, brings in a cartoony, or should I say Zephyrian, element reminiscent of 80's and 90's Saturday morning cartoons. Other episodes like Taste of Zepryia provide a humorous parallel to real life topics like racism without ever actually referencing it. 

Outside of the animated warrior, most side-plots featured Alan or Edie & Craig. The character of Craig was easily the best out of this trio, whether he is arguing with Zorn or bonding with Alan, he never strayed away from his "nice guy" personality and gave so much depth to a character that could easily have been a caricature. Linda, the boss at sanitation solutions, was another great character

who Zorn hilariously mistook as a man until he had sex with her. 

The character of Alan didn't provide much of the comedy in the season, as he ended up being the stereotypical unpopular kid. Still, his stable demeanor played well off of Zorn's narcissistic one and I felt happy to see him gain popularity, despite being short-lived, in the penultimate episode. 

Minor characters ranged from funny to forgetful. Alan's girlfriend, Layla, was there more to move the plot along than be an actual character. On the other hand, Todd, Zorn's co-worker, was a welcome addition to the cast. The few animated characters, Headbutt Man and the Radioactive Girlfriend, were the best parts of the episodes they were featured in. 

Son of Zorn, like most shows, started out pretty shaky, but the last batch of episodes, starting with "The Battle of Self-Acceptance", has gotten a lot better. The finale itself, on the other hand, felt rather rushed, and the cliffhangers were unnecessary.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Son of Zorn was never a bad show, it simply didn't take full advantage of its potential-rich concept. Nevertheless, there was still more good than bad, and I would be more than open for another season.

Grade: B-

What do you think of Son of Zorn? Tell me in the comments below.