Fox Unveils Fall 2020 Schedule With ‘L.A.’s Finest,’ ‘Filthy Rich,’ And ‘NeXt’

Leading the pack, Fox is the first broadcast network to unveil its fall schedule for the 2020-2021 season amid the coronavirus pandemic which has ground filming to a halt and canceled pilot season. The broadcast network, which has announced its lineup right on schedule as it would’ve done without the pandemic, plans a regular late September launch for its fall season.

Given the uncertainty of when productions will be allowed to resume, Fox has turned to rely on scripted and reality series already in the can. This includes dramas Filthy Rich and NeXt, both of which were moved from a midseason debut to fall.

Filthy Rich stars Kim Cattrall as the widow of a mega-rich creator of a wildly successful Christian television network. After he dies in a plane crash, his family is stunned to find out that he fathered three illegitimate children, all of whom are included in his will. All falls into chaos as it threatens the family name and fortune. Filthy Rich will air Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

John Slattery headlines NeXt as a Silicon Valley pioneer who discovers that his powerful AI creation might cause a global catastrophe. It will air on Mondays at 9 p.m.

In addition to that, Fox will also be bringing forth new installments of Masterchef Junior and Cosmos to their fall lineup. This will mark Masterchef Junior’s first September premiere ever since its first season. Meanwhile, Cosmos: Possible Worlds, the third installment in the Cosmos franchise, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson was originally meant for a March 2019 release. However, it has been held back as Tyson came under investigation for sexual misconduct at the time. The series already aired on National Geographic this spring.

Fox will also be bringing a new season of its flagship series The Masked Singer in the fall. “Should conditions allow for it, we are planning production in early August of Season 4 of The Masked Singer, which we’ll target for a fall debut,” said Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch according to Deadline.

An interesting addition to Fox’s fall lineup is L.A.’s Finest, a police drama spinoff of the Bad Boys film franchise. It stars Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba. The series aired its first season as a Spectrum original and is set to debut its second on Spectrum’s VOD service in June. Fox will be running the 13-episode first season this fall on Mondays at 8 p.m. The network has also acquired the broadcast rights for its second season.

On the scripted side of its fall schedule, Fox will be airing animated comedies The Simpsons, Bless The Harts, and Family Guy as staples of its Sunday Animation Domination block. Fridays are reserved for WWE’s Smackdown Live while Thursdays remain home for NFL Football.

“The effects of this global health crisis leave no business unaffected. As a media company that prides itself on an entrepreneurial spirit and the focus that comes with doing fewer things better, we mobilized, swiftly creating an entirely new, original-programming lineup for the fall to share with our partners this upfront,” said Charlie Collier, CEO, Fox Entertainment in a statement. “In remote meetings with advertising and marketing partners over recent weeks, we sought to listen first and understand each partner’s unique concerns. Our primary goal is to help them back to business, so in turn, the message we’ve shared is one of relative stability on FOX, combining the best of primetime sports and entertainment with which to help our partners and their customers back to the market.”

Here is Fox’s fall 2020 schedule (New shows in uppercase):

MONDAY
8-9 PM — L.A.’s Finest (network television debut)
9-10 PM — NEXT

TUESDAY
8-9 PM –Cosmos: Possible Worlds (network television debut)
9-10 PM — FILTHY RICH

WEDNESDAY
8-9 PM — The Masked Singer
9-10 PM — Masterchef Junior

THURSDAY
7:30-8 PM ET/ — Fox NFL Thursday Presented By Verizon
4:30-5 PM PT
8-8:19 PM ET/ — GMC Kickoff Show
5-5:19 PM PT
8:20 PM-CC ET/ — Thursday Night Football Presented By Bud Light Platinum
5:20 PM-CC PT

FRIDAY
8-10 PM — WWE’S Friday Night Smackdown

SATURDAY
7-10:30 PM — FOX Sports Saturday

SUNDAY
7-7:30 PM — NFL On Fox
7:30-8 PM — The OT / Fox Encores
8-8:30 PM — The Simpsons
8:30-9 PM — Bless The Harts
9-9:30 PM — Bob’s Burgers
9:30-10 PM — Family Guy

Fox Now and Beyond

In terms of pilot pickups, Fox has announced that multi-cam comedy Call Me Kat has been ordered straight to series. The show based on the BBC original Miranda stars Mayim Bialik. She is also executive producing alongside Big Bang Theory co-star Jim Parsons.

Fox also gave series orders for the animated comedies The Great North and Housebroken. Both are set to debut at midseason. In addition to those, 9-1-1 and spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star will also be joining the midseason lineup as well as Duncanville, season 2 of Hell’s Kitchen, and Beat Shazam. 

In terms of renewals and cancellations, Fox has yet to decide the fate of several of its current shows. The list includes Prodigal Son, Outmatched, Last Man Standing, and The Resident. Dramas Deputy and Almost Family were recently canceled while Empire aired its last season.