News from the Fox den
Lynn Elber offers tidbits from the Television Critics Association summer meeting, where networks and streaming services highlight upcoming programs.
FOX’S FOUR
Fox will counter its onetime powerhouse American Idol with a new singing contest, The Four.
The network cancelled its long-running American Idol last year because of dwindling ratings and rising costs, only to see it snapped up by ABC for an early 2018 debut.
Fox Television Group CEO Dana Walden, announcing the new series Tuesday, said there’s room for a “fresh” take on the contest format as she defended the axing of American Idol.
While other shows are “more about celebrity panels and less about star-making,” Walden told a TV critics’ meeting, The Four will be the opposite.
The show’s prize: a career guided by the show’s panel, which Fox indicated is likely to be drawn from music producers, songwriters and perhaps a pop star-mentor.
Specifics on the air date, panellists and host for The Four will be coming later, Fox said.
SUNNY SIDE UP
Seth MacFarlane is seeking escape from the current wave of dystopian science fiction, and his vehicle is The Orville.
MacFarlane said Tuesday he wants to recapture an optimistic view of the future in his new space adventure for Fox, one that echoes past Star Trek series.
He told a TV critics’ meeting he also wants to buck the trend of serialized dramas, with each one-hour episode of The Orville a self-contained story.
He said continuity is provided by the characters, including the Orville captain that MacFarlane plays in the show he created.
The show, set 400 years in the future, will include comic elements, MacFarlane said, but isn’t a satire in the style of space movies Galaxy Quest or Spaceballs.
The Orville debuts Sept. 10 on Fox.