New Rocky Horror Picture Show coming to Fox

NEW YORK — Fox’s fall schedule will feel like a trip to the multiplex, with its two new dramas being remakes of the popular movies Lethal Weapon and The Exorcist and a one-time new version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show booked for Halloween week.

The network unveiled its first season schedule in a decade and a half without American Idol, announcing a total of 11 new series. They include a short run of a familiar Fox franchise, 24: Legacy, which will première in February directly after Fox’s broadcast of the Super Bowl.

Lethal Weapon, which will air on Wednesday nights prior to Fox’s most popular show, Empire, stars Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans, Sr. as the crimefighting duo Riggs and Murtaugh. The Exorcist will air on Fridays, the story centred around two priests trying to cure a family of demonic possession.

“This is an intense psychological thriller that’s scary as hell,” said Gary Newman, chairman and CEO of the Fox Television Group.

The other new Fox series coming in the fall is Son of Zorn, a hybrid of animation and liveaction about a warrior from a faraway island trying to win back his ex-wife and son.

Laverne Cox is featured as Dr. Frank-n-Furter in the new version of Rocky Horror. Tim Curry, featured in the 1975 original movie, will appear as narrator.

As is becoming typical in television, fall is no longer the sole première season. Fox will sprinkle new series throughout the year, and promised that more than 90 per cent of its schedule next season will be original programming.

“Our audience is not interested in repeats and that requires a tremendous amount of original programming,” Walden said.

Empire creator Lee Daniels is making a new music-based series, Star, which will take over the Empire time slot when the established show goes on a midseason hiatus. Queen Latifah and Benjamin Bratt are featured in Star, which follows three singers trying to make it in show biz.