Fox dives in with lifeguard drama, murder mystery series
Fox is going “basic” and “Baywatch”style with three new scripted series this fall.
The network is adding “Rescue: HISurf,” a lifeguard drama filmed in Hawaii, and mystery series “Murder in a Small Town,” a detective story based on the 2017 Karl Alberg novel set in an idyllic village. New animated comedy “Universal Basic Guys” centers on two brothers who find new purpose when they lose their jobs to automation.
Also returning to the fall lineup: Anthology series “Accused,” which works backward to deconstruct a crime, and rescue-drama spinoff “9-1-1: Lone Star,” which took a one-season strike-related hiatus. It stars Rob Lowe, who also hosts game show “The Floor.” (The original “9-1-1” moved to ABC in March after
Fox canceled it, citing its high cost, marking a rare example of a show and its spinoff airing on rival networks.)
This season’s schedule has been dominated by unscripted reality and game shows, thanks mostly to the prolonged actors and writers strikes, which didn’t affect the network’s Sunday animation lineup.
College football games will replace “WWE Friday Night SmackDown,” which moves to USA Network in September.
At midseason, look for new medical drama “Doc,” starring Molly Parker; “Going Dutch,” starring Denis Leary as an army colonel in the Netherlands; and the returns of “The Cleaning Lady” and “Alert: Missing Persons Unit,” along with comedies “Animal Control” and the animated “Family Guy,” “The Great North” and “Grimsburg.” Fox also airs the Super Bowl in February and will follow it with an episode of “HI-Surf.”
The animated “Housebroken,” which most recently aired last summer, will not return.