'American Idol' on its way out
"American Idol" will return in January for its 15th and final season, Fox said Monday as it announced its 2015-16 schedule.
The Fox series that other networks once referred to as the "Death Star" is finally on its way out.
"American Idol" will return in January for its 15th and final season, Fox said Monday as it announced its 2015-16 schedule.
And the network's previously announced limited series, "The X-Files," gone from Fox nearly as long as "Idol" has been on the air, will return on Jan. 24 in a two-night premiere whose first night follows the NFC championship game, after which it will air for five consecutive Mondays.
"Empire," the network's breakout hit from this season, will return this fall with 18 new episodes, to be divided into two nine-episode blocks.
No doubt hoping for one final ratings surge from "Idol," Fox execs promise a "celebratory" season.
"It is going to be a true, seasonlong celebration," said Fox Television Group co-CEO Gary Newman in a conference call with reporters Monday morning.
Does that mean that any or all of the original judges — Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson — might be back in some fashion?
"We would welcome any of them back," said Newman's co-CEO Dana Walden, who didn't get into specifics but said they were having conversations with "American Idol" producers "about anything that you can imagine."
New on the schedule: one new "comedy-horror" anthology, Ryan Murphy's "Scream Queens," four new comedies and four new dramas.
One thing that's entirely new is the fall lineup for Tuesday nights, often a sign that a network lacks enough hits to protect new shows.
Walden spun that as a plus, saying the network was "looking to create a big, noisy star-packed night of television."
That means that the new John Stamos comedy, "Grandfathered," in which the "Full House" veteran plays a bachelor who discovers he's not just a father, but a grandfather, will be paired with "The Grinder," starring Rob Lowe as an actor who decides that having long played a lawyer on TV means he's qualified to join his family's law firm.
Those two Tuesday comedies will be followed by the "Glee" creators' "Scream Queens, starring Emma Roberts and Jamie Lee Curtis. The season will presumably be closed-ended (and with a high body count), in the manner of Murphy's "American Horror Story." It will focus on a sorority house.
New fall dramas include: "Minority Report," based on the 2002 film, about efforts to stop crimes before they happen, and "Rosewood," starring Morris Chestnut ("The Best Man" as a private pathologist working in Miami.
You don't get space for new shows without losing old ones. Among the casualties announced last week was "The Following," which starred Philly's Kevin Bacon and will end after three seasons of declining ratings.
Two more dramas, "Lucifer" and "The Frankenstein Code," and two comedies, "The Guide to Surviving Life" and "Bordertown," were announced for midseason.
Returning shows include: "Gotham," "Empire," "Bones," "Sleepy Hollow," "Masterchef Junior," "World's Funniest," "Bob's Burgers," "The Simpsons," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Family Guy," "Last Man on Earth," "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?", "New Girl" (which will be back in January, scheduled to run for 22 consecutive episodes), "Boom!," "Hell's Kitchen," "Home Free" and "So You Think You Can Dance."
Outta here: Besides "The Following" and "The Mindy Project," "Backstrom," "Mulaney" and the extremely short-lived "Utopia" — a "reality" series originally billed as a yearlong social experiment — won't be returning.
Fox fall 2015 schedule
MONDAY
8-9 p.m. "Gotham"
9-10 p.m. "Minority Report" (new)
TUESDAY
8-8:30 p.m. "Grandfathered" (new)
8:30-9 p.m. "The Grinder"(new)
9-10 p.m. "Scream Queens" (new)
WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. "Rosewood" (new)
9-10 p.m. "Empire"
THURSDAY
8-9 p.m. "Bones"
9-10 p.m. "Sleepy Hollow"
FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. "Masterchef Junior"
9-10 p.m. "World's Funniest"
SATURDAY
7-10:30 p.m. Fox Sports Saturday: Fox College Football
SUNDAY
7-7:30 p.m. "NFL on Fox"
7:30-8 p.m. "The OT"/"Bob's Burger's"
8-8:30 p.m. "The Simpsons"
8:30-9 p.m. "Brooklyn Nine-Nine"
9-9:30 p.m. "Family Guy"
9:30-10 p.m. "The Last Man on Earth"