The Fox fall 2018-19 schedule includes the return of Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing and the new comedy The Cool Kids, both airing in a Friday night comedy block.
Allen’s series ran for six seasons on ABC before being canceled at the end of the 2016-17 season. Many fans believed that Allen’s conservative views were part of the reason his show was axed. That theory was kind of blown out of the water with ABC’s revival of “Roseanne,” starring right-leaning Roseanne Barr, which is now a huge hit for ABC.
Dana Walden, co-CEO of Fox Television Group, told reporters on a conference call Monday that although the success of “Roseanne” on ABC was an indicator that reviving “Last Man Standing” might work, the network had been trying to make it happen ever since ABC canceled Allen’s show.
Co-CEO Gary Newman added that the network tried to find a place for the multi-camera comedy at that time, but it was canceled too late to make a move work.
“Last year when ‘Last Man Standing’ was canceled, we really looked for an opportunity to move it to our schedule and we just didn’t have the right show to pair it with,” Newman said.
Fox is pairing it with “The Cool Kids,” a multi-camera comedy from Charlie Day (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) about a group of senior friends who decide its never too late to have fun.
A returning series added unexpected drama to the network’s scheduling for fall. “Lethal Weapon” star Clayne Crawford had been fired from the series, leaving producers to scramble for a replacement. On Sunday Fox announced that Seann William Scott would join the show as a brand new character, and that with his hiring the show was renewed. It will pair with the X-Men-inspired “The Gifted” on Tuesdays.
Fox’s surprise hit “9-1-1” moves to Mondays with “The Resident.” while Wednesdays remains the same with “Empire” and “Star.” NFL football takes over Thursday nights this fall and much of Sunday.
The new live-action comedy “Rel” debuts Sundays at the end of the long-running animated comedy block on “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy” and “Bob’s Burgers.” “Rel” stars Lil’ Rel Howery as a husband and father who learns his wife cheated on him with his barber.
Freshman dramas “The Passage” and “Proven Innocent” will debut at midseason, as will “Cosmos: Possible Worlds,” a followup to the doc series “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.” Fox’s live version of the musical “Rent” is also set for midseason.
Season 2 of “The Orville” and the final season of “Gotham” also will premiere at midseason.
Fox canceled “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” but NBC picked the comedy up for next season. Fox also canceled “Lucifer,” “The Exorcist,” “The Mick,” “Last Man on Earth” and the previously announced “New Girl.” “The X-Files” also is done—at least for now.
You can find the schedule, trailers, photos and new series descriptions below.
Fox fall 2018-19 schedule
(All times CT; new shows in ALL CAPS)
Monday
7 p.m. The Resident
8 p.m. 9-1-1
Tuesday
7 p.m. The Gifted
8 p.m. Lethal Weapon
Wednesday
7 p.m. Empire
8 p.m. Star
Thursday
6:30 p.m. Thursday Night Football Pregame Show
7 p.m. NFL Football
Friday
7 p.m. LAST MAN STANDING
7:30 p.m. THE COOL KIDS
8 p.m. Hell’s Kitchen
Saturday
7 p.m. Fox Sports Saturday: Fox College Football
Sunday
6 p.m. NFL on Fox
6:30 p.m. The OT / Fox Encores
7 p.m. The Simpsons
7:30 p.m. Bob’s Burgers
8 p.m. Family Guy
8:30 p.m. REL
New Fox shows
Fall comedies
The Cool Kids
This multi-camera comedy follows a rag-tag group of friends living in a retirement community who are willing to break every rule in order to have fun. At their age, what do they really have to lose?
Hank (David Alan Grier) is the leader of this motley crew, a gruff, opinionated, 21st century Archie Bunker who will go to any lengths to have a good time. His loyal, but less than helpful, friends include Charlie (Martin Mull), a bumbling storyteller who constantly goes off on tangents about some bizarre, barely believable episode from his life; and Sid (Leslie Jordan), a naysaying, pill-popping hypochondriac who shoots down every scheme, but still gets roped in. Complicating matters is Margaret (Vicki Lawrence), a brash, confident woman who forces her way into their group and refuses to leave because she’s not going to take crap from anyone—especially not these three.
What unites them all is their shared belief that they’re not done yet—not by a long shot. Growing old with dignity is for chumps. Our self-proclaimed “cool kids” are determined to make the third act of the lives the craziest one yet.
- Production company: 20th Century Fox Television, FX Productions
- Executive producers: Charlie Day, Kevin Abbott (pilot only)
- Nick Frenkel, Don Scardino (pilot only)
- Writers: Charlie Day, Paul Fruchbom
- Director: Don Scardino
- Cast: David Alan Grier as Hank, Martin Mull as Charlie, Leslie Jordan as Sid, and Vicki Lawrence as Margaret
Last Man Standing
A fan-favorite for six seasons, this multi-cam comedy moves to Fox this fall. Tim Allen stars as Mike Baxter, a married father of three girls, who tries to maintain his manliness in a world increasingly dominated by women.
“Last Man Standing” averaged 8.3 million viewers in Live + 7 ratings for the 2016-2017 season on ABC. It was the network’s second most-watched comedy after “Modern Family.” Among the key Adults 18-49 demographic, the series averaged a 1.7/7. The series ranked as the No. 1 new program across all syndication when it debuted off-net during the 2016-2017 season.
- Production company: 20th Century Fox Television
- Cast: Tim Allen as Mike Baxter, Nancy Travis as Vanessa Baxter, Jonathan Adams as Chuck Larabee, Amanda Fuller as Kristin Baxter, Christoph Sanders as Kyle Anderson, Jordan Masterson as Ryan Vogelson
Rel
Based on the life of Lil Rel Howery, “Rel” is a multi-camera comedy starring Howery as a loving husband and father living on the West Side of Chicago, who finds out his wife is having an affair … with Rel’s barber. Quite easily the worst person for your wife to sleep with, because as hard it is to find a good spouse, it’s even harder to find a reliable barber. Plus, with the barbershop being one of the epicenters of neighborhood gossip, Rel finds everyone knows his embarrassing business, including the Pastor (also played by Howery), before Rel can even process the emotions himself.
Offering Rel support—that is, when they themselves aren’t butting heads—are Rel’s tough-talking, no-B.S. best friend, Brittany (Jess “Hilarious” Moore), and his recently out-of-jail younger brother, Nat (Jordan L. Jones), as well as Rel’s prideful Dad (Sinbad), who perhaps has taken the barber news even harder than Rel. After his beloved kids move to Cleveland with their mom, Rel must begin the difficult task of rebuilding his life as a long-distance dad. He also jumps back into the dating pool—and often finds himself the victim of his own well-intentioned hubris. But, ever the optimist, he continues his search for love, respect … and a new barber.
- Production company: 20th Century Fox Television
- Executive producers: Jerrod Carmichael, Mike Scully, Lil Rel Howery, Josh Rabinowitz, Kevin Barnett
- Writers: Lil Rel Howery, Kevin Barnett, Josh Rabinowitz
- Director: Gerry Cohen
- Cast: Lil Rel Howery as Lil Rel Howery, Sinbad as Dad, Jess “Hilarious” Moore as Brittany, Jordan L. Jones as Nat
Midseason dramas
The Passage
Based on author Justin Cronin’s best-selling trilogy of the same name, this epic, character-driven thriller focuses on Project Noah, a secret medical facility where scientists are experimenting with a dangerous virus that could lead to the cure for all disease. But it also carries the potential to wipe out the human race.
When young Amy Bellafonte (Saniyya Sidney) is chosen to be a test subject, Federal Agent Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) is the man who is tasked with bringing her to Project Noah. Ultimately, however, Wolgast becomes her surrogate father, as he tries to protect her at any cost.
Brad and Amy’s journey will force them to confront Project Noah’s lead scientist, Major Nichole Sykes (Caroline Chikezie), and the hardened ex-CIA operative in charge of operations, Clark Richards (Vincent Piazza), whom Brad trained. It likewise brings them face-to-face with a dangerous new race of beings confined within the walls of Project Noah, including former scientist Tim Fanning (Jamie McShane) and death-row inmate Shauna Babcock (Brianne Howey).
In seeking out allies, Brad turns to his former wife, Dr. Lila Kyle (Emmanuelle Chriqui), for help. But as Project Noah’s scientists hone in on a cure that could save humanity, these new beings begin to test their own powers, inching one step closer to an escape that could lead to an unimaginable apocalypse.
- Production company: 20th Century Fox Television
- Executive producers: Matt Reeves, Adam Kassan, Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Liz Heldens, Marcos Siega, Jason Ensler
- Writer: Liz Heldens
- Director: Jason Ensler, Marcos Siega
- Cast: Saniyya Sidney as Amy Bellafonte, Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Brad Wolgast, Brianne Howey as Shauna Babcock, Vincent Piazza as Clark Richards, Jamie McShane as Tim Fanning, Caroline Chikezie as Major Nichole Sykes, Emmanuelle Chriqui as Dr. Lila Kyle
Proven Innocent
This new drama follows an underdog criminal defense firm led by Madeline Scott (Rachelle Lefevre), a fierce and uncompromising lawyer with a hunger for justice. There is no one who understands the power of setting an innocent person free more than Madeline. At age 18, she was wrongfully convicted, along with her brother, Levi (Riley Smith), in a sensational murder case that made her an infamous media obsession, a household name and a national cause célèbre.
Madeline runs the firm with her partner, Easy Boudreau (Russell Hornsby), the very lawyer who helped set her free after seven years in prison. Their team also includes investigator Bodie Quick (Vincent Kartheiser) and communications director Violet Bell (Nikki M. James), who runs a true-crime podcast that follows each investigation.
While a hero and a victim to some, Madeline’s bold and bullish tactics earn her a number of enemies—especially Gore Bellows (Brian d’Arcy James), the prosecutor who initially put her away and still believes she is guilty. Despite Bellows’ ceaseless quest to see her behind bars again, Madeline will continue to defend others, even as she fights to maintain her innocence and searches for the real killer in her own case.
- Production companies: Danny Strong Productions, 20th Century Fox Television
- Writer: David Elliot
- Executive producers: David Elliot, Danny Strong, Stacy Greenberg
- Cast: Rachelle Lefevre as Madeline Scott, Russell Hornsby as Easy Boudreau, Vincent Kartheiser as Bodie Quick, Riley Smith as Levi Scott, Brian d’Arcy James as Gore Bellows, Nikki M. James as Violet Bell, Clare O’Connor as Young Madeline
January 2019
Rent
The live musical production of the groundbreaking, Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical “Rent” comes to Fox at 7/6c Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. A re-imagining of Puccini’s “La Bohème,” and set in New York City’s gritty East Village, “Rent” tells the unforgettable story of seven artists struggling to follow their dreams during a time of great social and political turmoil.
- Production company: 20th Century Fox Television
- Executive producers: Marc Platt, Adam Siegel, Julie Larson, Al Larson, Vince Totino, Scott Hemming, Marla Levine
- Casting directors: Bernard Telsey, Tiffany Little Canfield
Spring 2019 limited series
Cosmos: Possible Worlds
Co-created by the legendary astronomer Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan in 1980, “Cosmos” has transported a global audience to the farthest reaches and most deeply hidden recesses of the universe. In the course of those journeys, the series has examined the real stories of the forgotten searchers who helped us understand our place in the universe.
Following the wildly successful second season, the new season will premiere in the U.S. on both Fox and National Geographic and globally on National Geographic in 180 countries and 43 languages. Continuing the legacy of its predecessors, “Cosmos: Possible Worlds” will translate the revelations of science into a lavishly transporting experience, taking audiences on a series of spiritual voyages of exploration.
We are living in the golden age of discovery of new worlds to explore and possibly inhabit. In the vastness of time and the immensity of space, their number and the stories they contain are virtually infinite.
The new season will reveal previously uncharted realms, including lost worlds and worlds to come, and those that we may one day inhabit in a thrilling future we can still have.
In conjunction with the launch of the new season, National Geographic Books also will publish a companion book, “Cosmos: Possible Worlds” by Ann Druyan, the long-awaited follow-up to Carl Sagan’s historic international bestseller, “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.”
- Production company: Cosmos Studios, Fuzzy Door Productions
- Executive producers: Ann Druyan, Seth MacFarlane, Brannon Braga, Jason Clark
- Writers: Ann Druyan, Brannon Braga
- Host: Neil deGrasse Tyson