Is Sci-Fi a Dinosaur at FOX?
In a conference call this morning: Peter Rice, Chairman, Entertainment, Fox Networks Group; and Kevin Reilly, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. The topic: Fall 2012.
The lineup is not good news for genre fans.
The network had previously announced that they’d picked up Fringe for a final season, and as fans noted, that decision only serves to highlight the fact that most science fiction shows do not do well on Fox.
Firefly, Dollhouse, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Terra Nova, Alcatraz… stop me if you’ve heard this before. Fringe is the exception that proves the rule, it seems.
For the upcoming fall season, Fox is going for new comedy shows and a couple of scripted dramas (one starring Kevin Bacon). Fringe remains on Friday night and gets paired up with the returning Touch, which could be argued to be a genre show, but just barely. Reilly says that Fox is making a commitment to invest in Friday night, and he points out the live+7 numbers for Fringe make it easier to put those shows there, in what used to be the “death slot” in the old broadcast days.
So, Fox seems to understand that this is a DVR world, and they’re embracing that a little more than you’d expect.
But besides Touch and Fringe, there are no other science fiction shows on a network that boasts high numbers among the teen and 18-34 demographics. Granted, there aren’t any new fairy tale shows, either, but still…
Does this present an opportunity for another network? Does this present an opportunity for someone on the web? Where is the next science fiction game-changer to be found?
