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Fox renews three comedies and The Following

Fox has kicked off renewal season—that long, horrifyingly protracted part of the spring when everything but your favorite show gets renewed—by picking up New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Mindy Project, and The Following for the 2014-15 season. Of the four, the only real surprise was The Mindy Project, which had trouble holding on to even New Girl’s meager same-day audience in the fall, then was pulled for several months, so Brooklyn Nine-Nine might get the post-New Girl slot for a while. (Weirdly, both shows’ ratings have actually fallen since that move was made, so who knows what TV viewers want anymore?) However, Fox president Kevin Reilly spoke in support of the show’s creative side at winter’s TCA press tour, where he also suggested it would probably be renewed. The other three shows all may have fairly low same-day ratings, but those numbers are boosted significantly by live-plus-seven ratings, further proof that Reilly really does think he can monetize that sort of viewership more readily.

Fox actually has a bunch of stuff it’s already renewed or picked up for the 2014-15 season, in conjunction with its new “year-round” programming strategy and attempt to ditch pilot season. For instance, of the shows that have aired on it this season, we’re really only waiting on renewal or cancellation news for Raising Hope, Almost Human, Rake, Enlisted, Dads, and the upcoming Surviving Jack. Everything else has either been renewed or canceled (and with a move from a high-profile Thursday slot to Fridays, Rake basically has been canceled). Meanwhile, the network has also picked up a number of new shows, most of which are outlined in this Hollywood Reporter article. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that by shifting away from pilot season, Fox has basically consigned itself to picking up a bunch of low-rated stuff for a few seasons, until the system is more firmly in place. But we’ll see if that bears out when the network hopefully renews Enlisted (fingers crossed).


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