FOX has plenty of high profile new shows for the 2013-2014 season, but the network has decided to give its plum programming slot to an established favorite.
As part of its pre-upfronts announcements on Monday (May 13) morning, FOX revealed that “New Girl” has landed the coveted airing following Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday, February 2, 2014.
While considered the best available showcase slot on TV due to the 100 million-plus viewers for the Super Bowl, the lead-out slot has always had a mixed history.
This past February, CBS gave “Elementary” the coveted slot and while the Sherlock Holmes drama drew 20.8 million viewers, that number was deflated by the in-game blackout and overrun that took the airing out of primetime entirely. “Elementary” ended up not getting any sort of subsequent bump. The season before that, however, NBC aired “The Voice” out of the most watched Super Bowl in history and accelerated that show’s status from “hit” to “semi-phenomenon.”
FOX has used its past two Super Bowl airings for a barely stunted episode of “Glee,” which drew 26.8 million viewers, and a Mira Sorvino-centric episode of “House,” which drew over 29 million viewers.
We’ll see how the “New Girl” producers handle this opportunity for exposure.
Prediction? Lots and lots of Fat Schmidt.