Despite two new hits for Fox this fall — Almost Human and Sleepy Hollow — things are not going great for the network. Simon Cowell’s The X-Factor, once thought to be a challenger to American Idol’s ratings, has fallen so far now that there’s a real threat of cancellation. This past week, it got a 1.7 in the demo, up against a 2.3 from The Middle and a 1.6 for Back in the Game, which has already been cancelled by ABC. Meanwhile, Bones dropped two million viewers after it shifted to Fridays last week, and crushingly Raising Hope fetched only a .7 in the demo, which suggests this season will definitely be its last. That’s a damn shame, too, because it came back strong creatively, but likely the only people who watched were those who had never taken Raising Hope off their DVR’s season pass list and got a welcome surprise when they woke up on Saturday morning. New Raising Hope episodes! Is it Christmas?!
Meanwhile, the Tuesday night block has also been underperforming. Dads has had anemic ratings all along, hitting a 1.3 this last Tuesday, and The Mindy Project hit a series low this past week, falling below even Dads with a 1.2. The bright spot, however, has been Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which has seen its ratings turnaround in recent weeks, as it began to drift upwards. Fox has already expressed faith in the show, giving it up a full-season order and — along with New Girl — providing extra exposure by giving it the post Super Bowl slot.
With Glee’s ratings also sliding, Fox has decided to move it out of its Thursday slot and into Tuesday night, putting Dads and The Mindy Project on hiatus. Brooklyn Nine-Nine will move to 9:30, after New Girl. It’s not a cancellation for The Mindy Project, however. It will finish its run in April, after Brooklyn Nine-Nine has burned off all its episodes. (It does not appear, however, that Dads will return to the schedule after its pulled in February, though it had also been given a full-season order). While Mindy will get to finish its season, it doesn’t look good for a third.
Part of these changes are designed to boost Tuesday night’s line-up, and part of the changes are designed to
make way for Greg Kinnear’s Rake, which will premiere on Thursdays in January, after American Idol. Rake had previously been given the post NFC Championship slot as a launch, but Fox decided, instead, to give that to the male skewing The Following, which returns to Fox on Mondays, after Sleepy Hollow ends its run in January.
(Source)
