Season 5 of Fox’s New Girl has been pushed to early 2016 because Fox’s fall line-up is already completely packed.
The finale of Season 4 aired on May 5, and a week later, Fox announced the show won’t return until January 2016:
Fox revealed Monday as part of its annual upfront presentation for advertisers that three new series, John Stamos’ Grandfathered, Rob Lowe’s The Grinder and Ryan Murphy’s hour-long Scream Queens, will make up the network’s Tuesday comedy block for the fall, leaving no room for Zooey Deschanel and Co.
This might seem like bad news for New Girl, but actually, this scheduling change will be better in the long run. With the premiere pushed to January, the show won’t have to take breaks for baseball or holidays as it has in the past. Also, these changes are likely due to Zooey Deschanel’s pregnancy. The show is already filming season 5, and New Girl creator Liz Meriwether has confirmed that Deschanel’s character Jess will not be appearing in the season’s first four episodes. How will the show fair without its title character? It could go either way, but taking Jess out of the story for a little bit could shake up the dynamic and give the show a needed jump start.
(Via Variance)
