Fox Unveils Fall 2022-23 Schedule & Premiere Dates, New Drama ‘Monarch’ Gets Post-NFL Launch
As we reported last month, Fox broke with tradition this year by announcing the bulk of its programming slate for the 2022-23 but not a fall schedule in conjunction with its May 16 upfront presentation. The network continues to be forging its own path by unveiling today its fall grid along with premiere dates, becoming the last broadcast network to release its fall lineup but the first to announce premiere dates.
Fox brass called new country music drama Monarch, the network’s first fully-owned drama, a “top priority,” when they pulled it from the schedule two weeks before it was to debut in January and pushed it fall. The series, starring Susan Sarandon, Trace Adkins and Anna Friel, is living up to that label as it is getting the same treatment in the fall that it was going to receive in midseason — a premiere behind an NFL game on Sunday (Sept. 11, following a football doubleheader) and a Tuesday 9 PM regular time slot, following The Resident.
Here’s Fox fall 2022-23 schedule (all times ET/PT unless noted) with premiere dates, in chronological order, followed by a brief analysis on the schedule, which, like most of the fall lineups revealed at the upfronts, features few changes from last season.
SUNDAY
On September 11
8-9 PM — MONARCH (series premiere Part I live in all time zones; Part II on Tuesday, Sept. 20)
Beginning September 25
8-8:30 PM — The Simpsons
8:30-9 PM — The Great North
9-9:30 PM — Bob’s Burgers
9:30-10 PM — Family Guy
MONDAY
Beginning September 19
8-9 PM — 9-1-1
9-10 PM — The Cleaning Lady
TUESDAY
Beginning September 20
8-9 PM — The Resident
9-10 PM — MONARCH
WEDNESDAY
8-9 PM — The Masked Singer
9-10 PM — Lego Masters
THURSDAY
Beginning September 20
8-9 PM — Hell’s Kitchen
9-9:30 PM — Welcome to Flatch
9:30-10 PM — Call Me Kat
FRIDAY
Ongoing
8-10 PM — Fox’s WWE Friday Night Smackdown
Not surprisingly, Fox’s established series 9-1-1, The Resident and The Masked Singer return to their 8 PM tentpole positions Monday-Wednesday, joined by unscripted stalwart Hell’s Kitchen, whose 21st season will anchor Thursday night. (9-1-1 and The Resident scored dramatic Season 6 renewals shortly before Fox’s upfront presentation.)
Monarch is the only new Fox series to make the fall schedule, with the network holding back high-profile new anthology drama Accused and Dan Harmon’s animated comedy series Krapopolis, as well as newly picked up straight-to-series drama Alert, for midseason when the network is expected to use the NFL playoffs as a launching pad for some of the new titles.
Fox’s Sunday animated lineup matches last fall’s, while the Monday combo of flagship 9-1-1 and The Cleaning Lady is reuniting after a winter run this past season.
Lego Masters also is reuniting with the series that helped launch it, The Masked Singer, returning to the Wednesday 9 PM slot where its first season aired. (Lego Masters moved to summer for Season 2 and is now back on the schedule in-season for Season 3, paired with Season 8 of The Masked Singer.)
An intriguing tweak in Fox’s Thursday comedy block, with Welcome To Flatch, after defying the odds to clinch a Season 2 renewal, now getting the post Hell’s Kitchen 9 PM slot over Call Me Kat, which is sliding to 9:30 PM. The network is keeping the 8 PM hour a Gordon Ramsay affair, with Hell’s Kitchen following MasterChef Junior, which aired in the hour in midseason and MasterChef repeats, which are slated for the time period for the summer.
Fox’s Thursday entertainment lineup is launching in the fall this coming season as Thursday Night Football is leaving the network.
Also on the Fox bench for later in the season are 9-1-1: Lone Star, new laminated comedy Grimsburg, Housebroken, Fantasy Island, Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars, Bext Level Chef, MasterChef, Beat Shazam, Crime Scene Kitchen and Don’t Forget the Lyrics!