Fox pitches almost anything but scripted TV at this year’s upfronts

If you were hoping to see a fall schedule at Fox’s upfront this year, you’d be just as disappointed as you were last year.

For the second time, the network opted to announce its fall TV lineup at a later date. What made this year different, though, was the backdrop of the WGA writers’ strike, which Fox executives compared to the pandemic in terms of its impact on production.

“One of the big lessons we learned from the pandemic is how to pivot and be flexible,” Dan Harrison, EVP of program planning and content strategy for Fox Entertainment, said on a call with reporters Monday. “Rather than announce a schedule today that we may not be able to meet this fall, we will hold back until we have a better handle on what programming will be available to us and when.”

While some scripted shows, like Doc and Rescue: HI-Surf, were teased during the network’s upfront presentation Monday, Fox primarily focused its pitch to advertisers on other offerings, like unscripted TV, animated shows, news, and sports.

The pitch: On the call, Harrison touted Fox’s “strong unscripted pipeline,” and said that “due to the nature of animation production, regardless of strike-related complications, we’ll be able to present all new original episodes on our animated series on Sunday.” The network is leaning on both: As part of its upfront announcement, Fox announced new game shows Snake Oil, hosted by David Spade, and We Are Family, hosted by Jamie Foxx, as well as new animated series including Grimsburg, starring Jon Hamm, and Krapopolis.

Marianne Gambelli, Fox’s president of ad sales, marketing and brand partnerships, noted on Monday’s conference call that the network is “much more reliant on sports” this fall, which won’t be affected by the writers’ strike. The focus on sports was apparent in the upfront presentation, which highlighted the upcoming Women’s World Cup, as well as baseball and football.

Star gazing: The majority of Fox’s celeb appearances came from the sports world, starting with former pro football player Michael Strahan, who kicked things off alongside celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay; sportscaster Erin Andrews, who brought pro soccer player Carli Lloyd onstage; and Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski, who all represented Fox Sports.

• Taylor Swift also made an audio appearance when Fox used a clip from her song “...Ready For It?” to promote Fox News. Hard to say for sure what Miss Americana might think of that, given the network’s political leanings.

Strike two: In addition to the WGA strike, another strike run by activist groups Truth Tuesdays and MoveOn was brewing outside Fox’s venue. The protesters called on advertisers to refrain from spending with the network or, in their words, “funding lies and efforts to degrade our democracy,” per the event site.