It appears that fans of FOX's Alert: Missing Persons Unit, The Cleaning Lady, and the animated comedy The Great North will have to wait a bit longer for their renewal fates.
We thought the future of these beloved shows would be determined during the network's Upfronts on Monday, May 12, but that didn't happen. Now, we're just waiting for news from FOX for these bubble shows.
So, why are we worried about these three FOX shows? According to Deadline, they, along with Accused, are FOX’s lowest-rated shows. A renewal wouldn’t be favorable until their season finales, with the exception of Accused, which had its season 2 finale back in December. As of right now, Accused has a slim chance of securing a season 3, but there's also hope for it. It doesn't carry a "locked in" cast, and that has caused a crux for its in limbo status.
Deadline also reported that Michael Thorn, the President of FOX Television Network, expressed optimism about a return, as Upfronts aren't the only time of the year that these networks evaluate their lineups.
"We love the [creative] teams and those shows. I think there’ll be more to come after they finish their current seasons. As you know, we order series all year round; the upfronts for us [are] one cycle of ordering. And there will definitely be more sometime, probably later this summer."
The Great North is currently in the middle of season 5 and is part of the Animation Domination block on Sunday nights. It’ll then be pushed to Thursday nights beginning May 29 for the summer. Whether the ratings will fare better with the new timeslot remains to be seen. Alert and The Cleaning Lady are wrapping up their seasons, but according to the same Deadline article above, The Cleaning Lady has the least likely chance of a renewal.
There's no denying that FOX delaying its decision on these shows is a red flag.
Back in early April, FOX renewed four of its animated shows for four additional seasons —The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, and the returning American Dad!, which has been on TBS for the past eleven years. Yet, despite its fan popularity, The Great North was not part of the renewal package.
The longer the decision of a show's return, the more likely it is that it won't be coming back. But who knows? Perhaps a miracle will happen and FOX will renew its four lowest-rated shows down the road this year. It all boils down to how well the remaining finales perform and whether there's time in the schedule.
We'll share more updates regarding FOX's TV lineup as we find out!