‘Gotham’ leads Fox’s new schedule, with ‘Idol’ being cut back

Photo: Facebook Page of American Idol

NEW YORK— Fox will cut “American Idol” to one night for several weeks next spring, part of a reset for a struggling network that will have 11 new series in the coming year including the much-awaited “Batman” prequel “Gotham.”

The network will also break up its Sunday animation block by moving in the critical favourite “Brooklyn Nine Nine.” It is replacing two of its Tuesday-night comedies with an unscripted show that imagines people setting up a new society in an undeveloped area.

Fox entertainment chief Kevin Reilly said the network plans some 37 hours of “American Idol” content next winter and spring compared with the 50-plus hours that have been running for years. After the initial auditions, the series will probably air a two-hour show once a week. The show’s decline from television’s biggest phenomenon to just another moderately successful series, combined with a failure to mint new hits, made this season a tough one for Fox.

“’Idol’ is not going to come back to be the ratings champion it once was,” Reilly said Monday. “But we believe the show can be on for many years to come.”

He compared it to CBS’ “Survivor,” once a sensation but now a dependable, mid-level hit coincidentally one that frequently beats “Idol” in the ratings.

The “Idol” decline meant fewer people tuning in live to Fox. With network TV’s youngest audience, Fox is also hit harder than its rivals in the switch to other forms of viewing that doesn’t show up in traditional overnight Nielsen ratings streaming online, DVR usage and video on demand, Reilly said.

Five of Fox’s new series already have a place on Fox’s fall schedule, with the rest to come later in the season. “Gotham” has the biggest buzz Fox says a trailer online has already been seen 6 million times and will air Monday nights. It follows a 12-year-old future caped crusader in a city teeming with crime. Although Jada Pinkett Smith will play a new character, crime boss Fish Mooney, most of the show’s characters will be familiar to followers of the comic book series.

The unscripted “Utopia” will air two episodes a week in the fall, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Other new series to premiere in the fall are the youthful soap “Red Band Society,” a 10-episode series “Gracepoint,” based on the British drama “Broadchurch,” and “Mulaney,” starring John Mulaney as a struggling standup comic.

Fox is cancelling “Enlisted,” ”Dads,“ ”Rake“ and ”Surviving Jack,“ ”Almost Human“ and ”The X-Factor.“