2014 Upfronts: FOX

If NBC spent this season surprisingly rising from the ashes, then FOX spent it crashing down to NBC's previous levels. After dominating most of the 2000s mostly thanks to American Idol being an unstoppable juggernaut, the network has found itself in question ever since Idol, well, stopped. Granted, not all of FOX's success was tied to Idol  - one of their best seasons was 2011-12, the year Idol really began to fall off - but shows like Glee and New Girl also found themselves crumbling this season, and even old stalwarts like the Animation Domination block showed some cracks. So it's not surprising that FOX's schedule this year is a pretty huge gamble, full of new programming and strategies that could either pay off in a huge way (like ABC back in 2004-05, the year it totally revived itself with LOST and Desperate Housewives) or it could fail in a big way like...any NBC season between 2005 and 2012. But hey, isn't that exciting?

The network's biggest move its lowering its dependence on singing competition, which was suggested by the cancellation of The X Factor a few months ago and confirmed with the announcement that Idol would be shrinking to one hour a week following the audition rounds. This is a really smart move, both from a numbers standpoint (because less Idol could soften the decline, which has been accelerating at an alarming pace the past few seasons) and from a creative standpoint (because more original scripted content and less bloated singing competitions is always a good thing, in my mind). One of the most interested changes is the splitting up of the Animation Domination block. After pawning American Dad off to TBS, FOX will move live-action sitcoms Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the new Mulaney into the Sunday night slots, shifting Bob's Burgers to the dreaded 7:30 slot. While I really hope this doesn't mean FOX is severing its ties with Bob's (and, unlike large portions of the internet, I don't think it does), I'm hoping this allows the hilarious Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the promising Mulaney to get the audience they need. Among the rest of the line-up, there are lots of other ambitious projects, such as the kind of awful sounding Utopia (which apparently will just up and move a bunch of people to a deserted island and wish them luck), the adaptation of the hit British series Broadchurch (now starring Anna Gunn and titled Gracepoint), and the new Batman-based series Gotham (which FOX is hedging many of its bets on). All of these could be good (except for fucking Utopia, probably), or all of them could suck, but they're certainly ambitious. FOX is really the only broadcast network that seems to be even be acknowledging the decline of the broadcast model, from cancelling its pilot season to moving to a year-round structure (though NBC seems to be sort of be adapting that) in an attempt to more clearly. What they do might not work at all, but unlike pretty much all of the other networks, it should be really fun to watch.

Now! Shows!

Gotham

It's Batman! BATMAN, EVERYONE. BATMAN!!! Everyone likes Batman! Remember Batman? Batman! Also, The OC! Remember The OC? It's The OC and Batman! We've got everything covered here! Seriously, my guess is this will probably be pretty big, unless it's a total disaster. FOX is surely hoping it will be pretty big. If Sleepy Hollow can keep up its momentum and this can rise to expectations, Mondays should be a rock solid night for Fox.

Gracepoint

Very similar to when the original 13 colonies seceded from Great Britain, David Tennant and Broadchurch have broken free from the controls of England, adapted a new title and an American accent, and moved in with Skylar White, who has dealt with the fallout of her late husbands' run as meth king by becoming a detective. I have my doubts that this will be the big hit FOX wants it to be, and I have no idea if it will even be any good. I haven't even seen the original! Still, I like these people and I like to see them together. I like to pretend that Skylar ran off with the 10th Doctor to get over the the events of Breaking Bad. I do wonder where this will go if it's a hit. It's a "limited event" series, sure, but this is America, and if something here works, we make sure we give you more and more and more and more of it until you hate it and want to die. Anyway! Yeah! I don't know if this will be any good but even if it's not, David Tennant and Anna Gunn solving crimes is pretty damn badass.

Empire

This is another big, concept-y swing, one that looks like it will either be a very good show or a really embarrassing piece of shit. FOX seems pretty high on it, and they are supposedly giving it a post-Idol slot (which admittedly doesn't mean much anymore). My opinion is that everyone in it looks like they are very serious! Which is good! Yay, serious! LIFE IS SERIOUS, YOU KNOW?

Hieroglyph

Everyone loves Ancient Egypt. Everyone loves vampires. Why would you NOT combine them? This seems like something a person would come up with in a high school creative writing class. The teacher would say it is "really unique" and they wound get an A-. Good job, Fox. Your parents can hang this on your fridge!

Mulaney

Look, the reason I mostly just make fun of these trailers rather than actually analyzing them critically is because you cannot determine how good a TV show is from a 3 minute clip of its sweaty pilot. So I know parts of the internet were aghast that they weren't on the floor laughing by the end of the Mulaney trailer, but the truth is that I think the trailer shows a lot of promise. It doesn't have that warmed over, try too hard feeling of most present-day multi-camera sitcoms, and it has a really aces cast - from the fucking brilliant John Mulaney himself, to Nasim Pedrad, to Martin Short...all of that is enough to make this one of the most anticipated sitcoms of the fall for me. Then again, I anticipated The Michael J. Fox Show, and that show sucked lots of shit. But seriously! I think this could be really good!

Utopia

Something about this show makes me profoundly sad. Lots of things have been making me sad lately, so maybe that's more on me than this show. But still. Anyway, this is airing twice a week, and I feel like eventually we're going to just be watching the contestants wondering what they think is happening on Game of Thrones this season and maybe commenting on the state of each others' unibrows. I don't know, this just seems too ridiculous to work to me, but I bet someone said that about squeezing cow tits to make a beverage and look how that worked out.

Backstrom

I can't find the video. But anyway, it's Rainn Wilson being a cop. You like Rainn Wilson, and you like cops. Well, okay, you like watching cops, so you'll like this. Right? Right.

Wayward Pines 

Uh oh. Close ups of eyes mean something bad is about to happen! Anyway, Fox apparently thinks you really like it when people solve crimes because like all of its damn shows are about that this year. But this one is creepy and there's mystery and stuff and no one even knows what's going on! Just like you, all of the time. Anyway, in all seriousness, this is a really kind of weird trailer that piqued my interest a bit. It's yet another show that seems like a big gamble, but hey, gambles are fun!