24: Legacy | experience it all.

FOX followed NBC out of the gate in presenting its next programming slate for the 2016-17 TV season. In total, the now American Idol-less network is showcasing 8 new dramas, 3 new comedies, 2 new reality series, and a live musical. Of the 13 new shows, four will premiere this fall and the remainders will air in midseason or later. Sound familiar? NBC is playing up stability in the fall, too, debuting only three new series early on and saving the rest for next year. Unlike the other networks, however, FOX shares its fall and midseason schedules at the Upfronts, so we have a clearer picture here as to when benched series will see the light of day.

This fall, FOX’s schedule is unmistakable. Gotham and Lucifer open Monday. Brooklyn Nine-Nine and New Girl provide a comedic launchpad for Ryan Murphy’s fun horror fest Scream Queens on Tuesday. On Wednesday, new drama Lethal Weapon is paired with broadcast juggernaut Empire. Thursday sees crime procedural Rosewood leading into the final season of Bones. Another new drama based on a popular film franchise, The Exorcist, gets the Friday-at-9 slot following Hell’s Kitchen, where it will go head-to-head with NBC’s Friday night genre fare, Grimm. Animation Domination Sunday includes the return of Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and at 8:30 a new half-hour sitcom, Son of Zorn, which is an eccentric live action/animated hybrid from Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Last Man on Earth). A live presentation of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black) and Victoria Justice (Victorious), will air sometime in October, just in time for Halloween.

Perhaps the most anticipated new series next season, the exciting return of 24 and Prison Break, are being saved for midseason premieres. In 24: Legacy, Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer is out and The Walking Dead‘s Corey Hawkins is in as the new lead. Typically FOX announces midseason premieres as we get closer to winter, but the new 24 is a special case because it has snagged the coveted post-Super Bowl slot; it will premiere Sunday, Feb. 5 immediately following the big game, and then it will fall into its regular Monday-at-8 timeslot the day after. The next chapter in Prison Break is being billed as a six-episode event series and it will air Thursdays-at-9 leading out of Rosewood come early 2017; the entire gang is back and it looks incredible. Other new series being held for midseason include dramas APB with Justin Kirk (Tyrant), MLB-backed Pitch from EP Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love), racially charged Shots Fired, and Lee Daniels’ Star, plus comedies The Mick with Kaitlin Olson (It’s Always Sunny) and fun time-traveller Making History with Adam Pally (Happy Endings). Reality series Kicking and Screaming and My Kitchen Rules come later, too. And for all your Sleepyheads out there, Sleepy Hollow will return to Friday next year.

Update (5/20): FOX has made some tweaks to its upcoming schedules, just days after announcing them at the Upfronts. Baseball drama Pitch will now premiere in the fall (alongside the new MLB season, so that makes sense), and this pushes Bones to winter. And that, in turn, pushes Prison Break to spring, when it will air on Tuesday instead of Thursday. Got it? Good. The fall and midseason schedules below have been updated to reflect these changes.

Jump after the break to view the full fall schedule and preview FOX’s new fall and midseason series with video clips and descriptions. Continue reading Upfronts: Preview FOX’s fall and midseason schedules, including new ’24’ & ‘Prison Break’ →

When people ask me what shows turned me on to television in the first place, my go-to is and always will be: 24, Prison Break, and Lost. These are the pivotal franchises that made me fall in love with the box in my living room, and, well, the rest is history. Fast-forward so many years later, and two of the three are making major comebacks and I couldn’t be more excited.

Let’s start with 24. It debuted on Fox way back in 2001 and lasted for eight seasons and a TV movie. And then just last year, it resurfaced with star Kiefer Sutherland for limited event series 24: Live Another Day. Now, the network wants it to return again, but this time with an even bigger twist. In addition to forgoing the 24-episode format and skipping around some hours of one chaotic day, the newest incarnation of 24 bids farewell to Sutherland’s iconic hero Jack Bauer and introduces a new lead to save the day. That actor hasn’t been cast yet, but Fox says they are looking to fill the role with an African American actor.

Dubbed 24: Legacy, the tenth season in the ever-expanding counter-terrorism franchise serves as a reboot in that it doesn’t plan on incorporating familiar characters or settings. Jack and his right hand Chloe are off-limits this go-around. Here’s the official logline provided by Fox:

The pilot will feature an all-new cast of characters and retain the real-time, pulse-pounding, fast-paced format with split screens and complex interweaving storylines, with each episode representing one hour of an eventful day. The project will revolve around a military hero’s return to the U.S. and the trouble that follows him back – compelling him to ask CTU for help in saving his life, and stopping what potentially could be one of the largest-scale terror attacks on American soil.

“We wanted [the star] to be as different from Jack Bauer as possible, whether that’s an African American or a Latino actor,” elaborated Fox head Dana Walden at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. Co-head Gary Newman added, “As envisioned, the lead character would be diverse, so that will be our first effort in casting. As always, we’re going to cast the best actor we can find for the role. As you can imagine, bringing 24 back, we want to really try to create some distinction and make this feel different than Jack Bauer’s 24, so having a diverse actor in that lead role I think would be helpful in doing that.”

Another change coming to 24 is that the new hero will be sharing the day’s burden equally with a female co-lead. This female lead is a former head of CTU, and thus will serve as connective tissue to 24‘s past. Walden went on to briefly discuss Legacy‘s timely plot and how it plans on distancing itself from the 24 we know.

“It’s a new CTU, a new cast of characters,” she said. “It’s a completely different story in terms of the special ops groups that we’re focusing on. It’s a very contemporary feeling story about the potential to activate new sleeper cells in the United States and radicalizing Americans. It’s a whole new story. There are nods in the pilot to prior CTU agents, there are a couple photos that will feel reminiscent of the original, but no ongoing [returning] characters.”

Howard Gordon, Brian Grazer, Manny Coto, and Evan Katz, executive producers who worked on all previous seasons, return to EP Legacy. The pilot is on track to film this winter.

Update (1/18): Kiefer Sutherland responded to 24: Legacy at a Q&A panel hosted by TIFF Live and he had nothing but kind words to say about the series reboot. “I have said from the beginning that the real star of 24 is the idea, and I mean that wholeheartedly,” he gushed. “I have every faith they’ll do something cool and clever.” Later, when a fan asked about getting closure on Jack Bauer (at the end of Live Another Day he surrendered himself to the Russians), Sutherland admitted he doesn’t know if that will ever happen. “I have no idea if the [24] movie will ever happen, or Jack Bauer might end up finding his way into an episode one day and clarifying all of that, or ending all of that.” He promised he’d pass the sentiment along to 24 EP Howard Gordon the next time they meet. Watch Sutherland talk 24 here; the clip is cued up and ready to go.

Jump after the break to learn more about Prison Break‘s return. Continue reading Fox: Jack Bauer is out in new ’24: Legacy’ & the brothers are back in ‘Prison Break’ revival →