Fox’s Michael Thorn on That ‘9-1-1’ Renewal Delay, More ‘Lone Star’ Crossovers and What It’s Like Attracting Talent With Fox News as a Sibling Network
variety.comJennifer Maas TV Business Writer The Fall TV season is upon us and Fox is kicking things off with the returns of “9-1-1,” “The Resident” “The Cleaning Lady” and its iconic Sunday animation block, as well as the debut of Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins country music drama “Monarch” and an eye toward more fresh scripted content to come.
Though Fox won’t be the home of the “Ally McBeal” reboot or the “Married… With Children” animated series, both in-the-works projects based on titles that originated at Fox, and is still remaining tight-lipped on more seasons of the Disney-owned “The Simpsons,” Variety found plenty to discuss with Fox Entertainment president of entertainment Michael Thorn pegged to the broadcaster’s day of panels at the virtual Television Critics Association press tour Wednesday.
From that down-to-the-wire “9-1-1″/”Lone Star” renewal last spring to making deals with top talent that have different political leanings from sibling channel Fox News, here’s what Thorn had to say. We heard some rumors that 20th Television was in talks to move “9-1-1” to ABC, its sister network, for Season 6 — and that was what led to that very last-minute renewal of “9-1-1,” but not “Lone Star,” during upfronts.
Is there any truth to that? I would have to believe that every network would want “9-1-1,” if they could afford it.
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