The Last Man on Earth and Ghosted are two FOX genre sitcoms that have aired on Sunday nights this season nested between the animated comedies that have been a mainstay on that night. The former series is in its fourth season and is currently headed toward its season finale (May 6th) while the latter is a freshman entry that has been a ghost on the schedule since January. Both shows are currently staring at an uncertain fate as we head into the final month of the regular season.
The Last Man on Earth is currently at its lowest ratings levels in four years and FOX Chairman Gary Newman has said that the show is on the bubble. But then that one has lived on the edge since its first season and managed to squeak by each year. It is currently in the syndication stretch and one more season of 18 episodes (the typical order it has received the last three years) will get it to 85 total, close enough to the threshold that the syndication market prefers. FOX also owns the show, so it sure seems like it would be in their interest to let it stick around one more year so that they can realize the long-term profits of the syndication sale. Even if they just used the show as schedule spackle, the fifth season will more than pay for itself down the road. But when a network exec fails to talk up a show when given a chance (they usually try to put a positive spin on even their biggest bombs), that is definitely worth noting. There could be behind the scenes issues that make it less attractive for FOX to keep this one around, but money talks and this one is staring at potential profits from an encore run. I currently have the show On the Bubble, but I believe it is more likely to get renewed than cancelled.
As for Ghosted, it is actually one of the network’s higher rated shows this season, but that is based on the Fall numbers which were inflated by bleed-over from NFL Football. The show was supposed to return to the schedule in March where it would have to perform on its own merits, but at the last minute FOX decided to put Brooklyn Nine-Nine in the 8:30 PM EST timeslot. Ghosted did go through some behind the scenes shakeups with a new showrunner coming in at mid-season, but we haven’t seen a new episode of the series since January and it still has no scheduled return date. At this point, it looks like the network is going to send it to a Summer burn-off run, but that would be a very poor choice in my opinion. Its ratings were good in Fall, so not giving it the chance to prove itself seems like quite a waste. Son of Zorn performed well in Fall 2016 in the same timeslot, but then dropped off when it aired its final episodes at the beginning of 2017 without the NFL boost. The cancellation there made sense. But FOX doesn’t know yet whether Ghosted will be able to hold its audience and it seems like the show at least deserves a chance. But network execs move on to the next shiny object pretty quickly, so this one may not get that chance. And perhaps the behind the scenes issues are bigger than first revealed and progress has stalled on the final episodes. I have this one On the Bubble as well, but I would lean towards cancellation if pushed.
Next season FOX will have fewer hours to program in Fall because the network has picked up Thursday Night Football. That could impact the fate of these shows (as well as Gotham and Lucifer, more on that at this link) by causing them to get squeezed off the schedule that the network will present at the Upfronts next month. But if nothing else, they should hold onto The Last Man on Earth until mid-season to get it to that syndication friendly count of episodes. As for Ghosted, it certainly looks like it is headed for the grave right now due to poor decision-making on the part of the network. Both of these shows could us a Call to Action from fans in order to convince FOX to keep them around for another season.
