Bento Box Entertainment CEO Scott Greenberg to Exit

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Fox made its annual upfront pitch to advertisers at the Manhattan Center on Monday afternoon, pushing the messages of Fox Entertainment, Tubi, Fox News, and Fox Sports, all while promising the audience that don’t worry, we’ll get you hammered soon. Coming off of presentations hampered by the pandemic in recent years, Fox was back in nearly full force, with the writers’ strike limiting the number of network stars in attendance. The event also featured some football antics courtesy of Rob Gronkowski and some well-placed cursing by Gordon Ramsay. Read on below for Variety’s five biggest takeaways from the Fox upfront.

Production on the Fox game show You Bet Your Life has halted amid the ongoing writers strike as the AMPTP continues to stall negotiations with the WGA. Series host Jay Leno, who has been seen at multiple picket lines delivering donuts, supports the move.

Jamie Foxx and his daughter Corrine Foxx are set to host a new musical celebrity game show, We Are Family.

Things aren’t looking great for Fox comedy Welcome To Flatch.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Fox Entertainment’s CEO addressed the decision to cancel “9-1-1” and the show’s subsequent move to ABC during a conference call with the press ahead of the network’s upfront presentation to advertisers in New York. “We look at shows in two different ways,” said Rob Wade, CEO of Fox Entertainment. “First and foremost from a creative lens and how much we like the creative. And the second thing is really the economics of that. I think we felt moving forward into what is really a new era of television, the economics weren’t going to pan out on this show for us. The decision was made there that the business model wasn’t right for us and that 20th TV would take the show back.”

Fox unveiled its 2023/24 programming slate this morning and the writers strike was front and center.

Fox Entertainment will have its new CEO, Rob Wade, making his debut at the network’s upfront presentation today. In a sign of continuity, he will unveil the Fox content slate for the 2023-2024 television season but not a schedule. The network first broke with tradition by not presenting a fall grid at the upfront last year; Fox announced fall schedule and premiere dates June 6.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter For the second year in a row, Fox is not releasing a fall schedule ahead of its upfront presentation. Fox did the same thing in 2022, opting instead to announce their content slate for the upcoming broadcast season but holding off on announcing a formal schedule until a later date. Last year, the move came as the network was still waiting on decisions on the dramas “9-1-1” and “The Resident.” But with the latter show canceled and the former moving to ABC, this year’s move comes as the writers’ strike enters its third week. Networks like CBS and NBC have already announced their fall lineups, but whether or not any primetime scripted shows across all the networks debut as scheduled remains to be seen as the strike drags on.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Jamie Foxx and his daughter Corinne Foxx are expanding their relationship with Fox, with the duo set to co-host the music game show “We Are Family,” which has been ordered to series at the broadcaster. The series was announced just ahead of Fox’s upfront presentation to advertisers in New York. It comes as Jamie is still believed to be recovering from a “medical complication” that left him hospitalized on April 12. Most recently, Corinne stated that her father had been out of the hospital “for weeks,” as of May 12. Jamie is also the host of the Fox music game show “Beat Shazam,” with Corinne serving as the show’s DJ. Nick Cannon is currently serving as guest host with Kelly Osborne filling in as the DJ for the new season expected to air this summer while Jamie recovers. The new season of that show launched May 23. Jamie executive produces that show as well as the Fox scripted drama series “Alert: Missing Persons Unit.”

“Animal Control,” the workplace comedy led by Joel McHale, has locked down a Season 2 renewal at Fox, the studio announced Wednesday.“We are thrilled our viewers have responded to ‘Animal Control’ as much as we did,” Fox Entertainment president of scripted programming Michael Thorn said in a statement. “The incredibly talented ensemble cast, led by Joel McHale, along with our creative team, Bob Fisher, Rob Greenberg, Dan Sterling and Tad Quill – not to mention a menagerie of wild animal method actors — have delivered a hilarious series that is sharp, witty, and warm, week after week.”The series premiere, which launched Feb.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Animal Control” has been renewed for Season 2 at Fox, Variety has learned. The renewal comes as little surprise, given the fact that the show is Fox’s first wholly owned live-action comedy. Per Fox, the show’s premiere was the network’s most streamed scripted debut ever, drawing an estimated 4.5 million viewers across all platforms in its first three days of availability. As the name suggests, the series centers on a group of animal control workers. The cast is led by Joel McHale, who stars alongside Michael Rowland, Vella Lovell, Ravi Patel, Grace Palmer, Alvina August, Kelli Ogmundson, and Gerry Dee.

Call Me Kat,” after its third season finale failed to draw sufficient numbers. The last episode of “Fantasy Island,” titled “MJ Akuda & The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Wives Club,” earned 1.8 million viewers and a 0.2 rating in the demo.“We were very pleased with ‘Fantasy Island’s’ fun and escapist creative, which we had hoped would gain strong traction among viewers,” the network said in a statement shared with TheWrap.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Fantasy Island” will not be returning for Season 3 at Fox, Variety has learned. The reimagining of the classic series originally aired during the summer on Fox, while the second season has been airing as part of the network’s midseason schedule. “We were very pleased with Fantasy Island’s fun and escapist creative, which we had hoped would gain strong traction among viewers. Sony Pictures Television is an important partner of ours, and we look forward to continuing to work with them on ‘Accused,’ ‘Alert: Missing Persons Unit,’ ‘Doc’ and the upcoming animated series Universal Basic Guys/Hoagie Bros. We’d also like to thank Fantasy Island’s cast, led by Roselyn Sánchez, Kiara Barnes and John Gabriel Rodriquez, crew and executive producers Liz Craft, Sarah Fain and Anne Clements for their partnership on the series,” said Fox in a statement.

Fox is making its renewal and pick up decisions.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “One Piece” creator Eiichiro Oda offered fans an update on the upcoming Netflix live-action series based on the popular manga. “I’ve been working with Tomorrow Studios and Netflix for quite some time now,” Oda wrote in a letter posted online. “Even though they understand each of the characters, we obviously come from very different cultures so, when it comes to entertainment, we have different codes, skill sets, and aims. Sometimes it could be frustrating for both sides. It felt like, ‘We’re all trying to get to the same place so how come we’re not on the same wavelength?’ there was even a time when I thought, ‘Is a foreign production even possible?!’

Joe Otterson TV Reporter A “Babylon 5” animated movie is in the works from original series creator J. Michael Straczynski. “BABYLON 5 ANIMATED MOVIE [sic] coming from Warner Bros. Animation & WB Home Entertainment!” Straczynski announced via Twitter. “Classic B5: raucous, heartfelt, nonstop, a ton of fun through time and space & a love letter to the fans. Movie title, release date and other details coming one week from today.” The original “Babylon 5” was produced by Warner Bros. Television. The series ran in syndication and on TNT for five seasons, 110 episodes, and seven TV movies, including the 1993 pilot film. The show is considered one of the best sci-fi series ever made by many critics and won numerous awards throughout its run, including two Hugo Awards and a Saturn Award.

statement posted to Twitter Tuesday. “We believe that everyone working in the film and television industry deserves to be fairly compensated for their work and receive essential benefits.”The statement comes hours after the WGA officially commenced the entertainment industry’s first strike in 15 years after the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to reach a deal by Monday at midnight, when the most recent contract expired.“The decision was made following six weeks of negotiations with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony under the umbrella of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP),” the WGA said in a statement Monday evening.

AMC Entertainment chief executive Adam Aron saw compensation last year totaling $23.7 million, up 25% from $18.9 million in 2021, according to an SEC filing Friday. That included a base salary of $1.5 million, a $6 million cash bonus, and stock awards valued at $16.2 million.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has given a straight-to-series order to Rescue: HI-Surf, a Hawaii lifeguard drama from John Wells Productions in Wells’ broadcast return. The series, slated to premiere during the 2023-24 season, will be co-produced by Warner Bros. Television, where JWP is based, and Fox Entertainment.

Koala Man and the upcoming series “Hazbin Hotel” (platform TBD and co-produced with A24). December 2022 saw Bent Box enter a multi-year production service agreement with leading Irish animation studio Boulder Media, which includes “Krapopolis” and “Grimsburg.”In 2021, Bento Box and Fox formed BCL, which launched Web3 platforms for unscripted series like “The Masked Singer,” “Krapopolis,” the United States Football League (USFL), Fox Deportes, SXSW, Dolly Parton and WWE.Daniel Weidenfeld, senior vice president of Animation at Fox Entertainment, will transition over to Bento Box, where he will be involved in development, working closely with creative Director Ben Jones.  They will jointly report to Coker.