‘Fantasy Island’ Canceled After Two Seasons at Fox

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Virgin River” has been renewed for Season 6 at Netflix. The announcement was made as part of Netflix’s first ever upfront presentation to advertisers. It comes before Season 5 of the popular drama series has even set a premiere date, though it is expected to air in the fall. “Virgin River” was renewed for both Seasons 4 and 5 back in 2021, with Season 4 debuting in July 2022. The series is based on the Robyn Carr book series of the same name. The cast of the series includes Alexandra Breckenridge, Martin Henderson, Tim Matheson, Annette O’Toole, Colin Lawrence, Benjamin Hollingsworth, Lauren Hammersley, Grayson Gurnsey, Sarah Dugdale, Zibby Allen, and Marco Grazzini.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Killing It” Season 2 has added eight new guest stars, Variety has learned exclusively. The second season of the Craig Robinson-led Peacock comedy series has added the following actors in guest roles: Dot-Marie Jones (“Bros,” “Glee”) as Jackie Boone, Katie Kershaw (“Mrs. Fletcher,” “Fargo”) as Natalie-Ray Boone, Joe Massingill (“Barry,” “Fear the Walking Dead”) as Ray-Nathan Boone, Melanie Field (“Shrill,” “You”) as Shayla, Fatimah Taliah (“Goliath,” “Life in Pieces”) as Maya, Beck Bennett (“Saturday Night Live,” “Bill & Ted Face the Music”) as Johnny, Kyle Mooney (“Saturday Night Live,” “Zoolander 2”) as Bugs, and Tim Simons (“Don’t Worry Darling,” “Candy”) as Agent Burton.

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.

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.”

The Masked Singer and I Can See Your Voice are both officially returning to Fox.

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.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter ABC has canceled the drama series “Alaska Daily,” “Big Sky,” and “The Company You Keep,” Variety has learned. Hilary Swank starred in “Alaska Daily” series as Eileen Fitzgerald, described as “a fiercely talented and award-winning investigative journalist who leaves her high-profile New York life behind after a fall from grace to join a daily metro newspaper in Anchorage on a journey to find both personal and professional redemption.” In addition to Swank, the series starred Jeff Perry as Stanley Cornik, Matt Malloy as Bob Young, Meredith Holzman as Claire Muncy, Grace Dove as Rosalind “Roz” Friendly, Pablo Castelblanco as Gabriel Tovar, Ami Park as Yuna Park, and Craig Frank as Austin Teague.

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.

Sad news for fans of Fantasy Island.

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.

No more tropical island escapes for Fox: the network is not renewing Fantasy Island for a third season.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Walker: Independence” has been canceled at The CW after just one season, Variety has learned. The series served as a prequel to fellow CW show “Walker,” which was just renewed for Season 4 at the network. The show was set in the late 1800s. Per the official description, it followed “Abby Walker (Katherine McNamara), an affluent and tough-minded Bostonian whose husband is murdered before her eyes while on their journey out West. After crossing paths with Calian (Justin Johnson Cortez), a curious Apache tracker, Abby arrives in the town of Independence, Texas, where she encounters diverse and eclectic residents running from their pasts, chasing their dreams, and keeping their own secrets.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “S.W.A.T” has been renewed for Season 7 at CBS, which will also be the show’s last. The move marks a stunning reversal of the network’s decision to cancel the show just three days ago. According to sources, talks continued between CBS and series co-producer Sony Pictures Television over the weekend following the cancellation announcement. The show has been a solid performer for CBS in its Friday night timeslot, with the decision ultimately coming down to the show’s financials. In addition to the renewal, series star Shemar Moore will serve as an executive producer on the final season. “We have listened to our viewers and their outpouring of passion for ‘S.W.A.T.’ and we have reached an agreement to renew it for a final season of 13 episodes to air during the 2023-2024 broadcast year,” said CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach and Sony Pictures Television Studios president Katherine Pope in a joint statement. “‘S.W.A.T.’ has aired for six seasons on CBS and garnered a devoted following. We are pleased that we found a way to bring it back and give closure to the show’s storylines and characters, which audiences deserve. Once again, we appreciate the talents and efforts of the cast, writers, producers and crew and everyone who has contributed to the success of ‘S.W.A.T.’ We look forward to its return next season.”

A family-focused queen! Roselyn Sánchez exclusively revealed some fun facts about herself to Us Weekly that even some of her biggest fans might not know.

Fox is making its renewal and pick up decisions.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Call Me Kat” has been canceled after three seasons at Fox, Variety has learned. “We are very proud of ‘Call Me Kat.’ But, unfortunately, the audience response to it was not as strong as we had hoped,” a Fox spokesperson said in a statement. “We are thankful for our partnership with Warner Bros. Television, That’s Wonderful Productions, Sad Clown Productions, BBC Studios, Mayim Bialik, Jim Parsons and the entire cast and crew for their work and dedication to ‘Call Me Kat.'” The multi-cam comedy was a high-profile get for Fox back in 2019, with the network giving the show a series commitment in a highly-competitive situation before formally ordering it to series in May 2020. Both series star Mayim Bialik and executive producer Jim Parsons were coming fresh off of the 12th and final season of the hit CBS multi-cam “The Big Bang Theory,” with “Call Me Kat” representing their first broadcast project after that show.