Fox has renewed what can fairly be called a boatload of its unscripted shows.
Heading into its upfront presentation Monday afternoon, the network says it has renewed 17 unscripted series (including a couple that had been previously announced). They include six shows on the schedule for the fall: Celebrity Name That Tune, Celebrity Weakest Link, The Floor (one of the previously announced pickups, a two-season order), 99 to Beat, Hell’s Kitchen (also a two-season renewal) and Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. A seventh show, Next Level Baker, is set for a holiday-season run, though its place on the schedule hasn’t been determined.
Eight more — Crime Scene Kitchen, Don’t Forget The Lyrics, Extracted, Fear Factor: House of Fear, Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service, Lego Masters, The Masked Singer and Next Level Chef — are on deck for later in the 2026-27 season. So is Masterchef, which is in the middle of a two-season order and not included on the renewal list.
Finally, Beat Shazam and Kitchen Nightmares also received renewals, though they’re not mentioned in the shows slated for next season. Those two are among several shows that will have been off the air for a year or more when they next air; so have Crime Scene Kitchen, Don’t Forget the Lyrics and Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service.
Fox sometimes orders more shows than it needs for a given season, Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade told reporters on a conference call Sunday evening. Earlier this year, before the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA made new deals with studios, was a bit of an uncertain period, so Fox stockpiled some shows in the event of another strike.
Having a big bullpen of unscripted shows also serves a couple other purposes, Wade and Fox Television Network president Michael Thorn said. “We talk a lot about how to keep as much original [programming] on the schedule as possible,” said Thorn. “It allows us to have new and returning series throughout the year — midseason, spring and summer.”
It’s also nice to have a backstop in case something on the schedule doesn’t work, Wade noted: “It’s better to have something ready to go than to try and rush something through production,” he said.
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