‘911’ Renewed for Season 7 — at ABC
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ABC is responding to a 911 call.
The Ryan Murphy-produced procedural is ending its run on Fox after six seasons and moving to ABC for its seventh season. Spinoff 911: Lone Star, meanwhile, has been renewed for its fifth season and will remain on Fox.
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Disney’s 20th Television owns both 911 and Lone Star. Fox’s decision to cancel the flagship drama was a financial decision as the broadcast network, which used to own the series before the company sold its television studio, has been looking to reduce its expenses. Fox has to pay a licensing fee to Disney to air the flagship series, and with broadcast ratings continuing to decline, Fox opted to back away from television’s No. 1 broadcast drama in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic while still retaining the spinoff, which comes in at a lower licensing fee. Sources say Fox was paying more than $9 million per episode on the flagship series. Lone Star comes in at $6 million-$7 million per episode, sources say.
“It has been an honor to be the founding network of 911 and we are grateful to Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear, together with Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Oliver Stark, Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi, Ryan Guzman and the rest of the cast and crew, and 20th Television for delivering such an impactful series to FOX. We wish them well after 911’s final Fox season concludes.”
The news comes as the financial model for broadcast television shows has come under fire. As studios like 20th TV look to keep foreign and streaming rights for their own respective platforms, those lucrative revenue streams have evaporated and forced the entire business model to be recalculated. One result of this has been cast and producers taking pay cuts (CBS’ Blue Bloods, owned by the network’s studio counterpart, reduced salaries by 25 percent) and others have cut back on series regulars and episode counts. Some studios, meanwhile, have reduced licensing fees in order to keep a show on the air. Shows that are produced by outside studios — Fox airs 911 but Disney owns it — face an uphill battle as the networks don’t control streaming or foreign rights.
“Thanks to the creative drive of Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear, as well as the talented cast, 911 has been one of the most defining and original dramas on network television over the last six seasons and we are honored to bring it to the esteemed group of series on ABC,” said Craig Erwich, president, Disney Television Group. “It’s a privilege to keep 911 in the family with 20th Television producing, and we look forward to telling more heart-racing and uplifting stories about these beloved characters on our air.”
It’s important to note that Fox recently renewed its trio of long-running animated series The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers and Family Guy, all of which are owned by Disney. Rumors have swirled for the past couple years that amid diminishing ratings returns, Fox could eventually opt out of paying the licensing fees and all three shows could move to a Disney outlet/platform.
Fox has already renewed the bulk of its scripted roster for the 2023-24 broadcast season. In addition to the three animated shows from Disney, Fox has picked up The Cleaning Lady (a co-production with Warners), animated comedy The Great North (a co-pro with Disney), Accused and Alert (both co-pros with Sony) and the yet to debut animated pair of Grimsburg and Krapopolis, which are both fully owned by Fox.
ABC, meanwhile, lands a male-leaning procedural with 911 joining Grey’s Anatomy and spinoff Station 19, The Good Doctor, The Rookie and first-year drama Will Trent. On the comedy side, ABC gave an early pickup to awards darling Abbott Elementary.
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