‘9-1-1’: Fox Execs On When & Why Decision To End Series Was Made & Future Crossovers With ‘Lone Star’
15.05.2023 - 13:57
/ deadline.com
In one of the biggest twists of the 2023 upfront, Fox opted not to renew its highest rated scripted series, 9-1-1. The drama, produced by 20th Television, was instead picked up for a seventh season by 20th TV sibling ABC.
During Fox’s pre-upfront press call Monday morning, the network’s CEO Rob Wade revealed that the decision 9-1-1‘s run on Fox to end with Season 6 was made a year ago by his predecessor, Charlie Collier, as part of the difficult, down-to-the-wire renewals of 9-1-1 and The Resident, which finally closed a couple of hours before the network’s upfront presentation.
“But needless to say, you look at shows and see different ways. It’s first and foremost from the creative blend in how much we love to create, and the second thing is really the economics of that,” Wade said. “And I think we felt moving forward into what is really a new era of television, the economics weren’t going to pan out for this show for us. Decision was made that the business model wasn’t right for us, and 20th would take the show back.”
Wade spoke more about Fox’s evolving business model earlier in the call.
“We all know industry as an inflection point, and we are doing everything we can to be adaptable to the market and disciplined in our approach,” he said. “We’ve adopted new business models for production and talent. We’re out of the pilot business and have implemented-year round development. We’ve led the way in broadcast-direct deals with creators and we’ve bolstered our production facilities and efficiency. Importantly, owning or co-owning, giving us even greater creative freedom. That means when deciding what stories to tell, we have to love the creative and we have to love the business model.”
Six seasons in, 9-1-1, in which