It’s a miracle ahead: Fox and 20th Television have completed the season 6 renewals of 9-1-1 and The Resident for the 2022-23 season.
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I understand negotiations were finalized just before Fox’s 4:00pm ET presentation began, allowing the two venerable dramas to be included in the network’s pitch to advertisers. (The two shows, both in their fifth season, were introduced briefly in the presentation’s opening montage, but the previously renewed 9-1-1: Lone Star was mentioned in the opening remarks by Fox sales director Marianne Gambelli.)
As Deadline reported over the weekend, renewal negotiations for both shows were coming to an end and could not be completed Sunday night in order for 9-1-1 and The Resident to be included in Fox’s 2022-23 content list sent out Monday morning.
From what I’ve heard, the two sides weren’t that far apart as of Sunday night, and both made concessions so Fox could have its highest-rated scripted series, 9-1-1, and its impressive drama The Resident in its front line.
Cancellations/Renewals Scorecard: TV shows have ended or resumed in the 2021-22 season
It was a likely case that Fox focused its attention on the tough decisions surrounding bubble shows, and the ones that weren’t pipe dreams ended up taking longer. Renewal negotiations are more complicated now that Fox and 9-1-1 and The Resident Studio 20th Television are no longer part of the same company following Disney’s acquisition of the studio. That complicates the finances — which are already a challenge for long-running shows like 9-1-1 and The Resident — even more complicated. The fourth season renewal of the younger 9-1-1: Lone Star could be completed before Monday.
“We are in good negotiations [on 9-1-1 and The Resident]Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier said Monday morning at Fox’s pre-call. “Based on our long history with 20th Television, I think we’re in pretty good shape. We love [co-creator/EP] Ryan [Murphy] and are so pleased that Lone Star is locked and loaded.”
We also reported that Fox is in renewal talks with 20th TV for the studio’s contingent of animated Fox veterans The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers. Since animated series are on a different timeline, these renewals aren’t as urgent as the network has new episodes of all three for next season.
9-1-1 and The Resident are Fox’s top-rated series on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. 9-1-1 follows the busy lives of Los Angeles first responders: police officers, paramedics, firefighters, and dispatchers. It stars Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, Oliver Stark, Ryan Guzman, Aisha Hinds, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kenneth Choi, among others. The show’s fifth season finale airs tonight.
Created by Amy Holden Jones, Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi, The Resident is a medical drama that follows the lives of the doctors and nurses at Atlanta’s fictional Chastain Park Memorial Hospital. The cast includes Matt Czuchry, Manish Dayal, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Bruce Greenwood, Jane Leeves and Jessica Lucas.
The series faced challenges in Season 5 after several cast members departed, including longtime series stars Emily VanCamp and Shaunette Renée Wilson, as well as Morris Chestnut, who joined the show in Season 3 — but ratings have held up.
The drama’s May 17 finale should get a nice viewership boost with the temporary return of VanCamp’s character Nic Nevin through flashbacks to give the series a strong ending. She returns just when her widower, Conrad (Czuchry), needs help to move on with his life romantically.
Rosy Cordero contributed to this report.