The Oscar winner has joined the network’s drama Prodigal Son for its second season. She’ll be a series regular and foil for Michael Sheen’s character in the series. It’s her first series role on a U.S. broadcast network.

The New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings game on Christmas Day proved a strong lure for sports fans isolated from their typical family gatherings by the pandemic. The game drew a 10.1 demographics score and provided an NFL record performance, as Saints running back Alvin Kamara scored six touchdowns.

Following the NFL on Fox doubleheader on Jan. 3, the network’s new animated series The Great North is getting a special preview at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT, ahead of its Feb. 14 series premiere, following the series premiere of multi-cam comedy Call Me Kat, starring Mayim Bialik at 8 p.m.

Even though games may look the same, most of the processes around broadcasting the games have changed. Interviews for pregame features are being done remotely, announcers are socially distanced while being separated by plexiglass, and sideline reporters are in the stands.

Fox and Sinclair Broadcast Group said they reached an agreement renewing the Fox Broadcasting affiliation for stations in 25 markets. The Sinclair Fox affiliates affected by the deal cover about 11% of U.S. households.

The network has handed a straight-to-series order to a contemporary reboot of the late-’70s/early ’80s ABC drama, to hail from executive producers Liz Craft and Sarah Fain (The 100) and air in summer 2021.

The potential Empire spinoff centered on Cookie Lyon starring Taraji P. Henson is not moving ahead at Fox. The spinoff was first announced as being in development back in July, part of a first-look deal Henson had signed with studio 20th Television. According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, the project will be shopped to other outlets.

Fox Corp. is the only NFL media partner to carry two different football franchises. Depending on the future costs of those games, Fox may be content to carry just one. The company’s CFO, Steve Tomsic, said Tuesday that if forced to make a decision about whether to carry just Sunday-afternoon football games or Thursday Night Football, Fox would opt for the Sunday package.

Former Community costars Ken Jeong and Joel McHale are set to host Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2021 (working title), the network announced Wednesday. They succeed former NYE emcee Steve Harvey, who has presided over Fox’s countdown since 2017.

To the surprise of no one, Fox has renewed The Masked Singer for a fifth season, set to air in 2021. The announcement comes just hours ahead of the Season 4 semifinals, airing tonight at 8 p.m. ET.

Fox has ordered the unscripted series Game of Talents with Wayne Brady set to host. Based on the Spanish format, Game of Talents pits two teams of contestants against each other as they attempt to figure out the hidden talents of the mystery performers based on first impressions and a series of clues. The series is currently in production in Los Angeles and will debut on Fox in 2021.

Jane Drakowski and Randy Jackson will host the musical game show that will be paired with a new season of The Masked Singer in January.

Will Arnett will return as host and exec producer of the competition series.

Fox has unveiled the bulk of its winter 2021 schedule, featuring the network’s returning scripted series, which will roll out starting on Dec. 27.

Fox will not renew either series for a second season, although both shows will see out their current runs. Low ratings — both shows are averaging a 0.5/3 in the 18-49 demo — and uncertainty are behind the cancellation of the series, which were both originally intended for summer runs.

Fox is getting a very early jump on its lineup for the 2021-22 TV season. The network has given a series order to This Country, a single-camera mockumentary from creator Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City, The Big C) and director Paul Feig (A Simple Favor, The Office). It’s based on a BAFTA-winning BBC series created by and starring Daisy and Charlie Cooper.

The six games on Fox averaged a 5.2 rating/12 share and 9,785,000 viewers, Nielsen said Wednesday. The previous low was a 7.6 rating/12 share and 12,660,000 viewers for the San Francisco Giants’ four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers in 2012.

Believing it’s never too early to start thinking about the upfront, Fox has launched an ad campaign aimed at media buyers and brand managers, and a web portal where clients can get information about upcoming schedules and programming. The campaign uses the theme “The Power Of Fox Is The Power To Break Through’” and informs clients that they can buy the company’s four verticals — entertainment, sports, news and the Tubi streaming services — or buy the entire portfolio.

Los Angeles’ 8-3 Game 1 win received a 5.1 rating/11 share, and was seen by an average of 9,195,000 viewers on Fox from 8:06 p.m. to 11:41 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nielsen Media Research said Wednesday.

Fox’s four returning drama series, 9-1-1, spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star, The Resident and Prodigal Son, will be back in the air with new seasons in January (no exact premiere dates yet). The network on Tuesday released a promo teasing the upcoming return of the series, which are now in production. The network also unveiled tweaked Monday and Tuesday lineups.

Fox announced Wednesday that Tim Allen’s death-defying family sitcom will conclude with its upcoming ninth season, which is set to premiere in January. The network resurrected the series in May 2018, ordering a seventh season nearly a year to the day after its controversial cancellation at ABC.

Fox’s animation will be dominating for the foreseeable future: Sunday-night staples Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers have each been renewed for two more seasons, the network announced Wednesday. Family Guy has been picked up for Seasons 20 and 21, while Bob’s Burgers will be back for Seasons 12 and 13. Each show will now run through at least 2023.

Liv Tyler has opted out of season two of Fox’s 911: Lone Star. The actress, who had a multiple-year deal for the Fox procedural, will not return to the Tim Minear drama amid issues related to the coronavirus pandemic. Tyler had previously commuted from London to Los Angeles, where the Austin-set series is filmed.

Fox Corp. is willing to spend as much as $2 billion a year to maintain its rights to National Football League games on Sunday, a huge increase from its current contract, according to people familiar with the matter. Negotiations with the league are heating up because current broadcast rights begin expiring at the end of next year.

Fox has set September premiere dates for Season 4 of The Masked Singer and the new Ken Jeong-hosted musical game show I Can See Your Voice, the network announced Wednesday. I Can See Your Voice was not on the original fall schedule Fox released back in May, but the show was fast-tracked to debut next month, taking the Wednesday night timeslot previously designated of MasterChef Junior.

MoffettNathanson says that having spun off its core entertainment assets to Disney last year, owning a broadcast network and TV stations no longer makes strategic sense. Fox Corp. should sell them to a big studio owner like WarnerMedia or to any entity looking to use the power of broadcasting to launch direct-to-consumer streaming services.

The Masked Singer began production on its fourth season Thursday in Los Angeles with COVID-19 safety guidelines in place. An individual with knowledge of the situation says that the Nick Cannon-hosted Season 4, which is expected to premiere this fall on Fox, will incorporate fan voting for the first time in the history of the singing competition.

ESPN and Fox shared bragging rights as the 41st annual Sports Emmys were handout out Tuesday night. They tied atop the network leaderboard with seven wins apiece. ESPN scored one more nod to lead all sports groups, as it came into the night with the most nominations (58) to Fox Sports Media Group’s 48. CBS’s coverage of the Masters won the marquee Outstanding Live Sports Special category, and the network also scooped the Outstanding Live Sports Series for its NFL on CBS.

Political is pacing more than 50% ahead of the equivalent period four years ago CEO Lachlan Murdoch tells analysts. Apart from political, COO John Nallen said it is “remarkable to see how quickly local advertising is coming back.”

Around 10 markets should be on-air with 3.0 broadcasts by the end of the third quarter and perhaps 20 by year’s end, according to representatives of Pearl TV and BitPath. Broadcasters are also exploring the full capabilities of the NextGen standard with several new initiatives this summer, including the launch of a NextGen-capable smartphone and a trial of advanced alerting capabilities in Washington, D.C. Above, one of the six 2020 LG OLED sets that have earned the NextGen TV logo from the Consumer Technology Association.

Pent-up demand for sports is translating into major advertising bucks, according to Fox, which is kicking off baseball season with its first-ever-triple header on Saturday. The advertising inventory for the nine-hour block of games is sold out, according to Fox’s head of sports sales, Seth Winter.

The Simpsons, the Harts, the Belchers and the Griffins will see you in September. New episodes of The Simpsons (Season 32), Bless the Harts (Season 2), Bob’s Burgers (Season 11) and Family Guy (Season 19) premiere Sunday, Sept. 27 on Fox,. Additionally the second season of Duncanville will premiere in 2021.

Baseball advertising appears to have pivoted from a months-long slump to hitting above average. Fox Corp. has sold more than 90% of its ad inventory in its share of games in Major League Baseball’s pandemic-truncated 2020 season, as well as all the ad berths in its planned broadcast of four games slated to air this Saturday on Fox Broadcasting and Fox Sports 1. Meanwhile,  Home Team Sports, the Fox-owned unit that sells ad time on 44 regional sports networks, is trying to accommodate a new rush of advertisers trying to get time in local broadcasts.