Fall TV season is only about a month in, but some networks are already making moves against underperforming freshman series. NBC delivered some bad news for two of its shows recently, and now one of Fox's new dramas seems to be circling the drain. Almost Family, the Brittany Snow-led series about a sperm scandal, has been left off of the Fox winter schedule, and that likely means the end.
Although Fox has not yet made an official announcement about whether Almost Family does or does not have a future, the show did not receive a slot in the midseason schedule. That said, a handful of episodes will release in the new year. The bad news for Almost Family is that it has not received an order for more episodes beyond the initial order for 13.
According to Fox's winter TV premiere schedule, Almost Family returns (presumably from a brief winter hiatus) in its regular Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET time slot on January 1, so if you want to start your new year with an episode of the series coming under fire from people conceived in real-life sperm scandals, you can!
Then, as of February 5, the 9 p.m. ET time slot on Wednesdays will switch to freshman series Lego Masters, which will follow Fox's smash hit The Masked Singer. If Fox intends to air a new episode of Almost Family every week between January 1 and February 5, then viewers can count on five episodes in 2020. That said, if the MLB World Series between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals makes it to seven games, then the regular Wednesday programming will be pushed back another week.
If that's the case, it's possible another schedule shift will happen, although it's also possible Fox already included a buffer week in the winter lineup. That said, most World Series end before seven games, so the odds are pretty good that Fox will be back to The Masked Singer and Almost Family on October 30 rather than another game. At the time of writing, the Nationals are up 2-0 on the Astros.
All things considered, a cancellation for Almost Family wouldn't be a huge surprise. Its odds of at least starting out as a hit were pretty good, as Fox gave Almost Family the enviable time slot that follows The Masked Singer, which is currently the dominant force in primetime. Unfortunately for the new show, the ratings drop considerably from The Masked Singer to Almost Family, and TV Series Finale reports Almost Family is averaging only a Live+Same day rating of 0.7 and 2.4 million viewers in the key 18-49 age demographic.
Could Almost Family be saved if it receives a big ratings boost between now and when it goes off the air in January? It's not out of the realm of possibility. Fox will get some big ratings for the World Series, and if the network promotes Almost Family, perhaps some new viewers will be inclined to check it out, and Almost Family could theoretically be held until summer for more episodes. Summer TV isn't exactly packed with scripted competition on the broadcast networks.
For now, though, my money is on cancellation news coming ahead of the new year, but only time will tell. For now, you can catch new episodes of Almost Family on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.
