Game Shows, Sports, Animation And Gordon Ramsay; Scripted Is Thin

In a fall primetime schedule heavy on game shows, sports and animation, Fox will feature only one night of scripted programming, Tuesday, care of returning dramas Murder in a Small Town and Doc. Monday and Wednesday will be populated with a pair of game shows (Celebrity Name That Tune and the reinvented Celebrity Weakest Link on Monday; The Floor and newbie 99 to Beat on Wednesday). College football and a variety of sports (translation: time period filler) will return on Friday and perennial network wasteland Saturday, which are the only two nights on Fox’s primetime lineup unchanged. And Sunday, as always, will showcase the 8-10 p.m. ET “Animation Domination” block, which has not lived up that descriptor in years.

Overall, Fox will launch five new series throughout the 2025-26 TV season. In live action comedy is the one-hour Best Medicine, which joins the returning Animal Control and Going Dutch in midseason. There are two new dramas – Memory of a Killer and event series The Faithful. And Fox favorite Gordon Ramsay will be featured in the four-hour event series, Next Level Baker (among other shows).

Additionally, former NBC non-scripted entry Fear Factor will make a comeback, now titled Fear Factor: The Next Chapter, as will new episodes of animated American Dad! on Fox. Dropped into a remote location, a group of strangers on Fear Factor: The Next Chapter will live together under one roof, and face news stunts and challenges and a twisted game of social strategy a la CBS granddaddy Survivor.

Returning in the non-scripted category at a later time in the season on Fox will be Beat Shazam, Don’t Forget The Lyrics!, Extracted, Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service, Kitchen Nightmares, LEGO Masters, The Masked Singer, Masterchef, The Quiz with Balls, The Snake and The 1% Club. Also slated for midseason is animation veteran Family Guy.

Additional programming is expected to be announced on Fox.

“Building on our winning position in both key demos and co-viewing this season, Fox delivers a 2025-26 schedule that’s filled with irreverence, fun and much-needed laughter,” said Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade in a statement. “Next year more than ever, we’re bringing that promise to life with a terrific slate to delight our audiences across linear, Hulu and beyond.”

The bottom-line: Once upon a time, Fox made an impact with a roster of programs, animation and live action scripted – that dared to be different. In recent years, the focus at Fox is on the familiar, which in most cases (animation, in particular) is just plain tired. While the success, of lack of, for any network is dependent on the next generation of new hits and returning staples, Fox needs to be more aggressive to make an impact in both areas. As it stands, very little – if anything – stands out on the primetime schedule.

Here is Fox’s fall 2025 primetime line-up (with new series bolded), followed by the new program descriptions.

Monday
8:00 p.m.: Celebrity Name That Tune
9:00 p.m.: Celebrity Weakest Link

Tuesday
8:00 p.m.: Murder in a Small Town (Best Medicine in midseason)
9:00 p.m.: Doc

Wednesday
8:00 p.m.: The Floor
9:00 p.m.: 99 to Beat

Thursday
8:00 p.m.: Hell’s Kitchen
9:00 p.m.: Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test

Friday
8:00 p.m.: College Football

Saturday
8:00 p.m.: Sports

Sunday
7:00 p.m.: NFL on Fox
7:30 p.m.: The OT /Fox Animation Encores
8:00 p.m.: The Simpsons
8:30 p.m.: Universal Basic Guys
9:00 p.m.: Krapopolis
9:30 p.m.: Bob’s Burgers

New Program Descriptions

Non-Scripted

99 to Beat
In 99 to Beat, hosted by Ken Jeong and Erin Andrews, 100 contestants go head-to-head in a range of games in an arced competition game show. The logline: 99 to Beat is the game show that anyone can win, and there’s only one thing players must do for a chance of walking away with the cash prize – Don’t. Come. In. Last. As contestants battle it out against each other, each round will see the number of players whittled down until one person is left standing and they take home the top prize of $100,000.

Next Level Baker
A holiday special, and Next Level Chef’s first franchise extension, Next Level Baker will test the skills of bakers as they are challenged to create festive holiday delights across the franchise’s three iconic levels. During the new series’ four special hours – in which Gordon Ramsay will serve as host and mentor — only one baker will rise to the top and claim the holiday baking crown.

Drama

Memory of a Killer
Inspired by the 2003 Belgian film De Zaak Alzheimer (La Memoire Du Tueur), Memory of a Killer is a dramatic thriller about a hitman who develops early onset Alzheimer’s. Losing your memory is a devastating hammer blow for anyone, but for Angelo Ledda, the stakes couldn’t be higher. His hit man job would be perilous enough, but there’s an added pressure. Angelo lives two totally separate lives — fearsome NYC hitman and sleepy upstate Cooperstown photocopier salesman and father. Having built and maintained a brick wall between his two worlds, Angelo has seamlessly juggled and compartmentalized for years. But now that’s all about to change. Because Alzheimer’s is a foe he can’t outrun, and he knows too well how this ends, as his older brother is already lost to the condition. This is only made more difficult when he discovers that his wife’s recent death may not have been an accident. So, when someone comes after his daughter — who is pregnant — it’s clear the wall between his lives has been breached.

The Faithful
A six-episode limited series presented over three consecutive weeks during next Easter and Passover season, The Faithful is based on The Old Testament’s Book of Genesis and told through the eyes of the courageous and passionate, yet flawed, women whose descendants would shape three of the world’s great faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Dimensional, dramatic, intimate, even shocking, The Faithful is about discovering and losing love, the challenges of marriage, the joys and heartbreak of children, confronting temptation and finding faith. The episodes will be told through the lens of five of The Bible’s most legendary women: Sarah and her former slave Hagar, Sarah’s great-niece Rebekah, and Rebekah’s nieces, sisters Leah and Rachel.

C0medy

Best Medicine
Based on medical drama Doc Martin, Best Medicine follows Martin Best, a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, and he quickly alienates the town, even though he’s all they’ve got. Although Martin can expertly address any medical ailment or mystery in this idiosyncratic town, he’s really just desperate to be left the hell alone. Instead, he keeps getting dragged right smack into the middle of their personal chaos, feuds and fantasies.