It’s that time of year again! Upfronts Week! As usual, the Fox schedule is below but instead of waiting until the week is over to share my thoughts, I’m going to talk about what I think right now!

Thoughts On Cancelled Series:
I am super bummed that Almost Human will not be returning. That was truly an awesome show. It’s too bad there weren’t enough viewers. It’s too bad most of these networks don’t stick with solid shows because of a lack of viewers. I know it’s business but some shows I’ll never get over and this is one of them.

As mentioned here, I loved Raising Hope. It actually wasn’t until this season that I started watching it On Demand when I could and then soon not at all. I still haven’t seen the series finale. So. If someone like me who loved the show started falling off of the show, and the ratings have never been out of this world fantastic, I can see why this show was cancelled. I’m not bummed. I think it ran its course, served the viewers it was meant to serve.

Other cancelled shows worth mentioning…Enlisted and The X Factor. Enlisted was funny. I simply had other shows during that time slot to watch and was unable to watch live as often as I’d like. Now I’m bummed I didn’t and more others didn’t because that was a really entertaining show. And then there’s The X Factor. I am so glad that this show was cancelled. I am so, so tired of music competition shows. So glad to see Fox making room for something else.

Thoughts On New Series:
I am so so so in for GOTHAM and UTOPIA. My kind of shows! GRACEPOINT as well for David Tennant. HIEROGLYPH, BORDERTOWN, and THE LAST MAN ON EARTH also sound really intriguing, though I’m worried about the longevity of the latter. WEIRD LONERS stars Becki Newton and I’ve been dying for Newton to land a successful series since Ugly Betty so of course I’m rooting for her. It’s great to see Fox investing in a one hour predominately black drama in EMPIRE. Excited for the new crop of actors that will have their chance to shine in RED BAND SOCIETY. Can’t wait to see what Rainn Wilson delivers in BACKSTROM. As usual, I’ll check out the Pilots at least of every new series, usually more though, and I’ll give an update on what I’m keeping on my schedule and what’s gotten the ax just before midseason.

Now for the Fall schedule…

GOTHAM Photo Credit: Fox

Sunday
7:30-8pm Bob’s Burgers
8-8:30pm The Simpsons
8:30-9pm Brooklyn Nine-Nine
9-9:30pm Family Guy
9:30-10pm MULANEY (New Series)

Monday
8-9pm GOTHAM (New Series)
9-10pm Sleepy Hollow

Tuesday
8-9pm UTOPIA (New Series)
9-9:30pm New Girl
9:30-10pm The Mindy Project

Wednesday
8-9pm Hell’s Kitchen
9-10pm RED BAD SOCIETY (New Series)

Thursday
8-9pm Bones
9-10pm GRACEPOINT (New Series)

Friday
8-9pm Masterchef Junior
9-10pm UTOPIA (New Series)

Midseason/Airing TBA:
Returning: American Idol, Boom!, The Following, Glee, Hotel Hell, Masterchef, So You Think You Can Dance
New Dramas: BACKSTROM, EMPIRE, HIEROGLYPH
New Event Series: WAYWARD PINES
New Comedies: THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, WEIRD LONERS, BORDERTOWN (animated series)

RED BAND SOCIETY Photo Credit: Alex Martinez / FOX

MULANEY
The new comedy premiering this fall is MULANEY. MULANEY stars Emmy Award-winning writer and comedian John Mulaney (“Saturday Night Live”) as a rising stand-up comic trying to take his career to the next level, and the friends and mentors who lift him up, hold him back and push him around. The multi-camera sitcom boasts a cast of comedy all-stars, including Martin Short (“SCTV,” “Saturday Night Live”), Academy Award nominee Elliott Gould (“M*A*S*H,” the “Ocean’s 11” franchise), Nasim Pedrad (“Saturday Night Live”), Seaton Smith (“Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell”) and Zack Pearlman (“The Inbetweeners”).

GOTHAM
Origin story GOTHAM and touching, coming-of-age series RED BAND SOCIETY are the two new dramas set to debut this fall. GOTHAM traces the rise of the great DC Comics Super-Villains and vigilantes, revealing an entirely new chapter that has never been told. From executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (“The Mentalist,” “Rome”) and starring Ben McKenzie (“Southland,” “The O.C.”), Jada Pinkett Smith (“Hawthorne,” “Collateral”) and Donal Logue (“Vikings,” “Sons of Anarchy”), GOTHAM follows one cop, destined for greatness, as he navigates a dangerously corrupt city teetering on the edge of evil, and chronicles the birth of one of the most popular super heroes of our time.

UTOPIA
One new unscripted series debuts in the fall: the groundbreaking social experiment UTOPIA, which asks, “Does a perfect world exist?” From unscripted mastermind John de Mol (“Deal Or No Deal,” “Fear Factor,” “The Voice,” “Big Brother”), and based on the Dutch hit of the same name, UTOPIA is a bold new series that moves 15 everyday Americans to an isolated, undeveloped location – for an entire year – and challenges them to create their own civilization. Will it be ultimate happiness or utter chaos?

RED BAND SOCIETY
From Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and starring Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer (“The Help,” “Fruitvale Station”), Dave Annable (“Brothers & Sisters,” “666 Park Avenue”) and a charismatic cast of fresh faces, RED BAND SOCIETY is a provocative, inspiring and, at times, comedic young ensemble drama told through the eyes of a group of teenagers who meet as patients in the pediatric ward of Ocean Park Hospital in Los Angeles.

GRACEPOINT
Also this fall, 10-episode mystery event series GRACEPOINT, starring Welsh BAFTA winner David Tennant (“Dr. Who”), Emmy Award winner Anna Gunn (“Breaking Bad”), Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver (“Silver Linings Playbook”), Academy Award nominee Nick Nolte (“Warrior,” “Affliction”) and SAG Award winner Michael Peña (“American Hustle”), joins the schedule. The riveting mystery follows the tragic death of a young boy, and the major police investigation and nationwide media frenzy that subsequently overtake a picturesque seaside town, where anyone is a suspect.

BACKSTROM
Created and executive-produced by Hart Hanson (BONES), offbeat comedic crime procedural BACKSTROM centers on Detective EVERETT BACKSTROM (three-time Emmy Award nominee Rainn Wilson, “The Office,” “Six Feet Under”), an unhealthy, offensive, irascible – albeit brilliant – detective who is brought back from exile to run the Portland Police Bureau’s Special Crimes Unit (S.C.U.).

HIEROGLYPH
The world of ancient Egypt – a time of magic, Pharaohs, gods and thieves – lives again in HIEROGLYPH, an adventure series from creator/executive producer Travis Beacham (“Pacific Rim,” “Clash of the Titans”). The epic fantasy follows a notorious thief who is plucked from prison to serve the Pharaoh, forcing him to navigate palace intrigue, seductive concubines, criminal underbellies and divine sorcerers, as he races to stop the downfall of one of history’s greatest civilizations.

EMPIRE
From Academy Award nominee Lee Daniels (“Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Precious”) and Emmy Award winner Danny Strong (“Game Change,” “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”) comes EMPIRE, a sexy and powerful new drama about the head of a music empire whose three sons and ex-wife all battle for his throne. Set to an original soundtrack written and produced by hip-hop hitmaker Timbaland, the family drama stars Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard (“Crash,” “Hustle & Flow”) and Academy Award and Emmy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson (“Person of Interest,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”).

WAYWARD PINES
Based on a best-selling novel and brought to life by suspenseful storyteller M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”), WAYWARD PINES is an intense, mind-bending 10-episode thriller starring Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (“Crash”) as a Secret Service agent on a mission to find two missing federal agents in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID. Every step closer to the truth makes him question if he will ever get out of Wayward Pines alive. The all-star cast also includes Academy and Emmy Award winner Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”), Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard (“Crash,” “Hustle & Flow”), Carla Gugino (“Entourage”), Shannyn Sossamon (“How to Make It in America”), Toby Jones (the “Harry Potter” franchise) and Academy Award and Emmy Award nominee Juliette Lewis (“Cape Fear”).

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH
Created by and starring Will Forte (“Nebraska,” “Saturday Night Live”) and directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord (“The Lego Movie,” “21 Jump Street”), THE LAST MAN ON EARTH is a new single-camera comedy about the life and adventures of the last man on earth. PHIL MILLER (Forte) was once just an average guy who loved his family and hated his job at the bank – now he’s humanity’s last hope. Will he ever find another person alive on the planet? Would hoping that she is a female be asking too much?

WEIRD LONERS
WEIRD LONERS, from writer Michael J. Weithorn (“The King of Queens”) and director Jake Kasdan (NEW GIRL), is a new single-camera comedy about four single 30-something underdogs who are unexpectedly thrust into one another’s lives and form an unlikely bond in a Queens, NY, townhouse. The series stars Becki Newton (“Ugly Betty”), Zachary Knighton (“Happy Endings”), Nate Torrence (“Hello Ladies”) and newcomer Meera Khumbhani.

BORDERTOWN
A new animated comedy from FAMILY GUY’s Mark Hentemann and Seth MacFarlane, BORDERTOWN is a satirical look at the cultural shifts taking place in America. Exploring family, politics and everything in between with a cross-cultural wink, the series centers on two very different families living in a fictional Southwest desert town on the U.S. – Mexico border.