Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Johnny Jay’s irreverent, snarky, and caffeine-fueled look back at the past week in sci fi TV in five minutes or less.
It has been a slow week for sci fi TV news, so I will use this opportunity to take a look at the genre entries on the Fall 2023 schedule for the linear networks. And spoiler alert; there are not many shows on the sched. All of the broadcast networks have announced their Fall lineup with the exception of FOX, and as you might expect, it is heavy on reality and competition shows. With the writers’ strike currently going on (more on that at this link), production has halted on many of the scripted shows that would have made up the Fall schedule, so the networks have to pad out the lineup. But the fact is that the linear nets will likely be leaning more and more on non-scripted programming going forward anyway because it is cheaper for them to go that direction as their viewership continues to decline.
The only two genre entries currently set for Fall on the broadcast networks are NBC’s Quantum Leap and the CBS supernatural comedy Ghosts. The former got an early renewal announcement and started work on its second season before the strike began, but it may have only completed a handful of episodes before production halted. And the network did that one no favors by moving it to Tuesdays at 10 PM EST. As for Ghosts, it is unclear if that show started work on its third season before the strike, so it’s possible it could get shifted to mid-season.
Syfy has not announced its Fall schedule yet, but Chucky was supposed to be returning for its third season and Reginald the Vampire should be back for its second season. If work was completed on those before the strike, they should still be on track for a Fall premiere. Resident Alien should be back for its third season at some point, but that may arrive sooner in Summer.
AMC’s TWD spin-off series Daryl Dixon was scheduled to hit somewhere around Fall and that one is likely still on track. The second season of Interview with the Vampire was eying a Fall premiere and should still be on target if it got enough filming completed before the strike. And FX’s American Horror Story Season 12 could still be on track for Fall, though don’t be surprised if either that or Interview only have half a season’s worth of episodes available. The fourth and final season of Snowpiercer was in the works and it is possible that could arrive in Fall if not sooner (though a network has not been established since it was booted from TNT).
The CW cancelled The Winchesters and Kung Fu, and Superman & Lois and Gotham Knights are still awaiting word on their fates. It is looking like the former could fly over to Max (previously HBO Max) with the latter getting a second season at The CW. But since production has not started on either, it will almost certainly be 2024 before we see either of those.
The third season of NBC’s La Brea has been pushed to mid-year which suggests filming was not completed before the strike. Only six episodes were ordered for that, and it will likely be the final season for the show.
Apart from that, there is little else to look forward to on the linear channels this Fall. None of the broadcast networks ordered genre pilots, and neither FOX nor ABC have anything to carry over from the current season. (FOX cancelled Fantasy Island after two seasons.) And I expect this to be pretty much the norm from these networks going forward. Non-scripted programming will likely continue to dominate, even after the strike. And I also expect the linear networks will start airing encore runs of originals from digital networks they are linked to like CBS did with Star Trek: Discovery a couple of years ago to fill out the schedule. Good or bad, streaming is where you will find most of the genre shows these days, especially if you are looking for true science fiction shows.
Below is the list of shows expected to be airing on the linear networks in Fall 2023:
AMC
Daryl Dixon (Sundays 9 PM EST)
Interview with the Vampire Season 2 (Sundays 9 PM EST, Tentative)
CBS
Ghosts Season 3 (Thursdays 8:30 PM EST)
FX
American Horror Story Season 12 (Wednesdays 10 PM EST)
NBC
Quantum Leap Season 2 (Tuesdays 10 PM EST)
Syfy
Chucky Season 3 (Wednesdays 9 PM EST, Tentative)
Reginald the Vampire Season 2 (Wednesdays 10 PM EST, Tentative)
Resident Alien Season 3 (Timeslot TBA)
TBA
Snowpiercer Season 4 (Timeslot and Network TBA)
This coming week, Nancy Drew returns on Wednesday to kick off its fourth and final season, and that will be the last genre premier for the month. To kick off June, Manifest Season 4B premieres on Netflix on Friday and The Lazarus Project premieres on TNT on Sunday. You can see all of the premieres for June and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.
Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
