Fox Corp. surprised the industry on Monday by hosting an upfront programming presentation that was almost entirely pre-recorded.
About 800 attendees gathered at the Skylight venue in Lower Manhattan for the presentation that unfolded in immersive fashion across giant screens for just over an hour. Once the lengthy video portion was over, Collier came out to address the group in person, as did “Monarch” stars Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins, with Adkins performing a quick song.
Attendees sat nightclub-style in the round at small tables. As the 4 p.m. presentation began to unspool, it became clear that the event from Fox Sports, Fox News and Fox Entertainment was going to be largely pre-recorded. Fox Corp. senior executives, including CEO Lachlan Murdoch (in sneakers), sat in a long line against the far edge of the room full of media buyers and journalists.
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At one point during the video, Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier appeared on screen to give a virtual “tour,” of the Fox Studios Lot in Los Angeles. In Collier’s scripted walk and talk, he strategically bumped into Fox stars like “9-1-1: Lone Star’s” Rob Lowe and Gina Torres.
The pre-taped presentation that touted Fox Sports, Fox News, AVOD streamer Tubi and Fox broadcast network concluded with a blooper reel featuring “outtakes” of their upfronts bits from Collier, “The Cleaning Lady” star Élodie Yungm, “Next Level Chef” host and longtime Fox partner Gordon Ramsay, “Beat Shazam” host and “Alert” producer Jamie Foxx and more.
Aside from being a mostly pre-recorded event, Fox’s upfront was an unusual one in that it was not preceded by the release of the network’s fall schedule. Due to the fact that dramas “9-1-1” and “The Resident” took longer than expected to close their respective sixth-season renewal deals, Fox opted to give the broad strokes of its plans for the 2022-2023 season. Despite the lack of schedule to discuss, Collier and his team still held a press call earlier Monday and fielded questions about their current and upcoming shows.
