Fox is making a habit out of resurrecting the dead. On the heels of new buzz today surrounding Fox's consideration of an X-Files reboot (and David Duchovny's "I'm excited" comments), the network (who did not learn from the critical and ratings disappointment that was Gracepoint) is looking to also give new life to British crime series Luther. I need not belabor the point with Frankenstein, because you get the idea.
Not stopping there, the current slate of Fox pilot orders also includes the comedy 48 Hours 'Til Monday. That series, a single-camera comedy about a husband "trying not to let his weekends go to hell" comes from Universal TV, who has also produced Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Mindy Project (and Mulaney, but the less said about that one the better).
According to Deadline, Fox TV Group chairman Dana Walden (who serves in the post along with Gary Newman) has said Fox's desire is "to keep the Monday lineup masculine, piloting broad, genre-themed projects as candidates to joined the newly renewed Gotham."
Where to begin?
In any case, the Luther remake will be written by original series creator Neil Cross, while its former star, Idris Elba, will executive produce the pilot (but not appear in the series -- mistake number one). Smartly, though, Fox is calling the series "cast-contingent," meaning if they can't find another Idris Elba, it will not move forward. I'm going to go with they probably aren't going to find another Idris Elba or Ruth Wilson, but it will probably go forward anyway.
Meanwhile, Frankenstein (from Life creator Rand Ravich, and executive produced by Homeland's Howard Gordon) is a sci-fi drama that will follow a morally corrupt former cop who -- wait for it, here's the twist -- has to choose between his old life and a new one after he is brought back from the dead. Right. And yet, BBC Three just cancelled its expectational zombie series In The Flesh. There is no justice.
Worse-sounding still is Rosewood, written and executive produced by Psych's Todd Harthan (who, to be fair, might give it a pass). It's yet another crime procedural for the network, this time about a pathologist -- named Rosewood, of course -- who "understands the secrets in dead bodies, but is obsessed with life." Dr. Frankstein, I presume? No, wait ….
Fox is looking to pick up about seven pilots each when it comes to comedy and drama. These series will join the already ordered Minority Report sequel pilot, as well as the straight-to-series-order for Ryan Murphy's Scream Queens. Stay tuned in coming weeks for more pilot and casting announcements.