Fox made some fairly big announcements during its panel at today’s TCA press tour, including renewing the silliest show on television for a second season.  Briefly:

  • Gotham, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and freshman series Empire have all been renewed for new seasons.
  • The cast of Ryan Murphy’s upcoming comedy-horror anthology series Scream Queens has added Joe Manganiello, Abigail Breslin, Keke Palmer, and Glee star Lea Michele.
  • Not one to let NBC get in on all of the musical fun, Fox announced that Grease: Live will air January 31, 2016 with Julianne Hough and Vanessa Hudgens set to star.

Much more after the jump.

brooklyn-nine-nine-terry-crews
Image via Fox

Unsurprisingly, Fox’s Batman prequel series Gotham has indeed been renewed for a second season, ensuring that we’ll be getting more pre-teen Bruce Wayne antics and classic villains like Balloonman next year.  The show is actually fairly entertaining, but boy is it silly.  The highlight thus far has been Donal Logue’s Harvey Bullock and Jada Pinkett Smith’s scenery-chewing mob boss Fish Mooney, though I could really do without all the young Bruce Wayne stuff—is anyone really interested in the pre-teen adventures of Batman?  Fox didn't reveal an episode count for the second season, so it'll be interesting if they stick with the producers' preferred smaller order (Season 1 was initially 16, but Fox expanded to 22 after the show's impressive ratings performance).

Additionally, and most excitingly, Brooklyn Nine-Nine will return for a third season.  The Andy Samberg-fronted cop comedy has quickly become one of the funniest (and best) sitcoms on TV, making for a nice void-filler when Parks and Recreation goes off the air.  It's no coincidence that Parks and Rec co-creator Michael Schur runs Brooklyn Nine-Nine alongside Dan Goor, and the ensemble came into its own faster than most sitcoms, anchored by a wonderfully deadpan Andre Braugher.

empire-taraji-p-henson-image

Fox also issued a quick renewal for new series Empire, which only just debuted its premiere episode a couple of weeks ago.  Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson lead the hourlong drama, which hails from Lee Daniels and Danny Strong and revolves around the life of a record company mogul.

With regards to upcoming series, one of Glee and American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy’s many new shows is the horror-comedy anthology Scream Queens.  We previously learned that Jamie Lee Curtis and Emma Roberts would lead the 15-episode first installment, and Fox announced today that Joe Manganiello, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin, and Keke Palmer have joined the cast, with Ariana Grande (is this a real person?) set to guest-star.  Hailing from the same trio that created Glee—Murphy, Brad Falchuck, and Ian Brennan—the first season revolves around a college campus rocked by a serious of murders.  Filming begins this spring in anticipation of a Fall 2015 premiere on Fox.

And finally, Fox is getting in on the live musical business.  They announced that Grease: Live will air on January 31, 2016 with Julianne Hough set to play Sandy and High School Musical alum Vanessa Hudgens poised to fill the role of Rizzo.  The event will “re-imagine the hit crossover musical for a new generation”, with Marc Platt (Into the Woods, Wicked) set to executive produce.

lea-michele-glee