It didn’t take long for the first tweak to the networks’ fall schedules, with Fox on Friday announcing that baseball-themed drama “Pitch” has been moved from the bullpen to starting pitcher.
The story of the first woman to play Major League Baseball, from executive producer Dan Fogelman, will now air Thursdays at 9 in the fall instead of its planned Tuesday-at-9 timeslot in the spring. Veteran crime drama “Bones,” which had been slated to air Thursdays at 9, is still being targeted for the timeslot but now won’t launch its final season until the new year.
The move seems designed to take advantage of Fox’s relationship with Major League Baseball, and a late-October/early November premiere date is certainly a possibility given that the show could be promoted during the network’s coverage of the Fall Classic, which begins Oct. 25. Also, the “Pitch” trailer has generated positive buzz online, giving Fogelman (whose NBC drama “This Is Us” is also trending well on social media) two of the upcoming season’s most talked-about new shows.
From a competitive standpoint, Fox also could be reacting to the news that ABC will be going with a newcomer (“Notorious”) in place of “Scandal” on Thursdays at 9. “Pitch,” with a diverse cast that includes Kylie Bunbury as a lead, will also mesh well with lead-in “Rosewood” and could pick up African-American viewers that would normally be watching “Scandal.”
As part of the schedule change, Fox’s “Prison Break,” which had planned for Thursdays at 9 in 2017, will now slide over to Tuesdays at 9, taking the spring slot originally planned for “Pitch.”
