Fox has renewed “New Girl” for a sixth season, the network announced Tuesday.
The series, starring Zooey Deschanel, becomes the sixth current Fox comedy picked up for the 2016-17 season, joining “Bob’s Burgers,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “The Last Man on Earth,” “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons.” Currently Fox’s longest running live-action comedy, “New Girl” aired its 100th episode in March.
“Every network comedy should aspire to what Liz Meriwether is achieving in ‘New Girl,’ with its bravura dialogue, inventive and witty performances by the talented cast and emotionally engaging storytelling,” said Fox Broadcasting entertainment president David Madden. “The series is as creatively strong today as it ever was, we want to congratulate ‘New Girl’ on reaching its milestone 100th episode, and we can’t wait for the next subversive and hilarious chapter of these characters’ lives.”
This season in Nielsen’s “live plus-3” estimates, “New Girl” is averaging a 1.7 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.6 million viewers overall. Though down from last year, it remains the tentpole of the network’s struggling Tuesday comedy block.
With “American Idol” having come to a close, Fox heads into next season needing to fill nearly 40 hours of programming time previously taken up by the reality franchise. As such, the network has increased the number of pilots in development from last season and renewed a large number of new and returning shows. In addition to the comedies, dramas “Lucifer,” “Rosewood,” “Empire, “Scream Queens,” “Gotham” and “Bones” have all been picked up for next season.
Still awaiting word about next season are freshmen “Border Town,” “Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life,” “The Grinder” and “Grandfathered.” Drama “Sleepy Hollow” also has yet to be renewed for a fourth season. New drama “Minority Report” was effectively canceled early this season when its order was cut to 10 episodes. Another freshman drama, “Second Chance,” appears unlikely to be renewed.
In addition to its pilots, Fox has also given straight-to-series orders to three projects for next season — comedy “Son of Zorn,” event series “Shots Fired” and a revival of “Prison Break.”
“We really focused this year on having a number of projects that were based on existing IP so that we wouldn’t be starting from zero when we’re trying to create awareness about our shows,” Fox Television Group CEO Gary Newman told Variety last week following the “Idol” finale.
“New Girl” is produced by Chernin Entertainment in association with 2oth Century Fox Television. The series was created by Liz Meriwether, who serves as executive producer with Brett Baer, Dave Finkel, Jake Kasdan, Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope
