Just hours after she performed a song-and-dance number at the NBC upfront (as her “30 Rock” character Jenna Maroney), “Celebrity Name That Tune” host Jane Krakowski opened the Fox upfront with another song-and-dance number — this time with a fellow Jane, “Celebrity Weakest Link” host Jane Lynch.
Then came Tom Brady, who walked out on stage at first with a scratchy microphone that quickly corrected itself. “As you guys may have heard, I had a little success in my old job.
I won’t bore you with those details, but let’s just say it worked out,” the former NFL superstar-turned-Fox Sports personality said before introducing Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch.
Murdoch then gave the Fox corporate pitch: “We don’t try to do everything, and we don’t pursue scale just for scale sake. Instead, we focus where it matters most, live sports, live news, bold entertainment and ad supported streaming,,” he said. “As we said at last year’s upfront, Fox continues to be an outlier in the marketplace. In fact, for the third year in a row, Fox is the only major media company consistently growing audiences a direct result of our discipline strategy and a relentless focus on building true fandom around the content audiences genuinely connect with.”
Murdoch handed off to ad sales chief Jeff Collins, who continued the pitch, and then Fox chief technology officer Melody Hildebrandt kept up the wonky conversation — and new features like an AI Colin Cowherd, providing sports punditry to users’ questions.
Tubi CEO Anjali Sud followed that up with an update on the free ad-supported streamer, touting its status as the No. 1 fully free, ad supported streamer, according to Nielsen, with 100 million monthly active users watching over 10 billion hours a year. “Contrary to what you might think, these are high value audiences, Tubi ranks fourth in reaching high income ad supported viewers, ahead of Disney+ and Paramount,” she said. “When it comes to total ad supported reach, Tubi is one of the largest platforms in America, ahead of other streamers like Netflix and Peacock, and outperforming all broadcasts and cable in minutes watched.”
Sud also highlighted Tubi’s further push into original programming — including a new series timed to this year’s World Cup, hosted by NY Giants quarterback Jameis Winston and former NFL player Rob Gronkowski. Dubbed “The Other Football,” the duo discuss issues like, as Gronk wondered, “How come the World Cup isn’t a cup?” Gronk ended his segment by spiking a soccer ball from the stage — continuing a long-standing Fox upfront tradition of sports stars and hosts lobbing balls into the crowd.
On the scripted front, Jerry O’Connell, Violet McGraw, Sophia Bush came out to tout their Tubi YA feature “Summer’s Last Resort.”
“Baywatch,” of course, led the Fox Entertainment portion of the upfront, with the revival’s cast — led by Stephen Amell — on stage (but not in their swimsuits). “’Baywatch’ is the quintessential Southern California escape,” Amell said. “We’ve been busy filming on famed Venice Beach, and we are back on set, tomorrow.”
Then came the first trailer from the return of “Baywatch” – complete with slo-mo shots of the lifeguards grabbing their paddle boards and prancing toward the ocean, ready to save some lives. (Yes, those shots got some knowing chuckles from the media buyers in the audience.)
“.Can you imagine the budget for waxing and hair removal?!” said “Animal Control” star Joel McHale as he and “Grimsburg” creator/star Jon Hamm walked on stage.
“More of like ‘Babe watch,”” Hamm said. “Thank you. That’s the first time that joke’s been made.”
After that, the casts of Fox’s “Best Medicine,” “Memory of a Killer” and “Doc” came out to promote the network’s hour-long slate. And Stephen Fry and Jenna Elfman, the star of Fox’s new drama “The Interrogator,” followed.
Fry then introduced fellow Brit Gordon Ramsay and “an actual American jackass,” “Fear Factor” host Johnny Knoxville. “It’s great to be up here with the GOAT — most hours on networ primetime, world renowned chef with 17 Michelin stars and biggest influencer in the world,” Knoxville said.
Ramsay returned the compliment: “’Fear Factor’ debuted to 17 million views,” he said. “Come on, insane. That tells me one thing, people really like watching other people do some stupid fucking shit, right?”
Perhaps it was appropriate that Ramsay and Knoxville then watched and commented on scenes of pretty disgusting meals on “Fear Factor,” as next up at the upfront was the segment on Fox News Media.
Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum, two of the slightly more disciplined and palatable hosts on Fox News, smartly came out to represent the brand. Baier and MacCallum noted that Fox News is now pulling broadcast-level ratings: “The Five” beats CBS Evening News and “The Voice,” Baier said, while MacCallum said Fox News is “averaging 3.1 million viewers in weekday prime, even beating NBC. That’s a big deal.”
Then came “The Five” hosts Greg Gutfeld, Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford, Jr. and a pitch on Fox News Channel’s America 250 coverage from “Fox & Friends” star Lawrence Jones.
Finally came the closer, and what Fox would probably prefer advertisers really focus on: The Fox Sports roster, including this year’s World Cup coverage. Michael Strahan introduced the sports segment, and like “The Other Football” guys, Strahan said he was on stage to talk about this football instead of the one he’s known for.
“Trust me when I say this tournament will be what everybody’s talking about all summer long, and that includes me,” he said. “This is the first World Cup in the US in three decades, and that is a long time. We’re going to have more teams and more games than ever. All 104 matches will be streamed live in 4k so we’re expecting over 15 million fans to watch each U.S. match.”
Strahan then broke some news, bringing out former talk show host James Corden to host “After Hours With James Corden” in late night after World Cup matches.
“It’s gonna be me and former England soccer Captain Rio Ferdinand and one of my favorite comedians on planet Earth, Ian Karmel,” Corden said. “Every night after the games, we’re going to be trying to have a lighthearted look at the World Cup, talking about the games, talking about anything that may have happened that day. And what we’re going to try and do is make it feel like if you couldn’t meet up with your friends in a bar that night, we’ll be there to have some fun.”
Why Fox? “Because they have the rights to the games,” he told Strahan. “.I can’t stress this enough. If they didn’t have the rights to the games, I do this show on the network that did, I feel like your agreement with them is very similar. It would be weird for you to come out talking about football on a Sunday, going, ‘it’s on over there.’”
For baseball, Fox Sports brought out three of the biggest: Its stars David Jeter, David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez: So, Ortiz asked, can the Dodgers’ Ohtani win his third straight ring? “That’s my dog,” he said. Jeter and Rodriguez were quiet.
Back out were Brady and Gronkowski, to talk football with Erin Andrews. The trio announced Fox Sport’s Thanksgiving game: Philadelphia Eagles at the Dallas Cowboys. And Nov. 1, the college basketball season tips off in Rome with Notre Dame vs. Villanova.
“You know what Villanova grad might be in attendance? Pope Leo!!” Andrews said. Joked Gronk — to limited chuckles from the crowd — “I mean, I feel bad for the guy who has to sit behind the pulp wearing the big hat.”
And in Week 10, Fox Sports will feature a triple header, starting in Munich.
Brady then ended the show – with the dancers from the opening number by the Janes
