The , usually referred to as just '''Fox''' (the company itself prefers the capitalized version '''FOX'''), is a
Television Network in the
United States . It is owned by
Fox Entertainment Group , part of
Rupert Murdoch 's
News Corporation . Since its launch on
October 9 ,
1986 , Fox has grown from an upstart "netlet" to the highest-
Rated broadcast network among young adults.
The Fox name has been used on other entertainment channels internationally that are affiliated with News Corp., including in
Australia (
FOX8 ),
Japan ,
Italy ,
Serbia ,
South Korea ,
Spain ,
Portugal ,
South America , and
Turkey although these do not necessarily air the same programming as the U.S. network. Most viewers in
Canada have access to at least one affiliate of the U.S. network.
The network is named after sister company
20th Century Fox , and indirectly for producer
William Fox , who founded one of the movie studio's
Predecessors .
The groundwork for the launch of the Fox network began in in
Los Angeles ,
WFLD in
Chicago , KRLD in
Dallas (which was renamed
KDAF ),
KRIV in
Houston , WNEW in
New York (which was renamed
WNYW ) and
WTTG in
Washington, D.C. These first six stations, broadcasting to 22 percent of the nation's households, became known as the
Fox Television Stations Group . Except for KDAF (which was sold to
Tribune in 1995 and joined
The WB after Fox affiliated with, then later bought
VHF station
KDFW ), all of these stations are still part of Fox today.
Clarke Ingram , who maintains a memorial website to the failed
DuMont Television Network , has suggested that Fox is a revival of DuMont, since Metromedia was a successor to the DuMont corporation and the Metromedia TV stations formed the nucleus of the Fox network.http://members.aol.com/cingram/television/dumont9.htm Indeed, WNYW (then known as WABD) and WTTG were the key stations in the DuMont network.
In
October 1985 , Murdoch announced his intentions to form an independent television system which would compete with the three major U.S. television networks (
ABC ,
CBS , and
NBC ). He planned to use the combination of the Fox studios and the former Metromedia stations both to produce programming and distribute it. Organizational plans for the network were held off until the Metromedia acquisitions cleared regulatory hurdles in
March 1986 .
In
January 1986 , Murdoch said of his planned network, "We at Fox at the moment are deeply involved in working to put shape and form on original programs. These will be shows with no outer limits. The only rules that we will enforce on these programs is they must have taste, they must be engaging, they must be entertaining and they must be original."
On
May 6 ,
1986 , Murdoch, along with newly-hired Fox CEO and chairman
Barry Diller and comedian
Joan Rivers , announced plans for "FBC" or the "Fox Broadcasting Company", with WNYW in New York as the flagship station, to be launched with a daily late-night talk show program, ''
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers ''. When Fox was launched on
October 9 ,
1986 , it was broadcast to 96 stations reaching more than 80
Percent of the nation's households. Fox had lined up 90 former independent stations as affiliates in addition to its original six seed stations. By contrast, ABC, CBS and NBC each had between 210 and 215 affiliates reaching more than 97 percent of the nation's households. Despite broadcasting only one show, the network was busy producing new programs with plans to gradually add
Prime-time programming one night at a time.
Rivers would be gone from the show in
1987 , with various guest hosts taking over for a few years afterward; one notable face was
Arsenio Hall , who would later front his own late-night talk show to great success, albeit not on Fox.
From the beginning, Fox portrayed itself as a somewhat edgy, irreverent, youth-oriented network compared to its rivals. Its first prime time shows, which debuted on Sunday nights beginning '' and ''
Mr. President ''.
"Mr. President" (1987)
Fox debuted its Saturday night programming over four weeks beginning '' and ''
Second Chance ''.
"Second Chance" (1987)
The next two years saw the introduction of ''
America's Most Wanted '', profiling true crimes in hopes of capturing the criminals, and ''
COPS '', a reality show documenting the day-to-day activities of police officers. The two shows are among the network's longest-running and are credited with bringing
Reality Television to the mainstream. In
August 1988 , ''America's Most Wanted'' was Fox's first show to break into the top 50 shows of the week according to the
Nielsen Ratings . As of 2007, both ''AMW'' and ''COPS'' were still in active production and are among prime time TV's longest-running television shows.
Despite a few successful shows, the network did not have a significant market share until the mid-1990s when News Corp. bought more TV station groups. The first was
New World Communications , which had signed an affiliation deal with Fox in 1994 (see below). Later, in 2000, Fox bought several stations owned by
Chris-Craft Industries and its subsidiaries BHC Communications and United Television (most of these were UPN affiliates, although one later converted to Fox). This made Fox one of the largest owners of television stations in the
United States . Though Fox was growing rapidly as a network and had established itself as a presence, it was still not considered a major competitor to the
Big Three broadcast networks (
ABC ,
CBS , and
NBC ).
This would all change when Fox would lure the
National Football League away from
CBS in 1993. They signed a huge contract to broadcast the
NFC , which included luring
Pat Summerall and
John Madden from CBS as well. At first many were skeptical of this whole move, but the first year was a rousing success, and Fox was officially on the map for good. (see below)
The early and mid-1990s saw the launch of several soap-opera dramas aimed at younger audiences that became quick hits: ''
Beverly Hills 90210 '', ''
Melrose Place '', and ''
Party Of Five ''. September 1993 saw the heavy promotion and debut of a short-lived Western with science-fiction elements, ''
The Adventures Of Brisco County, Jr. '' However, it was the Friday night show that debuted immediately following it, ''
The X-Files '', which would find long-lasting success, and would be Fox's first series to crack Nielsen's year-end Top 25.
The sketch-comedy series ''
In Living Color '' created many memorable characters (and launched the careers of future movie superstars
Jim Carrey ,
Damon Wayans ,
Keenen Ivory Wayans ,
Jamie Foxx and "Fly Girl" dancer
Jennifer Lopez ). ''
MADtv '', another sketch-comedy series, became a solid competitor to NBC's ''
Saturday Night Live ''.
Fox would expand to seven nights a week of programming by
1993 .
Notable shows that debuted in the late 1990s include the quirky
Dramedy ''
Ally McBeal '' and traditional sitcom ''
That '70s Show '', Fox's second-longest-running live-action sitcom behind ''
Married... With Children ''.
Building around its flagship ''
The Simpsons '', Fox has been relatively successful with animated shows. ''
Family Guy '' was cancelled in
2002 , but the network commissioned new episodes that began in
2005 due to strong
DVD sales and highly rated cable reruns. Less successful efforts included ''
The Critic '', which originally aired on ABC, and ''
The PJ's '', which later aired on
The WB .
Around 1996, Fox was exploring plans to merge with The WB. A former Fox chairman at the time noted in a Broadcasting and Cable interview after the CW merger was announced: "Well, we tried to merge with The WB, too, but we couldn't because, at that time, UPN was
{Link without Title} owned by Chris-Craft and there was no way. We even talked about, 'You get one market, we get another,' but we just couldn't work it out."
Fox arguably hit a few bumps in its programming during 1999 and the early 2000s. Many staple shows of the 1990s had ended or were on the decline. During this time, Fox put much of its efforts into producing
Reality fare with subjects often seen as extravagant, shocking, and/or distasteful. These included shows such as ''
Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire? '', ''
Temptation Island '', and ''
Married By America ''. The most successful of these shows was ''
Joe Millionaire '', whose season one finale was watched by over 40 million people, although its second season was a ratings disappointment. During this time, Fox also featured weekly shows such as ''
World's Wildest Police Videos '' and ''
When Animals Attack! ''.
After shedding most of these shows, Fox regained a ratings foothold with acclaimed dramas such as ''
24 '', ''
The O.C. '', and ''
House '', and comedies such as ''
The Bernie Mac Show '' and ''
Malcolm In The Middle ''. By 2005, Fox's most popular show by far was the talent search ''
American Idol '', peaking at up to 30 million viewers on certain episodes and finishing the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons as the nation's highest-rated program. ''House'', airing after ''Idol'' on Tuesday nights and having had a successful run of summer repeats in 2005, has also positioned itself as a top-ten hit as of the 2005–06 season.
Fox hit a milestone in February 2005 by scoring its first-ever
Sweeps -month victory among all viewers. This was largely due to the broadcast of
Super Bowl XXXIX , but also on the strength of ''American Idol'', ''24'', ''House'', and ''The O.C''. By the end of the 2004–2005 television season, Fox ranked No. 1 for the first time in its history among the 18–49
Demographic most appealing to advertisers.
It was estimated in 2003 that Fox is viewable by 96.18% of all U.S. households, reaching 102,565,710 houses in the United States. Fox has 180 VHF and UHF
Owned-and-operated or
Affiliate stations in the United States and U.S. possessions. Fox began broadcasting in
HDTV in
720p on
September 12 ,
2004 with a series of NFL football games.
See Also: Fox News Channel
Unlike the
Big Three , Fox does not air national morning or evening news programs. However, Fox does air live coverage of the
State Of The Union Address , as well as live breaking news alerts (also known as Fox News Alerts), and produces national news segments to air on the local Fox affiliates' news programs. ''
Fox News Sunday '' airs on the local Fox network affiliates. In prime time, Fox first tried its hand at a news show in
1988 with an hour-long weekly newsmagazine called ''
The Reporters '', which was produced by the same team behind the FTSG-distributed syndicated tabloid program ''
A Current Affair ''. After two years with low ratings, this program was cancelled.
After Murdoch and
Roger Ailes launched FNC in
1996 , the network tried again in
1998 with ''
Fox Files '', hosted by Fox News anchors
Catherine Crier and
Jon Scott , as well as a team of correspondents. It lasted a little over a year before being cancelled. During the sweeps of the 2002–2003 TV season, Fox tried another attempt with ''
The Pulse '', hosted by
Fox News Channel 's
Shepard Smith .
Many Fox stations have a local morning newscast that airs on average three to four hours, including an extra two hours from 7 to 9 a.m. as a local alternative to nationwide morning programming. Fox, however, did air a nationally based morning show called ''
Fox After Breakfast '' (which was formerly ''Breakfast Time'' on Fox's
FX cable channel) between
1996 and
1998 , which aired on all affiliates from 9 to 10 a.m. as opposed to the other major networks airing theirs from 7 to 9 a.m. Fox tried its hand again in
2001 at another morning show called ''
Good Day Live '', inspired by
KTTV 's ''Good Day L.A.'' — this time in syndication mode. The show did not fare well in ratings and was canceled in 2005. On
January 22 ,
2007 , Fox premiered ''
The Morning Show With Mike And Juliet '' for its O&O stations, hosted by
Mike Jerrick and
Juliet Huddy of the Fox News Channel's ''
DaySide '' program. The show is a lighter, more entertainment-oriented show, though that can change when there is big news. In February 2007, the show was syndicated to many
ABC ,
NBC , and
CBS affiliates where a
MyNetworkTV or Fox station doesn't carry it.
Official Website : Where To Watch?
See Also: Fox Sports
Management, having seen the critical role that sports programming (soccer programming in particular) had played in the growth of the British satellite service
BSkyB , believed that sports, and specifically professional football, would be the engine that would make Fox a major network the quickest. To this end, Fox bid aggressively for
Football from the start. In 1987, after ABC initially hedged on renewing its contract to carry ''
Monday Night Football '', Fox offered the
NFL to pick up the contract for the same amount ABC had been paying, about $13 million per game at the time. However, the NFL, in part because Fox had not established itself as a major network, chose to renew its contract with ABC.
Six years later, when the football contract was up for renewal again, Fox made what at the time was a bold and aggressive move to acquire the rights. Knowing that its would likely need to bid considerably more than the incumbent networks to acquire a piece of the package, Fox bid $1.58 billion for 4 years of rights to the
NFC , considered the more desirable conference due to its presence in most of the largest U.S. markets, such as New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. To the surprise and shock of many, the NFL selected the Fox bid, in the process stripping
CBS Of Football for the first time since
1955 .
Fox's acquisition of football was a watershed event not only for the network but for the NFL as well. Not only was it the event that placed Fox on a par with the "
Big Three " broadcast networks (
ABC ,
CBS , and
NBC ) but it also ushered in an era of growth for the NFL which continues on largely to this day. More importantly, Fox's acquisition of the NFL rights also quickly led toward Fox reaching a deal with New World Communications to change the affiliation of 10 of their stations to Fox.
The rights gave Fox many new viewers (and affiliates) and a platform for advertising its other shows. With a sports division now established with the arrival of the NFL, Fox would later acquire over-air broadcast rights to the
National Hockey League (1994–99),
Major League Baseball (since 1996), and
NASCAR auto racing (since 2001 season).
Beginning in 2007, Fox now airs the
Bowl Championship Series College Football games, with the exception of the
Rose Bowl , which will remain on
ABC . This package also includes the new BCS Championship Game, except once every four years, when the game is played at the Rose Bowl, which will be on ABC.
In the past few years, when Fox aired new episodes of original programing at 7 p.m. on Sundays during football season, some of the markets, especially on the East Coast, are unable to see all or part of the new episode of the scheduled show due to
NFL overrun. ''
Futurama '' was especially victim to this network decision. Beginning with the 2005 season, Fox has extended its football postgame show to 8 p.m. (the weeks Fox has a doubleheader) or it airs reruns of sitcoms (mostly ''
The Simpsons '' and ''
King Of The Hill '').
During the early 1990s, Fox began having stations branded as "Fox", then the channel number, with the call signs nearby. By the mid-to-late 1990s, the call signs were minimized to be just barely readable to FCC requirements, and the stations were simply known as "Fox", then channel number. (e.g.
WNYW in
New York City ,
WTTG in
Washington, D.C. , and
WAGA in
Atlanta, Georgia , are referred to as ''Fox 5''.) This would be the start of the trend for other networks to do such naming schemes, especially at
CBS , which uses the
CBS Mandate on most of its
Owned And Operated stations.
However, while the traditional "Big Three" do not require their affiliates to have such naming schemes, Fox recommends that all stations use it. (However, there are some exceptions; see below.) All Fox affiliates must have a Fox-approved logo, and most refer to themselves on-air as, for example, "Fox 12." But some affiliates do not include the channel number in the name, and opt instead to place the city's name there (e.g. Parkersburg, West Virginia, affiliate
WTAP employs the moniker ''Fox Parkersburg'' rather than ''Fox 14''). This is because many cable companies assign Fox networks to different channels, often a different channel than it is broadcast over the air, which is especially true for Fox affiliates with a channel over 30; Fox O&O
WFLD in
Chicago goes by ''Fox Chicago'' rather than their channel number of 32.
Some affiliates, such as
KTVU in
Oakland -
San Francisco mix between using ''Fox (channel number)'' to promote entertainment programming and another brand for news (like their ''Channel 2 News''). A handful of others, like
WSVN in the
South Florida area and
KHON in
Honolulu, Hawaii , do not use the Fox brand at all.
Starting in 2006, more standardization of the O&Os began to take place both on the air and online. All the O&Os began adopting an on-air look more closely aligned with the Fox News Channel. This includes changing the logos of almost all of these stations to have the same red, white and blue rotating box logo. The news music and graphics will eventually be the same on all the O&Os as well.
Taking a cue from News Corporation's recent acquisition of
MySpace , all the Fox O&Os launched new websites that look the same and have similar addresses. MyFoxDC.com, MyFoxNY.com, MyFoxLA.com, MyFoxHouston.com, MyFoxBoston.com, and MyFoxPhilly.com take visitors to the Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, and Philadelphia Fox O&Os, respectively.
Fox adopted a 19-hour programming schedule in (which in some markets, especially where Fox Television Stations Group owns both the Fox and
MyNetworkTV affiliates and the Fox affiliate was formerly owned by
New World Communications , will air on the MyNetworkTV affiliate, while the Fox station airs local news) and the hour-long political news program ''
Fox News Sunday '' (time slot may vary).
Sports programming is also provided (albeit not every weekend year-round) 12-4 or 8 p.m. Sundays (during football season, slightly less during NASCAR season) and 3:30-7 p.m. Saturday afternoons (during baseball season).
Returning comedies are in ; new comedies are in '''
pink'''; returning dramas are in '''
green'''; new dramas are in '''
blue'''; returning reality shows are in '''
yellow'''; new reality shows are in '''
gold'''; returning game shows are in '''
orange'''; new game shows are in '''
beige''', sports programming is in '''
purple'''.
All times are
Eastern and
Pacific (subtract one hour for
Central and add one hour for
Mountain time).
FOX's Fall upfront presentation &
schedule changes
See Also: 4Kids TV
Fox Kids
Fox began airing children's programming in '', (all of which originated either on Fox Kids or in syndication) moved to Kids' WB with new productions and original shows included.
Fox would abandon Fox Kids after selling the children's division and the former Fox Family Channel (now
ABC Family ) to
The Walt Disney Company in 2002 and then sell the four hours of Saturday morning time to
4Kids Entertainment .
Since then, Fox has been running a Saturday morning line-up made for the family, featuring such shows as ''
Viva Piñata ''.
Fox only airs two hours of network programming during the
Prime Time hours (three hours on Sundays), compared to the three hours (four on Sundays) by the other major networks. This allows for many of its stations to air local news during the 10 p.m. time slot. Fox's original reason for the reduced number of prime time hours was to avoid fulfilling the FCC's requirements at the time to be considered a network
{Link without Title} and to be free of resulting regulations, though FCC rules have been relaxed since then.
Fox also does not air soap operas or any other network daytime programming (game shows, talk shows) despite being a major network. Because of this, affiliates have more time for lucrative syndicated programming. (Fox produces three syndicated daytime courtroom shows, ''
Divorce Court '', ''
Judge Alex '', and ''
Cristina's Court ''). However, it has been reported that Fox may be moving into the arena in the near future, as they have ordered a daytime drama pilot.
FOX to Take on Daytime TV?: Network to Enter Soap Business
Fox survived where
DuMont and other previous attempts to start a fourth network failed in part because Fox programmed just under the number of hours to be legally considered a network by the
FCC . This allowed Fox to make money in ways forbidden to the established networks, since during its first years it was considered to be merely a large group of stations. By comparison, DuMont was hampered by numerous regulatory roadblocks, most notably a ban on acquiring more stations since its minority owner
Paramount Pictures owned two television stations. Combined with DuMont's three television stations, this put DuMont
{Link without Title} at the legal limit at the time. Also, Murdoch was more than willing to open his wallet to get and keep programming and talent. DuMont, in contrast, operated on a shoestring budget and was unable to keep the programs and stars it had. Most of the other startup networks followed this model as well.
Fox is the only network whose owned-and-operated stations do not broadcast the entire Fox network schedule. All Fox O&Os acquired through the Fox/New World merger of 1997 have rejected Fox's children's program lineup, except
KTVI in St. Louis, who only took Fox kids after religious station
KNLC placed religious messages in place of commercials and broadcasts during the lineup which Fox didn't feel appropriate to be seen during children's programming.
The only Fox O&Os that air 4KidsTV are KTVI, all former Metromedia stations (except
WFLD in Chicago),
KRIV Houston,
KSTU Salt Lake City,
WTXF Philadelphia,
WFXT Boston,
WOFL Orlando and
WOGX Gainesville/Ocala. 4KidsTV is not broadcast at all in three other markets (on the Fox station or on other stations): Austin, Memphis and Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, making it the only children's program lineup that is not seen on all its intended network's affiliates (in all other markets, it is passed on to a MyNetworkTV affiliate or another station). The reason is Fox considers 4KidsTV as moreso a syndicated package rather an actual part of the network lineup.
In order not to violate FCC rules which state that commercial stations must broadcast a minimum amount of children's programming a week, some stations that have rejected 4Kids TV run syndicated children's shows in its place. The lineup may have to be scaled back to three hours from the current four, aired later on in the morning and have it become an official part of the network schedule in order for all stations to air the lineup.
As opposed to the Big Three networks not being pleased with pre-emptions of their affiliates, Fox is the only network that does not have a problem with its stations and affiliates pre-empting network programming for various reasons. Aside from the Fox Kids-to-4 Kids TV pre-emptions since the late 1990s, many affiliates and stations pre-empted Fox shows to air local programming and in many cases, air local sports programming in its place (example:
KTVU airs
San Francisco Giants baseball). This dates back to when most local stations carried a general entertainment format. In most cases, Fox has been satisfied with the local stations regardless because of the relatively small amount of hours of network programming; this gives stations enough leverage to be trusted by the network to air the pre-empted programs late at night (after prime time newscasts), on the weekends, or on the counterpart local sister station through a duopoly.
At least half of Fox's 180 O&O and affiliated stations air local news in the 10-11 p.m. (9-10 p.m. CT/MT) timeslot. The newscast schedules on Fox stations vary more from station to station than ABC, CBS and NBC's affiliates. Some Fox stations have a newscast schedule similar to the Big Three's affiliates along with the added late evening newscast at 10 p.m. and a late afternoon newscast extended by a half-hour competing with the national evening newscasts, while others only have a 10 p.m. newscast.
Tampa's
WTVT has the most local news of any Fox station with 51 hours per week, followed by Kansas City's
WDAF -TV with 49 hours a week. Only a few Fox stations that air an 11 p.m. (or 10 p.m.) newscast along with a 10 p.m. (or 9 p.m.) newscast.
WDAF -TV,
WTVT ,
WITI in Milwaukee,
WFLD in Chicago,
KDFW in Dallas/Fort Worth,
WBRC in Birmingham,
KMSP in Minneapolis-St. Paul,
KSAZ in Phoenix and
WTTG Washington, D.C. are the only Fox-owned stations to have a 11p.m./10 p.m. newscast in the
Central and
Mountain Time Zone s with only
WDAF ,
WITI ,
WBRC ,
WTTG and
KSAZ airing it every night.
KOKH in Oklahoma City and
WSVN in Miami are the few non-O&Os airing a 10pm (or 9 p.m.) and a 11pm (or 10 p.m.) newscast.
Stations that don't air local news air
Syndicated Programming , usually off-network sitcoms in that timeslot, though some small market Fox affiliates outsource their newscasts to a Big Three station in the market (either situation may change in the future as more Fox stations start their own news divisions). Upstart Fox local news divisions do not run an full slate of newscasts (i.e., morning, midday, early and late evening newscasts plus news on weekend evenings and possibly weekend mornings), instead starting with a 10 p.m. newscast then gradually adding other newscasts.
The largest market with a Fox affiliate that airs no news whatsoever is , where
WUTV has long opted for sitcom reruns instead to draw a different audience.
Despite its popularity, Fox has also come under fire from many quarters, especially from fans of sci-fi/fantasy television. This displeasure stems from the perceived premature cancellation of some series, most notably '''', ''
Dark Angel '', ''
Tru Calling '', ''
Fastlane '', ''
Wonderfalls '',
Pasadena , ''
Reunion '', ''
Vanished '', ''
Standoff '', and ''
Drive ''. The cancellations of animated series ''
Family Guy '' and ''
Futurama '' were also criticized; in the former's case, the program was picked up again in 2005, while the latter series is being revived for 2008 on cable's
Comedy Central (who will also acquire the rerun rights from
Adult Swim starting September 2007). Fox was also heavily criticized on its decision to cancel the critically acclaimed ''
Arrested Development '', which in 2004 gave the network its first comedy Emmy in many years. The show was in discussions to be picked up by
Showtime or ABC, but producers decided not to pursue continuing the show.
The network's justification for canceling these programs has generally been poor ratings. Fans of these programs respond by pointing toward critical praise and dedicated core fan followings, and blame the ratings on inconvenient time slots, poor advertising or illogical broadcasting. For example, the first episode of ''Firefly'' was the last episode aired, and other episodes were aired out of order. Also, the first two episodes of ''Drive'' were aired on a Sunday, and the third episode was aired the next day against ''
Dancing With The Stars '' and ''
Deal Or No Deal ''. FOX canceled Drive after only four episodes and the last two episodes made were shown online. Further inflaming fans, Fox has promised to air remaining episodes of shows and then failed to follow through on these promises.
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In 1997, Fox-owned station
WTVT in
Tampa, Florida , fired two reporters,
Jane Akre and
Steve Wilson , who had refused instructions from superiors to revise a story on
Bovine Growth Hormone in ways that the reporters saw as being in conflict with the facts, and had threatened to report Fox to the
FCC . The reporters sued under a
Florida Whistleblower law. A jury ruled that Fox had indeed ordered the reporters to distort the facts. Fox successfully appealed against judgment on the grounds that its
First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and press protected it from such litigation, and that the FCC's policy against distortion of news was not a sufficiently significant rule for its breach to invoke the whistleblower law.
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In 2006, a number of Fox affiliates said that they would refuse to air
O.J. Simpson 's two-night interview special with
Judith Regan , ''
If I Did It, Here's How It Happened '', scheduled for
November 27 and 29, citing overwhelmingly negative viewer feedback. With other major affiliate groups reportedly threatening to pull their stations as well, Fox pulled the special a week before its airdate.
