Fox's fall schedule heavy on adventure, drama with new Marvel, Seth MacFarlane series

The Fox Television Group has announced its primetime programming slate for the 2017-2018 season and its new shows are weighted toward adventure and drama.

As many networks are wont to do, Fox is getting a Marvel series. “The Gifted,” directed by “X-Men” filmmaker Bryan Singer, centers on a suburban family whose children have mutant powers. “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane will star in “The Orville,” a live-action space drama series directed by Jon Favreau. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk are creating a new procedural drama called “9-1-1.” And “The Resident” is another new medical drama for the network.

Meanwhile, Fox is shifting around some of its existing action series. “Gotham” is moving from Mondays to Thursdays and “Lethal Weapon” is joining Fox’s Tuesday night comedy programming.

“This past season, we launched five of the top 15 new series—more than any other network—and next season, we’re using our strongest series to launch new shows and grow returning series,” said Dana Walden and Gary Newman, chairmen and CEOs of the Fox Television Group, in a statement. “We’re strategically pairing shows that have greater compatibility to increase audience flow and create higher duplication on each night. We endeavored to develop a mix of provocative, compelling dramas; broad, funny comedies; and exciting, live events from the best creators in the business—and we're excited about these new shows.”

RELATED: Fox TV sees big earnings boost from higher ad, retrans revenue

Fox in the fall will also debut new comedy series “LA to Vegas” and “Ghosted,” live musical productions for “A Christmas Story” and “Rent,” and another revival run of “The X-Files.”

The upfronts announcements from Fox come after the broadcast network last week posted quarterly earnings that were lifted by the Super Bowl but faced tough comps due to the absence of “American Idol,” which is moving to ABC.

The segment reported OIBDA of $190 million, up 52% from the year-ago quarter thanks to 30% revenue growth. Quarterly advertising revenues grew 39% on the benefit of this year’s broadcast of Super Bowl LI and an extra National Football League divisional playoff game. While the Super Bowl and extra playoff game helped drive more ad revenue, they also resulted in higher sports programming costs.