Ranking the FOX Shows I’ve Seen: 2019 Edition

Well, there is only one post that I can hope beyond all hope still gets published in 2019 and that is this post. I want to rank the FOX shows that I’ve seen. I can only hope to write other posts and get to doing the cancelled shows from last season at some point sooner rather than later. Note as usual that this will only be about the primetime FOX shows and will be posted before the premiere of Flirty Dancing as that will just have to wait until the next ranking I might do of this. I hope that I remembered everything that I had seen as I’m not sure that I did remember everything.

Every FOX show I’ve seen: Malcolm in the Middle, Touch, American Idol, Last Man Standing, King of the Hill, The Simpsons, What Just Happened? With Fred Savage, The Last Man on Earth, Superhuman, Family Guy, American Dad, Greg the Bunny, Almost Family, BH90210, New Amsterdam, Dollhouse, Firefly, Bob’s Burgers, 24, Sliders, The Orville, Gotham, Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life, Terra Nova, That ‘70s Show, ‘Til Death, The Winner, Wonderfalls, House, Bones, Ben and Kate, First Responders Live, Arrested Development, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, Ghosted, Son of Zorn, Making History, Lucifer, Futurama, Married… with Children, 9-1-1, Bless the Harts, Bordertown, Boom, Drive, Enlisted, Brothers, Alcatraz, Almost Human, American Grit, American Juniors, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, The Cool Kids, The Gifted, Glee, The Good Guys, Dads, Don’t Forget the Lyrics, Grandfathered, Back to You, The Bernie Mac Show, The Grinder, Hole in the Wall, Breaking In, Mental Samurai, Paradise Hotel, The Passage, Million Dollar Money Drop, The Mindy Project, Oliver Beene, On the Lot, Minority Report, The Pitts, The PJs, Prodigal Son, Proven Innocent, Quintuplets, Spin the Wheel, Standoff, Star, Traffic Light, Tru Calling, Utopia, Raising Hope, Rake, Riot, The War at Home, Wayward Pines, The Wedding Bells, Scream Queens, Sleepy Hollow, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

What isn’t ranked and why: Malcolm in the Middle (while I was a fan of this show, I still have not see how it ends and don’t think that I can rank it fairly as a result), Last Man Standing (while I have seen the ABC version of this show, since I never have and probably never will see the FOX version, it will not be ranked among the FOX shows, but more than likely would with ABC shows), 24 (I don’t think that I have seen enough of this to rank it fairly)

Continued: Almost Family (I didn’t see as much as I would have wanted to of this originally so I won’t be ranking it as a result), Married… with Children (I never saw that much of it and don’t feel that I could rank it fairly as a result), ‘Til Death (too much of this show was screwed with by the network so it won’t be ranked as it is too hard to tell what happened with it)

Continued: The Bernie Mac Show (I don’t remember enough about it for it to be ranked well), Breaking In (this show never really made much sense to me and I never got enough out of it for it to be ranked well), The Passage (I somehow can’t remember how this ends and feel that that would affect the ranking too much), The PJs (I remember very little about this show and feel that it would be better not to rank it as a result), Wayward Pines (this show never made much sense to me so I will not be ranking it as a result due to its lack of sense to me)

The bad shows

King of the Hill: Not just the worst FOX show, in my mind, but this was the worst show in television history. I wasted more time with this than perhaps any other show. The plots and characters were quite dumb and it got progressively worse somehow as the show continued. I don’t know why I ever watched or liked it. I just know that I hate it now more than any other TV show.

Arrested Development- This show also aired on Netflix. I never got this show. What was it about? It seemed so dumb and overrated in many ways. They kept airing fake promos for parts of episodes that had never aired. It wasn’t funny at all. What was the point of it? I don’t get it.

The War at Home: Here’s another awful show that I don’t know why I saw as much of it as I did. It only lasted two seasons and was widely panned by critics before ending in a bad way. It is only my intense hatred for the previous two shows that prevent it from being any lower than third worse.

The Winner: This show was about a late bloomer in life and left a very negative impression on me due to its lack of any real substance. It was dull and had little to nothing to it. If you have never heard of this show, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise as to why it was that way.

Glee: Once extremely popular, people might have lost interest when some of the cast members had left it after graduating in universe. I was into this at times, but largely hated it in the end. I’m just glad that it could help launch the careers of good actors because other than that, it offered very little.

American Idol: Here’s another overrated show that was just bloated in many ways until it was ended by FOX which better improved their shows’ schedules so they wouldn’t have to take such long gaps in the future. ABC revived it and it might be better now, but I have better things to do with my time.

Riot: You may not know of this improv show that aired during a summer a while ago due to just how bad it was. I know that this show just wandered around without much of a point and there was probably not much, if anything, they could do to fix this show. But why did it even air?

Star: Maybe this should be lower on my list, but it won’t be any higher. I don’t even know why I thought that I’d be interested enough in this show to watch an episode of it. The characters were skanky and the plot was weak. The songs were dumb too. What was the point of any of this?

What Just Happened? With Fred Savage: What was the point of any of this? I didn’t quite get it. Fred was talking about a made up show and trying to create hype about it when each episode happened. But it made little to no sense and had no positive lasting imprint on me.

American Dad: This show also aired on TBS after its run on FOX. While I watched some of it, I never did like that much of it as parts of it just didn’t work and the overall idea of it just wasn’t any good. It is a bit hard to even say where it might have gone wrong other than too much of it not working.

Million Dollar Money Drop: Even without the controversy of an answer that was right being counted as wrong, this wasn’t really that good a show and probably shouldn’t have made it to air. So much of it was just downright dumb such as how one always had to put no money on a certain spot, including the final question where you could lose it all with only two options available. There were too many flaws with the show and its short time on television was indicative of that.

Sliders: This show aired on another network as well. I think it was on the science fiction channel and was also aired internationally for one season as well. Ultimately, it had a lot of potential, but did not really work out that well in the end. Wasted potential is really the only thing that can be said about this show where they travelled to other worlds and tried to fix their problems before going back to theirs. Too much did not make sense or work out well.

House: Maybe I didn’t see the right parts of this as I only saw it when it was airing what would be its final season and one could argue that it wasn’t the best representation of the show. Still, it seemed to be too weird and didn’t really work that well in my mind. The main guy was a creep and not much else about it was memorable. There were good enough parts about it to make it higher than it otherwise could be. But I never liked this show that much.

Rake: All this really was about was a lawyer version of House where the main character is an ass and he is still the person that we are trying to root for. I don’t think this was any good and was ultimately left with a bad impression of this after watching it just once.

Ben and Kate: I almost forgot that this show even existed at all. It seemed so dumb and I don’t get why some random people like it and thought it was good. This wasn’t a reality show about a couple with eight kids, by the way. It didn’t work, this sitcom, and there’s not much else to say about it.

Scream Queens: This horror show had star power and nothing else to its name. So little of it made sense or worked in any way. What was the plot of it? Why was it so weird? Does it matter who killed all the others because does the show even make sense anyways?

Grandfathered: This was a sitcom about a man who found out that he had a child and grandchild. It did not really work that well as it wasn’t funny and focused on too much smut as usual. And yet, the shows are still getting progressively better as I get higher on the list.

Lucifer: It also aired on Netflix after FOX gave it the axe. The show was overall very dumb and didn’t quite work well. The devil’s power is getting others to tell the truth? Really? The father of lies would not do something like this. It was quite a dumb show and I don’t know why Netflix wanted it.

Paradise Hotel: A reality show about hook ups and stuff like that, one wonders why people don’t just watch The Bachelor and shows in that franchise for dumb moments like that. It may be over now, but I don’t get why it was ever seen as possibly good in the first place.

The Cleveland Show: So much about this just didn’t quite work in any way. They didn’t even really give it a good sendoff in the end as the show left without returning or being officially cancelled leaving fans and people who track whether or not shows last confused. Whatever the reason it was suddenly swept aside, I watched some of it but never really liked it and gave it up in favor of other things.

The Mindy Project: I think that this also aired on Netflix or some other channel besides FOX. It was a sitcom relating to Mindy Kaling and didn’t seem to have much to it. But it did have its moments at times, even if I was never really into it.

Son of Zorn: This could have easily been with the good shows, but its horrible lack of an ending is what helped drive it here. While funny at times and often worth watching, it became dumb as it just drove onto one never ending plot point to another. There was a lot of room for improvement with this show that we just didn’t see towards the end.

Mental Samurai: This game show had its issues with it being dumb enough in some places, even if it was far from the worst game shows of all time. Still, it didn’t quite work for me as a show that was good to see much of as it was too simple and revealing while also not being easy enough.

New Amsterdam: Don’t confuse this with the current NBC show of this same name. This show was about a man who couldn’t die and was living his life in New York City helping solve crimes, I think. I forget to review it earlier this year with shows that started that year. All I know is that I wasn’t impressed by any of it, even if it didn’t leave me with too negative an impression. It was just bad enough in my mind to make this part of the list.

The Cool Kids: This show was about people at a retirement community. It might have lasted longer were it not for FOX deciding to air wrestling on Fridays instead. I only saw it once and while it wasn’t that bad a show, things in it seemed dumb in certain ways and the acting wasn’t that great to me. Still, it is on the better side of bad.

Alcatraz: A supernatural show, this prison based drama never really stood out that well. I didn’t quite get some of what it was supposed to be about and it never really stood out to me as a show that could have worked well.

BH90210: What even was this? It made little to no sense and was far too meta to work right. The actors are playing versions of themselves while a fake documentary films them and they talk about a TV show that they used to be on. It had its moments for sure, but wasn’t something I could enjoy.

The average shows

That ‘70s Show: A lot of dumb comedies are movies, but this one was a TV show that lasted quite a bit. The characters weren’t that smart and the humor wasn’t that good, but at least it was worth watching in the end as interesting parts of it were on from time to time, even if it was always about dumb people doing dumb things in the end.

Bless the Harts: Not much could be gathered about this from me as it seemed to continue in a long line of shows that weren’t that great or that bad. I don’t know if I’ll ever watch it again, even if it wasn’t that bad a show. What can I really say? It was average and sometimes I just cut my losses at that.

Quintuplets: This sitcom about a family of teenage quintuplets only lasted one season. It didn’t really have much to it, although it was far from bad. I think that some of the plot could have been better and maybe we could  have done with far less sexual situations.

On the Lot: This reality show about finding a director was notorious for its bad ratings and other issues like that. I don’t think it was that bad, even if I never saw that much of it. Still, it winds up more on the bad side of average since it didn’t really stand out in any way.

Bordertown: Sadly, more of Seth McFarlane’s work is miss than hit. Even his most well known shows aren’t as good as plenty of other shows. This show was about a town on the American-Mexico border and was animated. It had its issues, of course, but was watchable in the end.

Utopia: This reality show was supposed to last a year but only lasted around two months, I think. It did not have much of a purpose to it outside of being an experiment but not many reality show fans even liked it in the end. I think that it was a good show, but not nearly as good as plenty of others.

Back to You: Kelsey Grammar and Patria Heaton starred in this sitcom about newscasters who were reunited after a long time apart only for the man to realize he fathered a kid with this woman. It had some good thoughts to it, even if it wasn’t as good or warmhearted as it could have been.

Dads: Seth Green starred in a sitcom where he and his friend had to deal with their fathers moving in with them. It was critically derided, but I didn’t think it was as awful as people thought it was. It wasn’t as good as it could have been, mind out, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Hole in the Wall: This game show was adapted by the same Japanese game show and a bit on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It didn’t have much to offer, even if it found life on other networks after it ended on FOX. There’s not much else to say about that.

Banzai: While technically a British show, it aired on FOX very briefly until they caved to pressure and cancelled it after people found it racist. I didn’t understand some parts of it like if we were supposed to actually bet on the outcomes of the random things they aired on it. At least it gave us wonderful things like shaking hands man and lady one question.

Traffic Light: Adapted from an Israeli show, it wasn’t entirely an original premise as other shows like it existed. Have you seen other sitcoms about friends at different parts of the romantic part of life? You have? Well, that’s the idea of this sitcom before it ended after just one season. Parts were interesting, but it wasn’t that great in the end.

Wonderfalls: A woman has objects talk to her in a show that didn’t last too long before it was pulled, even though you can buy the whole series on DVD. The lesbian angle was rather strange and I’m not sure that it worked like it was supposed to. But it was interesting, even if it didn’t last long.

American Juniors: Pretty much a kid version of American Idol, it only lasted one season and not longer due to the band it created not really lasting that long. It wasn’t as well known as the original, but I still have it ranked much higher than it.

Family Guy: Crass and intentionally controversial at times, this animated comedy came back from being cancelled not once but twice. It seems to be of declining quality as of the later seasons, but it wasn’t that good in the first place. Still, it has its moments.

Oliver Beene: Only lasting two seasons, I saw this show and figured that it might be worth a good place like this on the list. I guess television just wasn’t ready for a show about an adult narrating his life as a kid because the premise of it would be used a lot in the future.

Spin the Wheel: A game show, it seemed to have too much going with it at once while at the same time, not being all that interesting that it could have been. But it was still nice having a show that was about helping those who have helped others in the past.

Greg the Bunny: I forget what drew me into this show, but a puppet tries to fit in with a place where he works at in this show while human characters try to understand some more of what’s gone on. It was decent if not great and certainly worth a spot like this on the list.

Superhuman: I wish that this show had more of a point to it. But we got to see the talents of people with extraordinary abilities that you might not see that much anymore. Making it a competition wasn’t that good an idea, even if them just displaying their talents were boring on their own.

Don’t Forget the Lyrics: I never saw much of the show in the end. It was a game show that was also in syndication at some point. It was good even if the premise was kind of dumb. It still worked in the end even if it was weird in some places.

The Wedding Bells: This show had an interesting premise: a drama of sisters who run a wedding venue as they deal with the various weddings all the time. It was too limited an idea to work well. But it was good enough to rank this high on my list.

Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?: This also aired in syndication and on other networks. I don’t like that part of it was mean and required contestants to say that they were not smarter than a fifth grader if they had lost. Plus, it seemed like they were casting dumb people at times anyways. Still, I liked what I had seen of it, which was a lot of it.

First Responders Live: Maybe if this had more of a narrative instead of just jumping around, then it would have worked as a better show. It was a documentary based on what was going on during the day, but there’s not really much else to say about it.

Boom: This game show was interesting as contestants had to cut the right answers in order to win the money and defuse the bomb. They could have gone with a better host who had more personality and made it possible to drop out sooner than before the final question. But it was good and I enjoyed what I was able to see of it, even the parts that were easily spoiled.

Ghosted- There was an interesting premise to the show and probably could have worked better than it did in some places than others. Part of the problem might have related to the airing of it which was messed up by the network. But it was still good enough in the end.

Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life: While part of the premise didn’t really work as it seemed to be a bit unrealistic, I think that it was overall a nice show, even if it relied on dumb characters for a lot of the show in order to work.

The Pitts: This sitcom about a cursed family was one of many that I missed when it was pulled from the schedule, never to return with the rest of the unaired episodes. Of course, there are plenty of better shows out there, but I liked it for the most part.

Brothers: One of the things to like about this show was it actually featured a disabled actor playing one of those characters when they are often played by just anyone. It sadly never really gained much of an influence on viewers and was never really that great a show in the end, although it was good enough.

Making History- Sadly, they could have done a lot more with this show than they did in the end. I would have liked to see more examples of them traveling through time instead of them staying in the present most of the whole time in the show. But it was good enough.

The good shows

Standoff: I’m not sure why this didn’t click with viewers as I felt it was quite a good show. I know that I have a lot of shows ranked higher, but it was still fun to see people trying to solve the basic premise of how to deal with criminal hostage situations while also dealing with enough of a character subplot that kept the show quite interesting.

American Grit: This reality show was nice when I saw it. It had a good enough premise and didn’t just seem like what you could see from other shows like it. I wished that there was more of a storyline with the person who ended up winning the season I watched, but it was still a good show.

Enlisted: This military comedy actually worked as a show. It didn’t make the military look bad and it was good enough to last the brief amount of time that it was on TV. I only wish that I were able to see more of it in the end than I did.

Raising Hope- You probably wouldn’t think that a man getting a baby from his dead killer wife and then dealing with raising the child with his crazy family would actually make good sitcom material, but this was good and funny when it needed to be while dealing with other issues it could have.

Almost Human: I don’t even know how to describe this show. I liked it and thought that it was good and worth seeing. I’m running out of saying enough things to cover all these paragraphs for each show that I am ranking and only hope that this doesn’t run the risk of boring people.

The Grinder: I very nearly missed out on this show entirely as I only saw it after a lot of different things had gone my way for the first time I saw it. I liked it and kept up with it as best as I could until it ended. I did think it was strange and maybe not believable in every way, but it makes it this high on the list.

Andy Richter Controls the Universe: This poor actor may not be able to get much of a break outside of always being the sidekick on Conan’s talk show. But he did get a good show that proved to be a good way of showing his potential to the rest of the world.

Proven Innocent: There was a lot of good about this show as we had to deal with the drama of a woman who was falsely imprisoned for a crime and a man who was not convinced until the very end that she had not done what she was accused of. There were some problems with it as well, although I don’t think that it deserves a lower ranking in the end.

Prodigal Son: A fairly new show that I haven’t seen much of, I think it proves to be quite good, even if it might seem a bit similar in ideas to what we might have seen on other shows. I like it for now, even if I also worry that it might be too dark in some ways.

Minority Report: Adapted from a movie of the same name that it was also set after, it was interesting to watch despite its short time on television. I’m not sure where all the hatred of it came from, but you are more than free to create your own blogs and put the ranking of this show where you want it to be.

New Girl: There was a lot to like about this show. I didn’t see as much of this as I would have liked, but could always borrow DVDs if I cared enough to keep up with it more in the future. A lot of the sitcoms based on a group of friends tend to be the same. And yet, this one proved to be quite refreshing even if it went with a lot of the standard norms.

The Good Guys: Pretty much a buddy cop TV show instead of movie, it took the basic idea of what could just start as a normal day in terms of what a cop does before turning into something more. And while this was the premise for every episode, it worked.

Gotham: You wouldn’t think that turning the origins of Bruce Wayne into a TV show would work that well, especially when it seemed more like a police procedural with Batman characters that didn’t always have Bruce in the episode. But this show proved to be a good one worth staying into until the end.

The Last Man on Earth: Who would have thought that a post apocalyptic show would work as a comedy that kept changing its premise? First, it revealed that there were others on earth, including other men. Then, it kept going places only to change things later. And through it all, it worked as a show.

Tru Calling: Imagine being able to change someone’s fate if after they died, they asked for your help and you got to relive the day in question in order to change what went wrong. That was the idea behind this interesting show that didn’t last as long as a lot of us would have liked. But it is good and worthy of being this high on the list.

The Simpsons: The longest running scripted primetime show, it has done quite well, even if it struggles to keep having good ideas longer in its run. That ultimately prevents it from getting a better place on this list as I lower it in favor of shorter lived shows that I liked better. I watched this show a lot as a kid, even if I probably never should have seen it that young. Regardless of if I keep watching it due to if it just winds up not being as good in the future, I won’t regret most of my time spent with it.

Terra Nova: While this could have used better looking dinosaurs than it had, it proved to be interesting seeing people trying to survive in the past with futuristic technology at their hands in order to survive what doom could happen in the future. If only more people liked it and watched it. I don’t regret any of this and don’t harbor any problems with it in the end.

The Sketch Show: This show was originally based off of a British one up to the point of possibly just using what they had done in that show and airing it here. I liked it a lot and wish that more of it were on TV in the end. I guess people just liked other sketch shows.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Who would have thought that a police comedy would ever work? This show, also airing on NBC now, is superb at addressing crime situations in a believable way while also being funny at times as well. There’s not too much else to say about it other than that.

9-1-1: Thankfully I had the time to watch this show once as now I get to see what type of greatness this is. It may be and seem over the top at times, but I still think that it is nice to see what is often always just another day in the life for this first responders as they have very interesting things to deal with.

The Gifted: Here starts the top ten with number 10. This show is set in the X-men world, but doesn’t have them as characters. But the show was still wonderful to keep track of for the short time that we had it on the airwaves. All of it worked for me in the end.

Sleepy Hollow: Much better than the original story, this supernatural show about a Revolutionary soldier who returned to life in the modern day time proved to be full of great twists and turns. Even if it did not always wind up going in places that it should, it proved to be quite interesting having people go after the big bad of the season and the monster of the week that they would bring.

Futurama: This show, which also aired on Comedy Central, was set in the year 3000 with a crew of all sorts of interesting characters that entertained us for quite a while, even after it ended once and then another time. It proved interesting even if there were flawed people in it that showed up a whole lot and proved to be quite annoying as a result. This is a show that most people can get behind.

The Orville: Set to air on Netflix in the future, this is my favorite thing by Seth McFarlane thus far. While it may just seem on the outside to be a recreation of Star Trek with some modern day themes in it that you wouldn’t have seen on that show, it proved that it was its own interesting thing, dealing with all sorts of issues that you might not see as much anymore.

Bones: While it went in various different places throughout its time on TV, it was always clear that it was about solving cases in a good and interesting way. The story arcs worked most of the time and all of it was nice to keep up with over the years.

Bob’s Burgers: A simple seeming show, it has lasted quite a long time already and proved to be more than just another dumb animated show. The characters are goofy instead of dumb as they often have all sorts of interesting adventures over the course of the show. It’s pretty interesting to see and I hope to see more of it in the future.

Firefly: One of the most beloved cult shows, it is hard to believe that a space Western could actually work and be so good and interesting. We saw all sorts of great adventures with the crew of this space ship over just one season. And there’s a great movie set after this too.

Drive: Such great shows are normally not this short lived. Still, it was hard for me not to like a show like this that had a cross country race going on with all sorts of different angles and one was interested in all of the characters regardless of how good or bad they might be in the end. It’s a shame that it was pulled after such a short amount of time on the air, but it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Dollhouse: Perhaps Joss Whedon’s best show, it dealt with fantasy while dealing with important real world issues as well. It also dealt with the implications of what it would mean for the world if such things were to exist in reality. I would suggest getting this if you can.

Touch: The best FOX show in my mind, it seemed a bit strange, but wasn’t bad at all with being too much of a strange show. Everything worked well and was woven together in such a nice way. The way it was written was quite wonderful and you don’t often see shows working together that well. There are not many shows that I’d rank higher than this on other networks.

The official ranking: King of the Hill, Arrested Development, The War at Home, The Winner, Glee, American Idol, Riot, Star, What Just Happened? With Fred Savage, American Dad, Million Dollar Money Drop, Sliders, House, Rake, Ben and Kate, Scream Queens, Grandfathered, Lucifer, Paradise Hotel, The Cleveland Show, The Mindy Project, Son of Zorn, Mental Samurai, New Amsterdam, The Cool Kids, Alcatraz, BH90210, | That ‘70s Show, Bless the Harts, Quintuplets, On the Lot, Bordertown, Utopia, Back to You, Dads, Hole in the Wall, Traffic Light, Wonderfalls, American Juniors, Family Guy, Oliver Beene, Spin the Wheel, Greg the Bunny, Superhuman, Don’t Forget the Lyrics, The Wedding Bells, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?, First Responders Live, Boom, Ghosted, Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life, The Pitts, Brothers, Making History, | Standoff, American Grit, Enlisted, Raising Hope, Almost Human, The Grinder, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Proven Innocent, Prodigal Son, Minority Report, New Girl, Gotham, The Last Man on Earth, Tru Calling, The Simpsons, Terra Nova, The Sketch Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 9-1-1, The Gifted, Sleepy Hollow, Futurama, The Orville, Bones, Bob’s Burgers, Firefly, Drive, Dollhouse, Touch.

Well, I hope that this was a good post and that I had everything ranked well enough for me. I could have changed some of this at some point, but being pressed for time, I just wanted to make sure that I got this written at all. Some of this could have been different. But I think that this is a well enough done post even if the ranking could be better in some places.