Highlights From Fox Upfront; Gordon Ramsay Drops The F-Bombs
It was standing-room only crowd at the Fox upfront — mostly because there was no place to sit. But there were cocktails and lots of f-bombs from Gordon Ramsay, who helped to keep the 55-minute presentation moving at NYC’s Manhattan Center Monday.
Just like it did last year, Fox unveiled its 2023-24 content slate without showing a schedule. Instead, there was lots of small talk about Fox Sports, Fox News, and Tubi. Here were some of the highlights:
There was an opening “act” featuring dancers in space suits, football uniforms and Masked Singer costumes. That’s all we have to say about that.
Fox Sportscaster Michael Strahan and an f-bomb dropping Gordon Ramsay opened the presentation by standing on top of a bar in the center of NYC’s Manhattan Center. Yes folks, presentation-goers could load up on booze — and stay standing — while seeing what the “Fox Community” has to offer. They were followed by Rob Gronkowski, whose job was to make jokes about starring in commercials and introducing Fox President of Ad Sales Marianne Gambelli.
CEO Rob Wade tried his hand at standup by joking how he was keeping his British accent because it tested well with audiences. He then introduced head of reality programming Allison Wallach as the hardest working woman in the unscripted genre, “other than Nick Cannon’s babysitter.”
There was nothing to show from John Wells’ Rescue: Hi-Surf — Entertainment President Michael Thorn said casting has only just begun – so Fox culled together euphoric scenes of sun-kissed folks swimming in the Pacific Ocean. Epic!
The co-hosts of Fox News’ The Five made their upfront debut. Host Jesse Watters said he thinks more people want to watch him than football. That’s all we have to say about that.
Erin Andrews — who seemed to grow increasingly impatient that the crowd wasn’t getting “hyped up enough” — introduced soccer superstar Carly Lloyd as the newest member of the Fox Sports lineup. Also joining Fox Sports — Derek Jeter, who appeared on top of the bar with Strahan and fellow Fox Sportscaster Alex Rodriguez. Together with Gronkowski, the men threw out autographed baseballs and footballs to the screaming crowd.
That got everyone hyped up, finally.
Source: Deadline
