Fox chief mum on future of low-rated ‘Mulaney’

SHARE Fox chief mum on future of low-rated ‘Mulaney’

PASADENA, Calif. — Lincoln Park native and stand-up comic John Mulaney’s eponymous sitcom has been bounced around Fox’s Sunday schedule, had its initial order of 16 episodes pared back by three and continues to flail in the ratings.

But Fox isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet — at least not officially. Or publicly.

Fox Television Group co-chief Dana Walden acknowledged that “Mulaney” stumbled out of the gate last fall, but she said the network won’t decide its fate until the spring.

RELATED: John Mulaney talks new sitcom, ‘Seinfeld’ and Stefon

“I really think John has a special voice,” Walden said about the St. Ignatius grad who spent five years as a writer on Lorne Michaels’ “Saturday Night Live.” Michaels is a producer on Mulaney’s semi-autobiographical series about a stand-up comic struggling to hit it big.

“It took him a little bit of time to step into the role on screen — he was so used to being behind the scenes, the writer,” Walden said. “If you spoke to John and Lorne I think they’d admit that the first few episodes as he was getting used to his role as actor were a little shaky and then it hits a great stride.”

The show airs at 6 p.m. (Central) Sundays on WFLD-Channel 32.

“Running Sundays at 7 [Eastern time], it’s a very challenging time period,” Walden said. “We’ll see. We’re not going to make any decision on that show until May.”


The Latest
Unite Here Local 1, representing the workers at the Signature Room and its lounge, said in a lawsuit in October the employer failed to give 60 days notice of a closing or mass layoff, violating state law.
Uecker has been synonymous with Milwaukee baseball for over half a century.
Doctors say looking at the April 8 eclipse without approved solar glasses — which are many times darker than sunglasses — can lead to retinal burns and can result in blind spots and permanent vision loss.
Antoine Perteet, 33, targeted victims on the dating app Grindr, according to Chicago police.
Glass-facade buildings can disorient birds in flight. The city is expected to update and revise rules for new developments and rehabbed buildings next month. But bird groups say the proposed guidelines need to be mandatory.