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RENEWAL ALERT: The Following, New Girl, Raising Hope, The Mindy Project

March is usually a time we start seeing early renewals and sure enough, here they come. FOX has given early renewals for next year to drama The Following and sitcoms New Girl, Raising Hope, and The Mindy Project.

Serial killer drama The Following was renewed for a second season after revitalizing FOX on Monday nights in just a few episodes. The show had a stellar premiere and then grew in week two. After a week three stumble, it has rebounded and been solid the last couple weeks with a high 2 demo, which makes it FOX's best drama demo performer by a wide margin. The buzzy drama starring Kevin Bacon will likely return again at midseason as Bacon is only contractually signed to 15 episodes a year. I wouldn't be surprised if they attempt to run it for 15 straight weeks starting in early 2014 the way they are this season.

Another no-brainer renewal came with New Girl, which was renewed for a third season. The FOX sitcom was a breakout hit in its freshman year and chosen to be the anchor for a four sitcom block. The block stumbled but New Girl was always the top rated of the bunch despite being down substantially year-to-year. The show skews as young as anything on TV and gets a lot of positive press so there was no way this was anything but a slam dunk renewal.

Slightly less certain but still a fairly sure renewal came to Raising Hope. The show will be in its fourth season in the fall which is the all-important syndication benchmark. It has never been a breakout hit but it has a loyal audience and had the tough task of leading off FOX's sitcom block. The question now is, when it returns, will it be as part of a sitcom block or will FOX banish it to somewhere like Fridays just to get enough episodes for syndication?

The most surprising in the bunch was The Mindy Project, which was renewed for a second season. Airing after New Girl, the show has been a big disappointment in the ratings. What helped its cause was strong support from FOX management, the uptick in recent weeks, and the fact that it did not bomb like Ben & Kate. Just like Hope, it will be interesting to see what FOX does with this show next year. Will they keep it with New Girl or try to launch a new show after Girl and let this flounder elsewhere? Who knows, but it made it past the first season hurdle which shows FOX is committed.

With these shows joining American Dad!, Bob's Burgers, Bones, Family Guy, The Simpsons, and The X Factor on the renewal list, very few FOX shows' fates are up in the air. Not officially renewed but sure to come back is American Idol and probably Glee while Kitchen Nightmares, Cops, and The Cleveland Show could go either way (though I don't think it's looking great for Cleveland). Touch will certainly join the cancellation pile with Ben and Kate, Fringe, and The Mob Doctor.
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