The WIT Analysis: FOX

Prodigal Son, the new Warner Bros. show starring Tom Payne and Michael Sheen, generated the most social media buzz among FOX’s new pickups, according to The WIT.

Scheduled for Monday nights in the fall, the drama logged about 9.7 million trailer views on its official Facebook page and YouTube in the week since the network’s upfront. Of note, this is half the number of views of FOX’s buzziest show last year, the now-canceled The Passage.

“The Twitter and Instagram interactions around Prodigal Son confirm this year’s post-Upfronts social media apathy around the broadcast networks fall schedules,” says The WIT’s Geise Fiscina. The show shored up just 481 Instagram followers and 603 Twitter followers, Fiscina notes, and generated about 1,700 tweets. Feedback was largely positive for the new thriller, especially over the casting of The Walking Dead‘s Tom Payne and acclaimed British actor Michael Sheen (soon to be seen in Amazon’s buzzy Good Omens) as his father, a notorious serial killer. There were also references to other shows about copycat crimes and serial killers, among them NBC’s canned Hannibal and Netflix’s The Mantis.

Inspired by the Australian drama Sisters, Not Just Me (on offer by NBCUniversal International Distribution at the L.A. Screenings) generated about 8.4 million trailer views. While behind Prodigal Son in trailer views, the new Wednesday night drama comes out on top in terms of social media followers: 4,400 Facebook likes and 1,600 Instagram followers.

“A few fans of the Aussie version—which they watched on Netflix—weren’t impressed or attracted by this American remake,” Fiscina says. “But after watching the trailer, a majority of users were hooked by its heartfelt yet funny vibe. But as usual, when evaluating new shows through trailers, some were quick to predict that Not Just Me wouldn’t last a full season on FOX.”

The third highest-viewed trailer of the seven made available by the newly independent network is Filthy Rich, also a scripted format adaptation, based on a drama from New Zealand. Scheduled for midseason, the prime-time soap stars Sex and the City‘s Kim Cattrall as the matriarch of a family-run Christian network. The trailer was seen 7.8 million times but few viewers have signed up to follow the show in social, with just 291 Instagram followers and just 659 tweets featuring the official hashtag.

“Most comments are positive though,” Fiscina says. “Kim Cattrall fans think she was born for this kind of bitchy incarnation and soap fans are already comparing this addition to the genre with Empire, which will enter its final season, and The CW’s Dynasty, which has just been renewed. Others see some similarities with OWN’s megachurch soapy drama series Greenleaf.”

Visit WorldScreen.com’s Fall Season Grid for all the details on the new and returning shows on the U.S. broadcast networks, and a listing of pickups by studio.