Fox and WGN have been the premier stations for broadcast television when it comes to prime time shows as it has surpassed the main three stations that pioneered television. Fox has most of the premiere shows of the past 20 years while WGN’s CW has successfully created the premiere place for the world of Detective Comics on television for live action. After a few failed attempts and a successful run of telling Superman’s story of how he became Superman for 10 years, the CW perfected the formula for doing DC live action shows since they have created the “Arrowverse”. It is the current world for DC shows on TV that started with telling the story of Green Arrow(but it’s very much like a Batman story since the rights for Batman are hard to get/seem like only a movie thing) and continued with telling the story of the Flash. It now has six DC comic book shows that include Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, iZombie, and Black Lighting.
Where other stations have failed with DC live action shows CW has made it look easy since they took Supergirl from CBS after it got cancelled after one season, when it shouldn’t haven’t been on CBS. NBC failed at doing a Vertigo Comic from DC in Constantine and didn’t do it justice by having it on Friday nights as well. While CW took characters from Arrow and Flash to create a superhero team like a Justice League but only with time traveling for Legends of Tomorrow.
Fox has had the most long running successful and original/creative shows of the last 20+ years. You can say what you want about these two shows but Matt Groening and Seth McFarlane have two of the longest running animated sitcoms (not named South Park) in The Simpsons and Family Guy and their other animated shows as well. They also have had other long running animated shows like King of the Hill and a current running show Bob’s Burgers. The X-Files, 24, Malcolm in the Middle, House, Married with Children, and That 70’s Show are some of their long running creative and original programming they have been famous for over the years. No matter the genre, Sci-fi for the X-Files, sitcoms for Malcolm in the Middle, Married with Children, and That 70’s show, and dramas like 24 or medical dramas such as House. They even created American Idol that spawned all the other reality competition shows you see on other networks including their own over the years. 
Yes Fox has some failed shows over the years and failed attempts at reboots/remakes or from source material but they haven’t failed as much as the main 3 for the last 20 years. A few of the real big mistakes were cancelling Firefly after one year and Arrested Developmentafter three years. As I stated earlier CW has had its failures in creating the DCUTV with shows like Birds of Prey. Most of their successful shows pre Smallville and Supernatural were when they were called the WB with shows like Buffy, Dawson’s Creek, and Charmed, and with UPN for shows like Star Trek Enterprise and Voyager to name some.
Those are the positives about both networks and even some failures over the years but they are both the premier stations but Fox is in the lead for prime time shows on broadcast television. Now there is one thing that is holding these networks back for years to be considered on the same level as the main 3.
(Even if others and I believe they’re the best two). The main reason why the main 3 stations are ahead of them is they all have three hours of programming Sunday-Friday. While these two stations only have two hours of programming except for when Fox has 2 and half hours on Sunday night for the animated shows. This the thing that is holding these two networks back. When having less hours of programming means fewer programs on and for the networks themselves less money because new shows are better real estate for advertisers then reruns.
We understood WGN channel 9 wanted to have the local news on at 9 but that would only be true for CST since there are four time zones in America but there channel 9 so news at 9 is their thing. But since WGN dropped the CW onto the former station called UPN which WGN owns already for reruns, 3 hours of shows wouldn’t affect it anymore since it’s not on the parent station WGN anymore. Same goes for Fox in terms of having the local news on at 9 when it’s all different because of the time zones. We don’t need the news at 9 pm if the main stations get away with it being at 5 or 6 or 10pm at night so those two can learn to adjust to that time frame for the news since most people get it from the internet anyway. Once you get over having news on at a different time since CW isn’t on WGN anymore, and that Fox has football games going overboard on Sundays anyway throwing everything off.
What happens is the fans are the ones who get screwed with only two hours of programming. Take Fox a very popular show like Brooklyn 99 that keeps moving nights and different times to make room for newer shows that are mostly inferior and it gets bad ratings since it’s not on for a consistent time/day. While they also put shows on long hiatuses (See Gotham or Empire) to show mini-series/limited series or new shows to see if it can get a full season pickup. That means the fans have to wait three months till their show is back which they don’t ask for.
While the CW makes shows only for Fall-Winter season or Winter-Spring season with a limited amount of episodes since it’s not a full school year (Sep-May). They essentially hand pick which shows mostly DC shows and Supernatural with Riverdale(as the newer one) besides from the new programs that each network tries every year; and those specific only to the Fall or Spring that take over for each other when one ends for the season. Imagine if CW had three hours of programming you wouldn’t have to stop showing Supergirl or Legends of tomorrow to accommodate newer programs. Fans of the 100, Originals, IZombie, Crazy ex girlfriend as the longer standing programs wouldn’t be on only for 12-15 when they can get a full 18-22 like most shows.
When it comes to Fox they keep making too many quality programs which means there isn’t enough space for them all. So it’s understandable for a Fall-Winter season and Winter-Spring season only show but they would have more room for those shows if they had three hours of programming. No more long hiatuses maybe short ones for the usual time off like Thanksgiving, Xmas-winter break and a spring break. They have been too many cases of shows being on for a few weeks then off for longer to make room for new programming. If you have three hours at night fewer shows will get cancelled too soon and not thrown around from one night to the other. If ABC has a “Thank G-d its Thursday segment” to go along with the night with most of their half hour sitcoms and like NBC’s the Voice they have American Idol now starting the night off before they show one show two nights in a row. NBC tries to put all of their Law and Order and Chicago shows on the same nights.
CBS tries to put CSI shows on at the same night while Friday is night is all shows about solving crimes or stopping the bad guy shows. They also have their sitcoms on Monday/Thursday both followed by a serious show.
If the main three can have three hours of programming and tries to have themes most of the times why can’t the other two do it? Fox could have a live action sitcom night like they do for the animated shows and let Brooklyn 99 and Last man on Earth be on a night together without the Simpsons and Family Guy. Put the two DC shows back on the same night or put all the crime solving shows all on at the same night. They have at least four crime solving shows but have a few Sci-Fi-comic book based shows as well. They already made sure to put Empire and Star on the same night since both are created by same person and are both musical dramas. Plus they can show all of their reality competition shows on without bumping out the original programming as well with the usual of adding new shows like a few new animated shows to fill the void of the two live action shows that leave Sunday night.
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Sunday
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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6:30: New animated show-end of NFL
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7: Lucifer
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7-8 Brooklyn 99-Mick
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7: Empire
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7: Gotham
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7: The Simpsons-7:30 Bob’s Burger
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8: The Gifted
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8-9 New Girl-Last Man On earth
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8: Star
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8-9: Family Guy-New animated show
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9: The Orville
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9: The Resident
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9: 9-1-1
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While the CW has currently 12 shows on that would perfectly fit into four nights of three hour programming based on the type of the show. See five nights of programming for a whole year and when they go on breaks show reruns which the station usually does anyway.
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Supergirl
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The Flash
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The 100
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Legends of Tomorrow
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Supernatural
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The Orignals
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Crazy Ex Gf
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Black Lighting
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iZombie
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So in conclusion the only way to make Fox and The CW the premiere broadcast stations and surpass the main three is by having three hours of programming. Less shows get cancelled, put on hiatuses, get moved from night to night/different time and more shows are on the airwaves. It is not about the networks getting richer but it should be an incentive for these two to see it makes them more money. If the main three can show the news at different times/10pm local time then the whole news at 9 is outdated excuse since WGN isn’t showing the CW anymore. The main thing is the fans get more episodes of shows that aren’t on all school year (Sep-May) and they actually get more shows since there is time to show all the current and new shows so that the networks can get their yearly quota of new shows as well.
Certain shows on Fox will not have to suffer the same fate as previous shows before them that should never have been cancelled since there wasn’t enough time to show them if they got renewed. If the main three can have three hours of programming with shows that are only specific seasons as well their yearly shows and even have time for reality shows(while also having certain themes for each night to fit the shows with other shows for a best fit) why can’t these two catch up with the times? But the reality is they haven’t and will they ever go from being only know as the former rerun only stations to being the more respected broadcast stations? In the end everyone would benefit from having three hours of programming on Fox and the CW. When the fans already know they have the better and more original programming than original three, only time will tell.