9-1-1 follows the adventures of the 118 Firehouse in a fast-paced, adrenaline-inducing drama. Each week sees plenty of new emergencies for the first responders to tackle, while still including lots of romance and friendship conflicts between the characters. Starting with its debut in 2018, the series was an incredibly popular addition for FOX. However, after six seasons, the FOX executives were becoming wary of the amount of money that was going into producing the series. The network cited enormous production costs of $9 million an episode as cause for concern. There were several reasons the series was so expensive to make (including cast contracts and the production value of all those wild natural disasters brought to life), but there was another factor at play here. The network was also required to pay a licensing fee to Disney's 20th Television (who owns the rights to the series). That created a hefty price tag for FOX to continue paying for subsequent seasons.
FOX Tried Replacing '9-1-1' With Two Other First-Responder Procedurals
FOX had another first responder in its line-up that it thought would help take over for 9-1-1. Rescue HI-Surf premiered last fall, and it is in the same vein as the other first responder procedurals of its kind, except this time, it is set in Hawaii. Instead of bulky fire gear, everyone is donned in bathing suits to take on emergencies. However, many reviewers cited the show as leaning too heavily on melodrama, and the series was eventually canceled a few weeks ago after airing just one season. The series was also an expensive one to make at an estimated $4 million an episode (partly due to filming on location in Hawaii), and the ratings were pretty abysmal. While four million people tuned into the premiere, by the end of the season, there was a 75% drop in viewership. This just proved that Rescue HI-Surf was nowhere close to being a surefire replacement for 9-1-1.
FOX Will Need To Find Another Procedural To Match '9-1-1's Success
Most of the networks have already announced their official lineups for the 2025-2026 season. But the question remains whether FOX will ever be able to recapture the impressive ratings they once had with 9-1-1. Perhaps the network will decide to go in a completely different direction, as it seems like they're opting to focus on straight-forward dramas (such as Doc) and going all in on animation (American Dad!, Bob's Burgers) and reality shows (Beat Shazam, Don't Forget the Lyrics, Fear Factor). As ABC flourishes with 9-1-1 (with ratings that continue to climb) though, those suits at FOX might still be filled with regret about letting that first responder drama go.
