Fox Fall Sunday Schedule now puts Animal Control into Sunday night’s Animation Domination block as part of its fall 2026 premiere slate. The move keeps Sunday mostly animated, but it adds a live-action comedy to a lineup built around The Simpsons, Universal Basic Guys and Grimsburg.
The network released the schedule on Tuesday, with the fall 2026 premiere week running September 21-27. Animal Control is heading into Season 5 on Sunday after first being announced for the move at the upfront in May, so this is a programming shift with a paper trail, not a late surprise.
September 21-27 lineup
September 22 brings Best Medicine at 8 p.m. for its Season 2 premiere and Doc at 9 p.m. for its Season 3 premiere. On September 23, The Floor opens Season 6 at 8 p.m. and 99 to Beat follows at 9 p.m. Those openings make the first week of the rollout unusually dense, with two nights carrying back-to-back premieres.
September 24 continues the pace with Hell’s Kitchen at 8 p.m. for Season 25 and Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test at 9 p.m. for Season 5. Fox College Football Friday kicks off on September 4, so the schedule is not simply a scripted-comedy reset; it is a broader fall launch that threads sports, unscripted series and returning shows through the same calendar.
Sunday stays mostly animated
7-7:30 PM is reserved for NFL on Fox in the listed Sunday plan, then The Simpsons returns at 8 p.m. for Season 38, Universal Basic Guys at 9 p.m. for Season 3 and Grimsburg at 9:30 p.m. for Season 3. Animal Control sits between The Simpsons and the two newer animated comedies, which is the part that changes the feel of the night.
Sunday remains mostly a toon night for Fox, but a live-action comedy is joining the lineup. That makes the move notable less for its novelty than for the structural choice behind it: Animal Control is being used to bridge a block that still reads as animation first, even while the network keeps sports and unscripted titles elsewhere in the week.
Animal Control on Sunday
Animal Control’s Sunday placement was already flagged in May, which gives Fox room to treat the fall calendar as a planned rollout rather than a reshuffle. For viewers, that means the main change is simple: Sunday night now starts with football, turns to The Simpsons, and then hands off to Animal Control before Universal Basic Guys and Grimsburg.
The schedule answers the immediate question about timing, and it also gives the clearest read on Fox’s priorities: keep the animation block intact, use Animal Control as the live-action exception, and open the fall with a week of premieres that starts on September 21 and runs through September 27.
