Fox Television Group CEO Gary Newman told TV critics meeting Wednesday in Pasadena that the network had an excellent fall, helped by a World Series more popular than Fox could have imagined.

Newman also praised newcomer series Lethal Weapon, which he called more watched than anything on cable except “The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.”

However, the future of Pitch is still questionable, but the baseball series is not out yet.

Newman admitted that the viewership for Pitch was disappointing. ”We would have loved to have seen a bigger audience,” he said, but stressed that the network was proud of the show from Dan Fogelman, who also makes hit This Is Us for NBC.

Ways to increase the audience and reach for Pitch is “very much on our minds,” Newman said at the event. “Do we have a place on our schedule where we can grow it?”

Deciding on cancellation or renewal at this point would be too early, “but as we get to May, we’re certainly going to consider” the options, he said.

Asked if Fox could have done more to promote Pitch during the highly watched World Series, Newman said, “We gave [the series] a fair amount of promotion there,” noting that game coverage included shots of series stars Kylie Bunbury and Mark-Paul Gosselaar sitting in the stands.

For other shows, The Exorcist is still in the running for a second season, with the possibility that Scream Queens and Wayward Pines could also get the go ahead, Newman and Fox Entertainment president Dave Madden suggested.

Fox had no official news on The X-Files, when asked, but Madden said a deal was close for a return next year, ideally with more than six episodes. Creator Chris Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are all said to be near signing.

[Image courtesy of Fox]

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