Moving from Fox’s longtime upfront home, the 2,300-seat Beacon Theater, to Skylight on Vesey — the former site of the New York Mercantile Exchange, which holds 800 — Fox had Covid on its mind with the smaller venue, where screens and seating in the round dominated the floorspace.
Because all bits were pre-taped, with occasional flourishes using the multiple screens, when Collier bantered virtually with Gordon Ramsay or Jon Hamm, the Fox presentation could not relay the news that top dramas 9-1-1 and The Resident had closed their renewal deals about an hour earlier and presenter Mayim Bialik announced a comedy series whose deal had not closed in time for the upfront.