Fox Stations Renew '25 Words Or Less,' 'Divorce Court,' 'Dish Nation' for 2020-21 Season

The Fox Television Stations have renewed rookie game show 25 Words or Less, executive produced and hosted by Meredith Vieira, for a second season, making that show this year’s first rookie to get an official season-two pick up.

The station group also renewed Divorce Court for season 22 and Dish Nation for season nine, Stephen Brown, executive VP of programming and development for the Fox Television Stations.

“Every day, America welcomes us into their homes to laugh, cry and play. We are part of their everyday ritual and we look forward to being there for a long time to come,” said Brown in a statement.

The Fox Television Stations distribute those three first-run syndicated shows, while Twentieth Television’s off-network shows -- such as Modern Family, Last Man Standing and Family Guy -- all went to The Walt Disney Company in Disney's acquisition of many of the Fox assets.

25 Words or Less premiered in national syndication this year after debuting as a summer test in 2018. Thus far this season, it is averaging a 0.9 live plus same day national household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The game show pits two teams comprised of celebrities and civilians against each other in a fast-paced word game with a top prize of $10,000. In the final round, the contestant who has earned the most points has 60 seconds to get his partners to guess 10 words using only 25 words or less.

The first season has featured guest stars Chelsea Handler, Jane Lynch, Debra Messing, Courteney Cox, Colton Dunn, Melissa Peterman, John Michael Higgins and the superstars of WWE. 25 Words or Less is produced by Dino Bones Productions. Executive producers include Michael Canter, Lisa Kudrow, Dan Bucatinsky, Mary McCormack, Michael Morris and Bruce Sterten.

Divorce Court starring Judge Lynn Toler is produced by Lincolnwood Productions under executive producer Diondra Bolling and distributed by Fox First Run. Thus far this season, Divorce Court is averaging a 0.7 live plus same day household rating.

And Dish Nation is a daily half-hour entertainment news program that features radio teams from Atlanta and Los Angeles. From Atlanta, the show features The Rickey Smiley Morning Show with Smiley and his co-hosts Headkrack, Da Brat and Gary wit da Tea with additional personalities Porsha Williams and Chuey Martinez. From Los Angeles, the show offers KLOS-FM’s Heidi, Frosty and Frank Morning Show. The program is executive produced by Joaquin Ferreira and is a product of Dino Bones Productions.

Dish Nation is not cleared nationally in syndication, thus Fox does not buy a national rating for it.

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.