Three Unveils New Masked Singer Strategy UPDATED

Three has opted to air The Masked Singer’s swansong over two nights rather than concluding the season with a double-episode.

Originally, Three scheduled a double-bill of a retrospective special and the actual final from 7.30-9.30 on December 18.

But this morning the network announced they would screen as consecutive one-hour episodes on the Thursday and Friday nights.

The penultimate episode, Road to the Finals, will air 9.35 Thursday, instead of Live at the Apollo, and the final 7.30 Friday.

Three will follow the big reveal with the movie, US Marshals, at 8.30, and drop the 9.25 re-run of Bondi Rescue: Kathmandu Coast to Coast.

Fox has just renewed The Masked Singer for a fifth session, Variety reports.

The singing competition series in which celebrities don elaborate costumes to showcase their vocal skills has proven to be a runaway hit for Fox. According to the network, Season 4 of the series has average 11.5 million viewers per episode in multi-platform viewing to date.

Fox has capitalised on the show’s success by launching the sister series I Can See Your Voice, which debuted on the network in September. Another show, The Masked Dancer, will launch on Fox on Dec. 27.

No word yet on whether Three will air The Masked Singer but panellist Ken Jeong has floated the prospect of more spinoffs, including The Masked Comedian, and Three does have a NZ version of The Masked Singer in the works.

Another of Three’s 2021 drawcards, season three of The Rookie, will “challenge the status quo of cop shows”, Deadline Hollywood reports.

During a panel with ABC7’s Mark Brown, creator Alexi Hawley teased what’s to come in the new season and explained how the show will incorporate the ongoing conversations about police brutality sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement and the murder of George Floyd in May. Hawley, joined by members of The Rookie cast and writing team, explained that the current social climate heavily influenced the upcoming plot lines.

“It gave us a rare opportunity to really get into a lot of different topics. To talk about so many different aspects of policing – from stuff that happens on the streets to the stuff that happens on the stations, warts and all of the LAPD and policing in general, how hard it is to fire a bad cop, to make change in the system.”

Meanwhile, Three has confirmed Hawaii Five-O will return in primetime next year for its 10th season.

The season-nine finale will screen 11.00 on December 16 instead of 9.30 so season one of 9-1-1: Lone Star can wrap with a double-episode ahead of Christmas Week programming.

“The move was a one-off,” a spokeswoman says.