Is ‘The Flare’ From Fox’s ‘What Just Happened’ A Real Show? Fred Savage Explains

Fox’s new after-show, “What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage,” premieres tonight, and it’s bound to stir up a question or two from viewers.

It’s a very real after-show about a TV show, called “The Flare,” that doesn’t actually exist in the real world, based on the “Moon is the Sun at Night” book series that also doesn’t exist by an author who, yet again, does not really exist.

Fred Savage hosts the program, with Taylor Tomlinson as co-host, as a fictionalized version of himself; one who’s a superfan of the novels and can’t wait to talk all about the books and the new show with celebrity guests, visiting “The Flare” cast members and fans of the “show.”

For those still a little confused, let Savage himself clear things up a little.

While speaking with TheWrap, he explained, “‘The Flare’ does exist — just a scene at a time. The books are obviously completely made up, but the show itself, like, we have a real cast, a real director, and I think it’s a good show.”

Wait, so is “The Flare” actually a real show on Fox? Well, in the usual sense of the term, no. But the concept of the show-within-the-show was taken very seriously by all involved, and it’s not meant to look cheesy or like a parody.

The short “episode clips” shown during “What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage” are meant to look and feel like a real show. As Savage mentioned, it even has a star-studded cast and crew to help put it at that level.

The stars of “The Flare” include Shiri Appleby (“UnREAL”), Guillermo Diaz (“Scandal”), Kevin Zegers (“Fear the Walking Dead”), Amy Acker (“The Gifted”), Duane Henry (“NCIS”), Tyler Ritter (“Arrow”), Kai Wener (“The Orville”), Sola Bamis (“Stitchers”) and Sprague Grayden (“The Following”), and it’s directed by Jon Cassar (“The Orville”).

Here’s exactly how it’ll all go down in each episode of the talk show:

“So the first two minutes of our show is the last scene of ‘The Flare,’ of that night’s episode of ‘The Flare,'” Savage told the outlet. “It’s very ‘Lost’-like the way the episodes end. It ends in some moment of suspense or great drama or excitement. And then it minimizes in the bottom part of the screen and then I’m on screen going, ‘What just happened??! That’s incredible! Let’s talk about.'”

He continued: “Everything you need to know for that episode of [‘What Just Happened??!’] you’ll learn in that opening scene… And since ‘The Flare’ only exists one or two scenes at a time, not only do we not wanna get in the weeds of it, you can’t really get in the weeds of it. So ‘The Flare’ serves as a springboard into our topics or into our theme for the episode, which is ultimately a talk show.”

While “The Flare” might not currently be a real show, that doesn’t mean it won’t ever be. Savage believes there’s a real possibility the fictional series could actually be developed as a true Fox program.

“When we were developing [‘What Just Happened??!]’ at Fox, there were more than a few times where they were interested in developing ‘The Flare’ as a genuine show, so hopefully we’ll get there,” Savage said. “Maybe it will be the first show ever based off of a show that an after-show is based on.“

Hopefully tuning into the premiere of “What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage” tonight on Fox at 9:30 p.m. EDT will clear up any lingering confusion surrounding this meta after-show.