While NBC and Fox were rejiggering their fall schedules to try to maximize viewers, ABC, the one network whose viewership rose last year, is fairly content with the status quo. That’s why at Tuesday’s upfront presentation, where the network unveiled its goods before advertisers, ABC didn’t make any dramatic announcements. Oh, The Muppets are coming back to television, so that is pretty exciting news for those of you who are into comedy with felt avatars. That’s about as thrilling as it gets.
The current schedule on Monday, Wednesday and especially Thursday – the day of the week owned by ABC’s lord and saviour Shonda Rhimes – remains exactly the same. Tuesday night will kick off with The Muppets, where our favorite characters will film a Modern Family-esque docu-style comedy based on their personal lives. Even the trailer is pretty darn funny. Last year’s hit Fresh off the Boat will air next and will hopefully get a bump from The Muppets, which is sure to be a ratings driver.
At 10pm, following the beleaguered Marvel’s Agents of Shield, is Quantico, about a bunch of FBI trainees who might have a potential terrorist in their midst. On Friday, Dr Ken, based on the real life of comedian and former physician Ken Jeong, steps in after Last Man Standing, a show that is still surprisingly standing after all these years. It’s not quite ABC’s old TGIF block, but these traditional family comedies are in the right place.
Sunday is where the network is engaging in its biggest gambles. After Once Upon a Time, ageing gracefully both creatively and commercially, viewers will find two new shows: OIL and Kings and Prophets. OIL (in caps because it is shouting) is a traditional soap where Don Johnson plays the head of a North Dakota oil family. Of Kings and Prophets is, well, something else. ABC is billing it as a biblical epic about the exploits of a king in the time before the birth of Christ. It is either a genius creative stroke or a craven attempt to cash in on the nation’s underserved Christian market. It might be both.
And just wait for 2016, because ABC still has plenty of surprises in store, including the much-hyped remake of Uncle Buck, the Joan Allen thriller The Family, a family comedy based on the life of sex columnist Dan Savage called The Real O’Neals, a True Detective rip-off in Wicked City, and The Catch, the latest from Rhimes which will replace How to Get Away with Murder when it ends its second 13-episode run.
Mid-season also means the return of a bunch of other shows that got surprise renewals from ABC, including the promising American Crime, which will feature some of the same cast but a totally different crime, and surprise hit Secrets and Lies. ABC seems like it’s doing something right, so why mess with a winning formula?
