Upfronts Week — ABC


This is Upfronts week, the week when all the major networks unveil their fall schedules. Each day during the week I'll be taking a look at each network's new fall offerings and giving some cursory thoughts. Of course, we'll have months to parse the new an returning shows, and the lineup choices, once the fall season begins in September.

Network: ABC

Most Interesting Scheduling Decision: Thursday's at 8 p.m. has been a tough spot for ABC the past few seasons. They've launched high concept, high-profile new shows in the slot, and all of them have tanked. So this year, ABC decided to do something a little different. Their most high-profile new show comes from Shonda Rhimes, who runs ABC's successful dramas "Scandal" and "Grey's Anatomy." So it makes sense to give her a whole night, what was unexpected is that "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal" are each shifting up an hour to do it. Putting "Grey's Anatomy" in the 8 p.m. slot on Thursdays gives ABC an established show to kick off the night. It will be interesting to see, however, if CBS leaves "The Big Bang Theory," the most popular sitcom on TV, in that slot when it unveils its schedule tomorrow. Regardless, in the fall all three Shonda Rhimes shows will face competition from the NFL. It also sets up an interesting winter/spring battle between "Scandal," ABC's strongest performing show, and "The Blacklist," NBC's strongest performing show. It could restore some of the drama and luster to Thursday night competition which was missing last year. It also pits "Scandal" against the FOX event series "Gracepoint," likely to be one of the most anticipated new shows of the fall.

Most Promising New Show: ABC has six new shows debuting in the fall — two dramas and four comedies. After reading the descriptions and watching the preview clips, I feel tepid about all of them. The best of the lot, though, is "How To Get Away With Murder." It comes from Shonda Rhimes, it stars Viola Davis, and it has what could be an interesting premise. The clip shown doesn't tell us much, either. Still, this sounds like the most interesting show. Rhimes has shown a knack for quality, soapy drama. Stepping into the world of law school and crime is a departure from "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal," which will help it feel a little different. This show is also in the best time slot in terms of making it primed to succeed.

Least Promising New Show: This is somewhat of a toss up. None of the four comedies looks like a sure thing, in fact none of them looks as good as "Trophy Wife," the sitcom ABC just canned. Still, it seems like the two sitcoms set on Tuesday night will be the roughest, and will face the toughest competition. To me it is a toss up about which will be worse, but for the purposes of this post I'm going to go with "Manhattan Love Story." ABC has tried out-of-the-box concepts for comedies a lot in the past couple years, and none have been good. Most recently we had the bomb that was "Mixology." This feels like more of the same, and leaves me wondering how the show can possibly last a full season, let alone multiple seasons. It's a relationship story told, in part, through the unspoken thought life of its protagonists. Yeah, you read that right. The one-minute teaser scene did little to convince me this is a good idea. While "Selfie" seems like an enormous stretch, this comedy just seems like an enormous mistake. And that's saying something since none of their new shows looks like a sure thing. That's a bad sign for a network that saw a record number of new shows reach record-low ratings. It could be another rough fall for ABC.

Lineup:
Monday Nights:
8 p.m. — Dancing With The Stars
10 p.m. — Castle

Tuesday Nights:
8 p.m. — Selfie
8:30 p.m. — Manhattan Love Story
9 p.m. — Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
10 p.m. — Forever

Wednesday Nights:
8 p.m. — The Middle
8:30 p.m. — The Goldbergs
9 p.m. — Modern Family
9:30 p.m. — Black-ish
10 p.m. — Nashville

Thursday Nights:
8 p.m. — Grey's Anatomy
9 p.m. — Scandal
10 p.m. — How To Get Away With Murder

Friday Nights:
8 p.m. — Last Man Standing
8:30 p.m. — Cristela
9 p.m. — Shark Tank
10 p.m. — 20/20

Sunday Nights:
7 p.m. — America's Funniest Home Videos
8 p.m. — Once Upon A Time
9 p.m. Resurrection
10 p.m. — Revenge

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