ABC's announced schedule for Fall 2008 adds only 2 new shows to its lineup. That's similar to the few changes announced by NBC, but the difference between the two being that ABC's Fall 2007 schedule was somewhat successful, unlike NBC's.
ABC's two new shows for Fall 2008 are Opportunity Knocks (an Ashton Kutcher produced game show) and Life on Mars (a science fiction/crime drama about a 21st century cop transported into the 70's, Journeyman meets New Amsterdam)
Of the eight shows ABC introduced in the Fall of 2007, four will be returning (Samantha Who?, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money). ABC is keeping their Wednesday night block of sophomore drama shows intact.
Last Fall ABC introduced 6.5 hours of new programming, the most among the top 4 networks, but next fall will see only 2 new hours of shows added to the schedule. As with NBC, the writers strike may have pushed back some changes to mid-season.
In Fall 2007, ABC had 9.5 hours of unscripted programming in its 22 hour primetime schedule. Fall 2008 will increase that total to 11 hours. I'm sure the writers who walked the picket lines for 100 days are disappointed to see 1.5 hours of scripted programming removed from ABC's schedule. ABC has gone to an entirely unscripted Friday night lineup next fall.
Unlike NBC, who's failure in Fall 2007 seems likely to be repeated in Fall 2008, I like ABC to show ratings improvement. It had the best turnout of new shows in 2007 and they're coming back, and it's disasters (Cavemen, Carpoolers), should be easy to improve upon by Opportunity Knocks. Big Shots set a somewhat higher bar in failure, so Life on Mars may not be much of an improvement.
ABC Fall 2007 Schedule Shows vs. Fall 2008 Schedule Shows
|
2007 |
2008 |
|
| Monday | ||
| 8-9:30p | Dancing with the Stars | Dancing with the Stars |
| 9:30-10p | Samantha Who? | Samantha Who? |
| 10-11p | The Bachelor | Boston Legal |
| Tuesday | ||
| 8-8:30p | Cavemen | Opportunity Knocks (8-9p) |
| 8:30-9p | Carpoolers | |
| 9-10p | Dancing with the Stars Results | Dancing with the Stars Results |
| 10-11p | Boston Legal | Eli Stone |
| Wednesday | ||
| 8-9p | Pushing Daisies | Pushing Daisies |
| 9-10p | Private Practice | Private Practice |
| 10-11p | Dirty Sexy Money | Dirty Sexy Money |
| Thursday | ||
| 8-9p | Ugly Betty | Ugly Betty |
| 9-10p | Grey’s Anatomy | Grey’s Anatomy |
| 10-11p | Big Shots | Life on Mars |
| Friday | ||
| 8-9p | 20/20 | Wife Swap |
| 9-10p | Women's Murder Club | Supernanny |
| 10-11p | Men In Trees | 20/20 |
| Saturday | ||
| 8-11p | Saturday Night College Football | Saturday Night College Football |
| Sunday | ||
| 7-8p | America’s Funniest Home Videos | America’s Funniest Home Videos |
| 8-9p | Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | Extreme Makeover: Home Edition |
| 9-10p | Desperate Housewives | Desperate Housewives |
| 10-11p | Brothers & Sisters | Brothers & Sisters |
Shows in BOLD are/were new, shows in italics are unscripted, 2007 shows in strikethrough did not return for Fall 2008, but some may later in the year.
Shows that will enter the ABC lineup later in the 2008-9 year include: Scrubs, Lost, The Goode Family, The Bachelor, Untitled Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks Project, According to Jim, and Primetime: What Would You Do?.
I don't think it was worthwhile to compare the announced Winter 2009 and future schedules to this years for two reasons. One, this years Winter and Spring schedules were somewhat cobbled together in response to the writers strike. Two, schedules announced so far in advance have a habit of changing.
7/16 Update: ABC has announced its fall premiere schedule.
10-11 p.m. "20/20"
Monday, Sept. 22
8-10 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars" (special two-hour performance show premiere)
10-11 p.m. "Boston Legal"
Tuesday, Sept. 23
8-9 p.m. "Opportunity Knocks" (new series debut)
9-11 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars" (special performance show)
Wednesday, Sept. 24
8-9 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars Results Show Special" (special day and time)
9-11 p.m. "David Blaine Special"
Thursday, Sept. 25
8-9 p.m. "Ugly Betty"
9-11 p.m. "Grey's Anatomy" (special two-hour season premiere)
Sunday, Sept. 28
7-9 p.m. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (two-hour season premiere)
9-10 p.m. "Desperate Housewives"
10-11 p.m. "Brothers & Sisters"
Tuesday, Sept. 30
9:10 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars Result Show" (regular day and time period premiere)
Wednesday, Oct. 1
8-9 p.m. "Pushing Daisies"
9-10 p.m. "Private Practice"
10-11 p.m. "Dirty Sexy Money"
Friday, Oct. 3
8-9 p.m. "Wife Swap"
9-10 p.m. "Supernanny"
Sunday, Oct. 5
7-8 p.m. "America's Funniest Home Videos"
8-9 p.m. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (regular time period premiere)
Monday, Oct. 6
9:30-10 p.m. "Samantha Who?"
Thursday, Oct. 9
9:10 p.m. "Grey's Anatomy" (regular time period premiere)
10-11 p.m. "Life on Mars" (new series debut)
Tuesday, Oct. 14
10-11 p.m. "Eli Stone"
“Two, schedules announced so far in advance have a habit of changing.”
Particularly in this case. According to Nikki Finke, ABC still has 17 pilots that are under consideration for mid season, and most have not even been shot yet.
as a BL fan in a bit of denial… LOL is it possible the show could do well in that slot and get picked up for nine more to complete the season?
i actually like the slot… a scripted show as a lead in and competing with a new nbc show that has the heroes fickle audience as a lead in. csi is tough but they’ve been fading a bit. BL i think is a lot more interesting than Bachelor again. i see it doing a strong number 2.
it’ll be interesting to see how eli does after dancing… it’s not an easy slot. i think reality as a lead in is tough for scripted shows.
I don’t get why they would bring back Dirty, Sexy, Money to the same timeslot it was floundering in last year. I thought for sure they would give it the post-DH timeslot. DH may not be the monster hit it once was but it’s still one of their highest rated shows and the post DH slot should be utilized for a promising, yet ratings challenged show like ES or DSM or a completely new show. Brothers & Sisters should be able to stand on its own by now!
i think lead ins are only important for the premiere of a new show. So it is important that frosh series have sensible lead ins which is why i doubt life on mars will succeed. I don’t think medical relationship soap and sci-fi crime drama share enough of an audience to give life on mars a shot. Life will have a large sampling audience from grey’s that will all turn out in week two. my prediction is that it ends up being a bubble show.
i assume opportunity knocks will be cheap and it can’t perform any worse than the abc comedies so i give it a good shot to succeed.
1 comedy in the fall lineup? Sad. Also sad to see wife swap and supernanny making into the fall lineup. hopefully they’ll be replaced come mid season.
I watched both Life On Mars series on BBC America, and found it to be a terrific show. It’s not really a time-travel show as one would think from a description of the premise. It’s actually a cop show, although it mostly does take place in the 70′s. The Beeb did things right, and the return visit to the 70′s was both engrossing and fun, due both to good writing and an electric cast. Having seen the original, I would say that the show has a sure fire premise, but from looking at the images on IMDB, I’m very worried that Hollywood eff-ed it up, with horrible mis-casting, and it’s usual habit of diluting a strong and promising premise. (Think of Coupling. Ugh.) With episodes supposedly in the can for quite a while, and now reports that J. J. Abrams is out as the show runner, one really has to wonder why the suits have been saving this for so long.
From the moment I heard there was even a pilot for Life on Mars I knew America would ruin it. Just the pictures alone have confirmed my fears.
I cannot believe that they are keep Eli Stone or DSM over Women’s Murder Club. I don’t see where it is cancelled but I don’t see it on the schedule either. Maybe NBC will get smart and pick it up.
Cave Men & Carpoolers were beyond terrible, they were atrocious.
Big Shots may have done terrible in the ratings but man was that show entertaining – I don’t understand why ABC didn’t move it to Sundays and pair it with Desperate Housewives(as you can see I’m not a Brothers & Sisters fan).
I’m pissed at ABC with their treatment of Men in Trees – if the show returns they need to put it on and leave it alone. The constant shuffling of this show’s timeslot was beyond ridiculous and explains its ratings – If people don’t know when the show is on how are they gonna be able to watch it, ABC?
Don’t get me started on Women’s Murder Club – ABC should be ashamed of themselves for cancelling it.
Cave Men & Carpoolers were beyond terrible, they were atrocious.
Big Shots may have done terrible in the ratings but man was that show entertaining – I don’t understand why ABC didn’t move it to Sundays and pair it with Desperate Housewives(as you can see I’m not a Brothers & Sisters fan).
I’m pissed at ABC with their treatment of Men in Trees – if the show returns they need to put it on and leave it alone. The constant shuffling of this show’s timeslot was beyond ridiculous and explains its ratings – If people don’t know when the show is on how are they gonna be able to watch it, ABC?
Don’t get me started on Women’s Murder Club – ABC should be ashamed of themselves for cancelling it.
I won’t be watching anything on ABC this year. DH, GA and Lost have all just gotten old and repetitive. Nothing new sounds like watching.
I won’t be watching anything on ABC this year. DH, GA and Lost have all just gotten old and repetitive. Nothing new sounds like watching.
I want my Men In Trees back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m Soooo Excited For UGLY BETTY to Come back On!! I’m a HUGE America Fan
I Think She Know’s What’s Up!! To All “UGLY BETTY Fans” Let’s Get Our UGLY
On.
I’m Soooo Excited For UGLY BETTY to Come back On!! I’m a HUGE America Fan
I Think She Know’s What’s Up!! To All “UGLY BETTY Fans” Let’s Get Our UGLY
On.
I’m really excited that Eli Stone is coming back! I wasn’t really interested when I first heard about it, but I caught the first aired episode on a whim, and I’ve loved it ever since!
I’m really excited that Eli Stone is coming back! I wasn’t really interested when I first heard about it, but I caught the first aired episode on a whim, and I’ve loved it ever since!
I adored Eli Stone, and am really depressed that it’s been cancelled. What I loved best, in addition to the wonderful leading man, was the unfolding storyline about a major law firm where there was more than one-upsmanship going on among the attorneys. In fact, the hero was selflessly focused on helping other people. For me it was the answer to the snide little cardboard characters on shows like Boston Legal.
There’s not much to look forward to in the fall. Maybe Brothers and Sisters. Of course, there’s a bright side to the flood of “reality” programs. I’m reading more books these days.
I adored Eli Stone, and am really depressed that it’s been cancelled. What I loved best, in addition to the wonderful leading man, was the unfolding storyline about a major law firm where there was more than one-upsmanship going on among the attorneys. In fact, the hero was selflessly focused on helping other people. For me it was the answer to the snide little cardboard characters on shows like Boston Legal.
There’s not much to look forward to in the fall. Maybe Brothers and Sisters. Of course, there’s a bright side to the flood of “reality” programs. I’m reading more books these days.
I adored Eli Stone, and am really depressed that it’s been cancelled. What I loved best, in addition to the wonderful leading man, was the unfolding storyline about a major law firm where there was more than one-upsmanship going on among the attorneys. In fact, the hero was selflessly focused on helping other people. For me it was the answer to the snide little cardboard characters on shows like Boston Legal.
There’s not much to look forward to in the fall. Maybe Brothers and Sisters. Of course, there’s a bright side to the flood of “reality” programs. I’m reading more books these days.
Gail, Eli Stone wasn’t cancelled, it’s in the ABC 2008 Fall Schedule Tuesday at 10. Look at the chart.