Welcome back to Upfronts! Which are normal this time! Kinda!
If you’ve been around Foolish Watcher for a while now, you know that the Upfronts is the week or so when the networks introduce their upcoming schedules to advertisers in hopes that they will be wooed into buying commercial airtime. It’s the networks’ big dog-and-pony show, one that has been diminishing in recent years thanks to the pandemic, the strikes, and the decline of network broadcast television’s stranglehold on the audience in general. But this year, there is nothing holding the networks back from introducing a full fall schedule.
The big story from ABC is how many of their returning shows have been pushed to the spring for some reason. The Conners, Will Trent, and The Rookie, along with all the primetime game shows, are being held until midseason, which ABC insists is a demonstration in how much confidence they have in those shows as they won’t be interrupted. The way I’m reading it, though, is that they really like these shows and want to keep them, they just don’t want to spend too much money making full seasons of any of them.
As for your new series: we have a medical drama on a cruise ship from camp maestro Ryan Murphy; another stab at a quirky female-led crime drama (see: Stumptown; Big Sky; The Rookie: Feds; Take Two); a spinoff of their most popular romantic reality series in recent years; and a surprise adaptation of a podcast. ABC is continuing to lean into its female audience, and I, for one, am hoping they show up for one of these shows in particular.
Schedule
MONDAY
7/8 p.m.: Monday Night Football (September 9)
7/8 p.m.: Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (October 7)
9/10 p.m.: Press Your Luck (October 7)
TUESDAY
7/8 p.m.: Dancing With the Stars (September 17)
9/10 p.m.: HIGH POTENTIAL (September 17)
WEDNESDAY
7/8 p.m.: THE GOLDEN BACHELORETTE (September 18)
8:30/9:30 p.m.: Abbott Elementary (October 9)
9/10 p.m.: SCAMANDA (October 9)
THURSDAY
7/8 p.m.: 9-1-1 (September 26)
8/9 p.m.: DOCTOR ODYSSEY (September 26)
9/10 p.m.: Grey’s Anatomy (September 26)
FRIDAY
7/8 p.m.: Shark Tank (October 18)
8/9 p.m.: 20/20 (September 20)
SATURDAY
7/8 p.m.: College Football (August 24)
SUNDAY
6/7 p.m.: America’s Funniest Home Videos (September 29)
7/8 p.m.: The Wonderful World of Disney (September 29)
New Fall Shows
KAITLIN OLSON
High Potential
Official synopsis:
High Potential, from Oscar-nominated writer Drew Goddard and ABC Signature, is based on the popular French series. It follows Morgan (Kaitlin Olson), a single mom with three kids and an exceptional mind, who helps solve an unsolvable crime when she rearranges some evidence during her shift as a cleaner for the police department. When they discover she has a knack for putting things in order because of her high intellectual potential, she is brought on as a consultant to work with a by-the-book seasoned detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), and together they form an unusual and unstoppable team.
T’s Take:
First of all, in this blog we stan Kaitlin Olson. (Stan … do the kids still say that or … ) Olson has been trying to find the right solo project, and ABC has been trying to find the right quirky female-led crime procedural, so it makes perfect sense that the two of them would come together in this way.
But then you add the behind-the-scenes talent involved with this: the executive producer is one Drew Goddard, who happened to get his start writing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer before becoming a writer and producer on Lost and The Good Place, among others; and the showrunner is none other than Rob Thomas (no, not that Rob Thomas), the producer and creator of Veronica Mars and Party Down. This is easily the series I’m most excited for next season, which certainly means it is doomed.
The Golden Bachelorette
Official synopsis:
The Bachelor franchise is expanding once again. After the success of the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelor, ABC is giving a golden woman her own second chance at love on The Golden Bachelorette. Details to come on who will be the first leading lady. It’s Joan Vasso.
T’s Take:
After The Golden Bachelor bamboozled all of us, it will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Genuinely. I have A LOT of questions.
Scamanda
Official synopsis:
Produced by Pilgrim Media Group, a division of Lionsgate Alternative Television, for ABC News Studios comes documentary series Scamanda. Based on the No. 1 podcast of the same name, Scamanda tells the story of Amanda Riley — a wife, mother, blogger and Christian — whose tragic cancer tale captivates thousands. But Amanda has a secret that she’s dying to keep, and after an anonymous tip to an investigative reporter, her own words may prove to be her downfall.
T’s Take:
I know I started listening to this podcast … I just can’t remember if I finished it. So clearly, it made quite the impression.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Doctor Odyssey
Official synopsis:
From Ryan Murphy and 20th Television, Doctor Odyssey stars Joshua Jackson, who also executive produces. A medical procedural set on a cruise ship.
T’s Take:
I love the complete lack of effort ABC Publicity put into this logline. “A medical procedural set on a cruise ship.” WHOA, SLOW DOWN, ABC PUBLICITY! YOU’RE SMOTHERING ME WITH INFORMATION, GUYS!
Here’s what I know: Joshua Jackson stars as a cruise ship doctor in this series that is executive produced by Ryan Murphy, which suggests that it will be The Love Boat + E.R., BUT COMPLETELY UNHINGED. Cast Niecy Nash, you cowards!
Midseason
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Official synopsis:
“In each episode (Clea) Shearer and (Joanna) Teplin will meet a deserving family in need of a new home or a major renovation. A team of builders, contractors, and design experts will assist them on each big makeover project, ultimately transforming the home based on the family’s lifestyle and needs. The pair will lean into their organizing expertise and work with each family to edit every single item they own, deciding what to part ways with and what to keep that will set their new home up with smart systems built for success.” (Deadline)
T’s Take:
This is the second time Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has been rebooted: Ty Pennington hosted the first version (which itself was a spinoff of Extreme Makeover), and Jesse Tyler Ferguson hosted a second version in 2020 on HGTV. This time, ABC is bringing in the creators of the home organization company, The Home Edit, so they’re clearly going to lean into efficiency and organization. Let’s just hope they don’t leave these families with higher mortgages and property taxes, and shoddy workmanship like the first season did.
Cancellations
- The Good Doctor
- Home Economics
- Not Dead Yet
- The Rookie: Feds
- Station 19
- The Wonder Years
Renewals
- 20/20
- 9-1-1
- Abbott Elementary
- American Idol
- America’s Funniest Home Videos
- The Bachelor
- The Bachelorette
- Celebrity Family Feud
- Celebrity Jeopardy!
- Celebrity Wheel of Fortune
- Claim to Fame
- The Conners
- Dancing With the Stars
- Grey’s Anatomy
- Jeopardy! Masters
- Press Your Luck
- The Rookie
- Shark Tank
- Will Trent
- What Would You Do?
- Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Shows Still Up in the Air
- $100,000 Pyramid
- Bachelor in Paradise
- The Chase
- Generation Gap
- The Golden Bachelor
- The Great Halloween Fright Night
- The Parent Test
- The Prank Panel
- Soul of a Nation
- Superstar
- Truth and Lies
They booted Station 19 (which was better than Grey’s Anatomy at this point) for Ryan Murphy’s take on Grey’s on a cruise ship? Come on, man.
Ok, so, first of all, ‘9-1-1’ has been a huge hit for ABC, so they want to stay in the Ryan Murphy business.
BUT. Your comment got me thinking, and I wondered if this show isn’t more like ‘The Love Boat’ than I previously realized. ‘The Love Boat’ was set on a real cruise ship: The Pacific Princess, which, of course, provided the ship tremendous publicity.
So, I wondered, will ‘Doctor Odyssey’ be just one big product placement for a cruise line? But it’s a medical drama, and after what happened with COVID, surely no cruise line would want to associate their ships with weekly medical crises, RIGHT?
Allow me to introduce you to Royal Caribbean’s ODYSSEY OF THE SEAS: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/odyssey-of-the-seas
So, yeah. The reason ABC has replaced ‘Station 19’ with ‘Doctor Odyssey’ is that they clearly struck some sort of product placement deal with Royal Caribbean that will help pay for this series, or at least make it considerably cheaper than making ‘Station 19.’
It’s the future of network television, I’m afraid.
-T
wooooow
So I worked in the travel industry for 30+ years, 15 of which were at Carnival Cruise Lines (at the Miami HQ, not on a ship). All I can say is that I am not the least bit surprised that a cruise line would voluntarily sign up for this show, even with everything that happened with Covid. At CCL they were about any publicity is good publicity. RCCL might even see it as a way to show “look, we’re totally capable of handling medical situations on board” (fyi: they are not).