2017 Upfronts Preview: If I scheduled NBC’s Schedule

All week long the television networks have been handing out cancellation, renewals, and series pick-ups in advance of next week’s upfronts, the annual time of year when TV executives trek to New York City to get advertisers interested in their fall television schedule.
I’ve taken a look at the renewal/cancellation chances of this past season’s shows, potential new shows, and how I would program ABC, CBS, CW, and FOX. Last of the bunch (and usually the first to release their fall schedule): NBC.

NBC is riding high right now: they’re about to finish the season as the #1 network in the 18-49 demo (easily) and #2 in viewers far ahead of #3 ABC (but also far behind perennial viewership leader CBS). Between reality (The Voice), sports (Sunday Night Football), and scripted (the biggest new show of the season by far, This is Us), NBC has a murderer’s row of programming.
Still, no use resting on their laurels, and, like the other networks, it’s not like NBC doesn’t have holes to plug.

Sunday
Current Schedule: Little Big Shots(r)/Little Big Shots/Chicago Justice/Shades of Blue
Sunday Night Football. Moving on.

Monday
Current Schedule: The Voice/Taken
NBC ordered Rise to series. Based on what has been written about Rise, it sounds like Glee but with slightly less singing. Fits nicely with The Voice‘s demographics.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: The Voice/Great News/Chicago Fire
Tuesday has become NBC’s night due to the strength of The Voice and breakout hit This is Us. The question is, keep This is Us on the night or move it elsewhere to shore up a different night, giving a different show the post-Voice slot that could benefit it? Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are out of the question: Monday’s solid enough. TIU wouldn’t jibe with the Wednesday crime shows, Friday would be wasting the audience. So that leaves Sunday and Thursday, both of which have NFL football scheduling to work around. Any move would have to wait until after Sunday Night Football ends in winter, then would have to deal with scheduling gymnastics around the Oscars, Super Bowl, NFL divisional championship games, Golden Globes, and heavy scripted competition from cable channels. TIU is strong, but no sense in throwing your show into a such a consistent-scheduling-unfriendly night. Thursday is the night that needs the most saving, but also has to contend with the awkward scheduling of 5 (or so) late-fall Thursday Night Football games. However, with winter being peak TV watching season, mid-season is the best time to move the show, after Thursday Night Football ends.
The normal fall schedule of a two-hour Voice leading into This is Us kicks off the fall season. After Thursday Night Football starts, Voice goes to one hour, leading into relocated comedies Will & Grace and Superstore. Winter returns game show The Wall to lead off the night, followed by new military drama The Brave, maybe an episode or two of This is Us to give a slight ratings boost by virtue of proximity before Chicago Fire returns.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Blindspot/Law & Order: SVU/ Chicago P.D.
Law & Order: SVU and Chicago P.D. stay put. There’s any number of things to do with the 8/7c hour (an argument could be made that The Brave fits better here), but let’s see how Tuesday and Thursday nights shake out first.
Come winter, slotting in Menendez brothers-focused Law & Order: True Crime might remind people of another recent Winter show about a high-profile murder trial from the ’90s.

Thursday
Current Schedule: Superstore(r)/Superstore/Chicago Med/The Blacklist
Thursdays are hard to schedule as whatever plays for the start of the season gets preempted five weeks into the season for five weeks. NBC should look into investing in high-profile miniseries or “event series” that can start and end during this gap before Thursday Night Football. Think True Detective, Big Little Lies, The Night Of, The White Princess/Queen, etc. Time to wrestle back the event series mantle from the cable networks.
Until then, NBC has some short-order comedies they can play for a month then relocate for the rest of its run in late fall, allowing NBC to have another big push for a new schedule in winter. Kick the night off with Will & Grace revival, followed by Superstore, new comedy A.P. Bio, returning comedy The Good Place, and finish the night with Chicago Med. 4 comedies followed by a medical drama on NBC Thursdays, sound familiar? NBC has moved away from trying to schedule two hours of comedy on Thursday against CBS’s juggernaut comedy line-up, but with no other comedy lineup to combat on the first few Thursdays, NBC should taken advantage of this time.
After Thursday Night Football finishes its run, This is Us kicks off the night to battle a weaker (though still potent) Big Bang Theory in the hour. Superstore and The Good Place fill in the 9/8c hour ending with Chicago Med. After the Winter Olympics end, swap in A.P. Bio for The Good Place (which will have played out its 13-episode second season by then).

Friday
Current Schedule: First Dates/Dateline NBC
The Blacklist has fallen enough to warrant being retired to Friday nights. Reliable news magazine Dateline ends the night.

2017-18 NBC television schedule
new shows in italics

Sunday: Football Night in America/Sunday Night Football
Monday: The Voice/Rise
Tuesday: The Voice/This is Us
(During Thursday Night Football: The Voice/Will & Grace/Superstore/This is Us)
Wednesday: Blindspot/Law & Order: SVU/Chicago P.D.
Thursday: Will & Grace/Superstore/A.P. Bio/The Good Place/Chicago Med
(Thursday Night Football)
(After Thursday Night Football: This is Us/Superstore/The Good Place/Chicago Med)
(Winter Olympics)
(After Winter Olympics: This is Us/Superstore/A.P. Bio/Chicago Med)
(After This is Us: Great News/Trial & Error/Superstore/A.P. Bio/Chicago Med)
Friday: The Blacklist/Dateline NBC

2017 Upfronts Preview Part 3: If I scheduled FOX’s Schedule

This year’s upfronts are rapidly approaching, that annual weeklong event where television network executives tub-thump next season’s new shows in order to entice advertisers to buy commercial time on said shows.

So far I’ve taken a look at the renewal/cancellation chances of this season’s shows; potential new shows; and how I would schedule ABC, CBS, and the CW‘s fall schedule. Up next: FOX.

If it were not for hosting the Super Bowl and a highly-rated 7-game World Series, FOX would be rough shape. In fact, FOX is 2nd in the 18-49 demo for the season (though CBS may catch up to it in the last weeks of May), but 4th in viewership. It’s clear the network is still in rebuilding mode after the cancellation of American Idol. Its biggest hit, Empire has had a sophomore slump that carried through to its third season and doesn’t show any signs of abating while the 24 and Prison Break reboots fell short of expectations.

Sunday
Current Schedule: Bob’s Burgers (r)/Bob’s Burgers/The Simpsons/Making History/Family Guy/The Last Man on Earth
The closest thing FOX has to a comedy brand is in its decades-old animated shows. Sunday is the lineup that least needs to be tinkered with. Although with its diminishing returns, it’s time to relocate Last Man on Earth so a different show can take advantage of a Family Guy lead-in. Ghosted allegedly stands a decent chance of being picked up to series and doesn’t veer too far away from the sensibilities of FOX’s Sunday shows.

Monday
Current Schedule: Gotham/Lucifer
It’s tempting to leave the shows be, but both are aging shows that are very unlikely to pick up new viewers and will continue atrophying on Monday night. Put in a new show into the lead-off slot, keeping Lucifer in place with Gotham (potentially) taking over come Winter. If the new show gets a back 9, Gotham can plug in the schedule on some other night (Friday) come Winter. Out of the few remaining undecided pilots at FOX, Behind Enemy Lines looks to be the best fit with Lucifer, though FOX could very well put in a Gordon Ramsay show. Monday’s schedule will probably be shuffled come winter to make room for another season of X-Files anyways.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Prison Break
FOX’s biggest disaster zone. FOX has been trying to make comedy work on Tuesdays since the 2010-11 season, and for the most part, it hasn’t. It’s high time to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch. Take FOX’s biggest prospect, X-Men show The Gifted, and pair it with Seth MacFarlane’s sci-fi comedy-drama Orville. First instinct is to have the bigger show lead-off to give Orville a big lead-in audience, but best not to overlap with CW’s still-formidable Flash. Kick things off with Orville leading into the X-Men show.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Shots Fired/Empire
It’s noticeably weaker than it was a year ago (to say nothing of two years ago when American Idol and Empire ruled Wednesday), but this is the night that works the second-most for FOX with Lethal Weapon being the network’s strongest freshman series. Wednesdays may need to be re-thought come Winter/Spring, but let’s see how Monday/Tuesday/Thursday fare first before causing any unforced errors on Wednesday.
It seemed ludicrous when there were mentions of Empire spin-offs two years ago after the first season had just ended, now it doesn’t sound so crazy that they would’ve wanted to milk it for all it’s worth while the going’s good, now that the going is less good.

Thursday
Current Schedule: Masterchef Junior/comedy repeats
Thursday is another night FOX has never seemed to figure out. Outside of reality shows, success on Thursday has been scarce. Scripted shows launched on Thursday never seem to stick around longer than a season, with Thursday acting as a transit zone for veteran scripted shows on their way to the retirement home that is the Friday night death slot.
It’s unlikely that will change in one season (though, all it takes is one season to reverse a network’s fortunes), so the night will still have to partially rely on reality shows — particularly the Gordon Ramsay variety. MasterChef Junior will kick things off leading to new comedy Type A and the second season of The Mick.

Friday
Current Schedule: drama repeats
FOX made a valiant effort on the night with The Exorcist, and while there’s a chance it’ll come back, don’t count on it.
Hell’s Kitchen kicks things off leading into a relocated Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Last Man on Earth (or New Girl on the off-chance it returns).

2017-18 FOX television schedule
new shows in italics

Sunday: NFL overrun/The OT/The Simpsons/Bob’s Burgers/Family Guy/Ghosted
Monday: Behind Enemy Lines/Lucifer
Tuesday: Orville/The Gifted
Wednesday: Lethal Weapon/Empire
Thursday: MasterChef Junior/Type A/The Mick
Friday: Hell’s Kitchen/Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Last Man on Earth

2017 Upfronts Preview Part 3: If I scheduled the CW’s Schedule

This year’s television upfronts are a week away and, now that a writers’ strike has been averted, television network executives are busy watching pilots, determining which shows to renew/cancel, and piecing together next year’s schedule.

I’ve given the chances at renewal for this past season’s shows, evaluated some of the pilots in contention, and looked at how I would schedule ABC and CBS‘s schedules for next season. Now it’s the CW’s turn.

The CW hasn’t had a great season. The pillars of their schedule—DC superhero shows—are down across the board in ratings and their new shows struggled out the gate, none of them capturing the critical acclaim that Jane the Virgin or Crazy Ex-Girlfriend did. Word is the network is trying to re-balance the gender skew, once a network that seemed to exclusively cater to young females with fare like Gossip Girl and 90210 now seem to more heavily favor young males with The Flash and Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. There’s still another DC superhero show in the crop of pilots though.

Monday
Current Schedule: Supergirl/Jane the Virgin
While Supergirl may have instantly provided a boost to the time period for the CW, it, like the rest of the CW’s superhero lineup, has seen decreasing returns throughout its second season. Though the rate at which Supergirl has drop is cause for alarm: its latest episode pulled in half the 18-49 rating that its season premiere did (0.5 from a 1.1). None of the other CW DC shows’ drops have been as steep: LoT has stayed around 0.6-0.7; The Flash 1.0-1.3; the Arrow’s also hit a 0.5 for its last few episodes but it started the season at 0.7. Supergirl‘s fortunes are fading fast, but that doesn’t mean its position as the Monday night lead off has lost all merit. It would be hard to see where best to re-schedule given the CW is already squeezed for DC space. While 9/8c Thursday is enticing to follow Supernatural, it’s better to leave Supergirl in place at the start of the season after having already recently been transplanted from CBS.
Jane the Virgin however, is a prime candidate to move. While the reviews suggest the show hasn’t lost a step in its 3 seasons, its ratings, while never great, are at Friday levels. So move it to Friday and launch Life Sentence in the post-Supergirl period.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: The Flash/iZombie
With perhaps 5 DC shows next season, it would take a lot of scheduling gymnastics to avoid doubling up on a night. Sod that, follow up The Flash with Black Lightning to give the show the best lead-in.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Arrow/The 100
Arrow‘s ratings (and reviews for that matter) have fallen enough the CW may want to re-think its position as Wednesday anchor. But for now, it’s serviceable enough to provide a launchpad for a new show.

Thursday
Current Schedule: Supernatural/Riverdale
Thursdays on the CW have had the most volatile scheduling, moving programs around from season to season as well as having multiple iterations within a season. There are plenty of ways to program this night (keep Riverdale for fall?) but including Legends of Tomorrow during the fall launch gives it the opportunity to benefit from a late-autumn crossover bump with the rest of the CW’s DC shows.

Friday
Current Schedule: The Originals/Reign
Originals is surprisingly seemingly on the brink of cancellation, especially so with the CW’s packed slate. It may very well get the axe but, operating under the assumption it’ll at least get a forewarning for a truncated final season, it leads off Friday night into a relocated Jane the Virgin. If it doesn’t get another season, make last season’s Monday line-up (Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) into next season’s Friday line-up.

2017-18 CW television schedule
new shows in italics

Monday: Supergirl/Life Sentence
Tuesday: The Flash/Black Lightning
Wednesday: Arrow/Searchers
Thursday: Supernatural/Legends of Tomorrow
Friday: The Originals/Jane the Virgin

2017 Upfronts Preview Pt 1: Cancelled or Renewed?

Upfronts is the annual presentation in May where the broadcast television networks pitch their upcoming television schedules to ad buyers in an attempt to drive buzz and hype on the new shows so companies buy time during those shows to air commercials for the company’s products. It’s usually (but not always) the deadline for television executives to decide which shows to cancel/renew (though it’s usually decided sooner, it’s public at Upfronts). While cable networks (and increasingly, websites with digital shows) have been getting in on the action with their own Upfronts presentation, this series of posts will focus on the Big 4 (+CW) broadcast nets.

In this post, I’ll take a look at the 2016-17 television schedule (scripted shows only) to see which shows are likely to come back and those more likely to be cancelled. In the next posts, I’ll take a look at the pilots in contention to be picked up to series and go network-by-network to see how I would schedule each of them.

ABC
Renewed:
-The Middle
-How to Get Away with Murder
-Scandal
-Grey’s Anatomy

Cancelled/de facto Cancelled:
-Notorious
-Conviction
-Time After Time

Predictions:
-Black-ish
-Modern Family
-The Goldbergs
-Speechless
-American Housewife
-Last Man Standing
-Fresh off the Boat
-Designated Survivor
All the above are headed for a likely renewal
-Dr. Ken A better chance at returning than not, though not as assured as the comedies above
-Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
-Once Upon a Time
If either of the above two shows return, their current ratings make fore a likely final, short season
-The Catch Shonda Rhimes’s producer credit got this show to a second season. Unlikely to pull that out for a third season, though not quite impossible
-Imaginary Mary Depends on how future episodes play out, but its first two episodes’ ratings make this look like a swing-and-a-miss
-The Real O’Neals The weakest performing of ABC’s non-Friday comedies. It will be cancelled so ABC can try their luck with new comedies
-Quantico The significant sophomore slump gives no reason for this show to return
-Secrets and Lies You already forgot this show existed, didn’t you?
-American Crime Despite the critical acclaim and annual awards nominations, its ratings, while always below average, have hit lows in its 3rd season that normally dictate getting immediately yanked off the schedule

CBS
Renewed:
-The Big Bang Theory
-NCIS
-Mom
-Kevin Can Wait
-Bull
-Man with a Plan
-Life in Pieces
-NCIS: Los Angeles
-Superior Donuts
-Scorpion
-Blue Bloods
-Hawaii Five-0
-NCIS: New Orleans
-MacGyver
-Madam Secretary
-Criminal Minds

Cancelled/de facto Cancelled:
-Doubt
-Pure Genius
-Training Day

Predictions:
-2 Broke Girls Its ratings are steady enough, CBS is probably working out contract details for a 7th season with Warner Brothers Television, 2BG’s production studio (older shows are more expensive)
-The Great Indoors It not being renewed despite having similar ratings to Man with a Plan/Kevin Can Wait probably comes down to CBS picking the shows with the higher-marquee stars. Its renewal will depend on how weak/strong the crop of comedy pilots is
-Code Black Its ratings were nothing great, but we’re living in a television rating age where nothing great is the norm. This show could stealth its way to a 3rd season
-The Odd Couple Its ratings fell in its 3rd season, enough to put it on the chopping block. With CBS renewing the bulk of its comedies, Odd Couple looks less likely to come back than 2 Broke Girls or The Great Indoors
-Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders If they’re really desperate, they’ll keep it around
-Elementary Looks like this will be the end of the line for Watson & Sherlock
-Ransom The last first-run scripted Saturday show I remember is She Spies (NBC, 2002-04). It will probably be another decade before some network tries again

CW
Renewed:
-The Flash
-Supergirl
-Supernatural
-Legends of Tomorrow
-Arrow
-The 100
-Jane the Virgin
-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
-Riverdale

Cancelled/Ending:
-Reign
-The Vampire Diaries

Predictions:
-No Tomorrow The show’s title says it all
-Frequency Same here, unless one of the shows does gangbusters in Netflix views
-The Originals More likely than not to see another season as Friday fodder
-iZombie Three episodes is too soon to tell

FOX
Renewed:
-Empire
-The Simpsons
-Bob’s Burgers
-Lethal Weapon
-Star
-Lucifer
-The Mick

Cancelled/Ending:
-Bones

Predictions:
-Family Guy Contract details and legal work is all that’s holding this up
-Brooklyn Nine-Nine Right at the FOX average ratings, it’s more likely than not to come back
-Gotham If Luficer can come back with similar ratings, Gotham will likely accompany it in returning next season
-24: Legacy Look, its ratings aren’t spectacular. And this show was late-season, low-quality 24. But FOX can’t cancel everything. And because of that, the odds are ever so slightly in its favor
-The Last Man on Earth The mediocre performance of FOX’s mid-season comedies combined with this show’s superior critical reception makes it likely TLMoE will continue to be the bookend to FOX’s Sunday schedule
-Prison Break Maybe in another 9 years
-New Girl
-Pitch
-Making History
50/50 for the above three shows
-The Exorcist 40/60
-Son of Zorn For animated comedies, no renewal at this point likely points to a cancellation
-Rosewood Its audience vanished this year, presumably along with support from executives
-APB 0 buzz on this will be this show’s undoing
-Sleepy Hollow Put this one out of its misery
-Scream Queens Nope

NBC
Renewed:
-This is Us
-The Good Place
-Superstore
-Shades of Blue

Cancelled/Ending:
-Grimm
-Powerless

Predictions:
-Chicago Fire
-Chicago P.D.
-Chicago Med
-Chicago Justice
They’re all coming back
-Law & Order: SVU This one too
-Trial and Error If NBC is looking to get its comedy brand back up and running, they could do worse than renewing Trial and Error. They could also do better, but will they?
-Taken Middling ratings on the cusp of renewable-level
-The Blacklist It’s old, and it’s a shell of its former-self ratings-wise, but at least it’s relatively stable. It’ll probably come back.
-Blindspot Ratings have sunk in its move to Wednesday, but we’re living in an age of fractional ratings. Renewal odds are marginally in its favor
-The Blacklist: Redemption The Blacklist will not become the new Chicago franchise for NBC
-Timeless Negligible ratings, production costs looks to be not insignificant. The Voice will have another new lead-out program Mondays this fall
-Emerald City One and done

2016 Upfronts Preview Pt 3e: If I scheduled NBC’s TV Schedule

Upfronts, the annual ritual when TV network execs trek to NYC to pitch their upcoming television schedule and hope advertisers are enticed enough to buy time to run commercials during those shows.

In my preview of the 2016 Upfronts, I’ve taken a look at the pilots (aka first episode) under contention for a full series pick-up as well as the prospects for renewal/cancellation of the shows currently on air at each of the networks, the vast majority of which have already been revealed during the last two days.

In the last part of the Upfronts Preview, I’ll play backseat network executive and lay out how I would program the upcoming television schedule for each of the networks. It’s finally NBC’s turn after going over ABC, The CW, CBS, and FOX.

I’ve talked about the entertainment heads at pretty much all the other networks so why not talk about NBC’s: Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment since 2011. That Greenblatt is currently the longest-serving entertainment head out of the 5 major broadcast networks is a little surprising as he endured some of the roughest times in NBC’s ratings downturn (it also gives you an indication of how short a tenure being network entertainment head is given he’s “only” been chairman for 5 years) and his head was being called for on a nearly daily basis when NBC’s ratings were the butt of Leno’s jokes on a near-nightly basis.
But now, NBC is sitting pretty atop the potent combo of Sunday Night Football, the Chicago franchise, and The Voice to most likely make it the #2 network in the 18-49 demo for the season. That’s not even mentioning its domination in late night and the Today show clawing its way back in the news demo after viewers tuned out en masse after the botched Ann Curry ouster.
Which all goes to say, NBC has laid a solid foundation for itself, and is unlikely to suddenly plummet to last place in one season thanks to the strength of football, The Voice, and its Chicago shows. Still, as they say, you’re only as good as your last hit and NBC has a couple holes to fill.

Sunday
Current Schedule: Little Big Shots repeat/Little Big Shots/The Carmichael Show/Crowded/Dateline
Sunday Night Football.

Monday
Current Schedule: The Voice/Blindspot
The Voice stays, that part’s easy enough. But should NBC keep Blindspot in its place or move it elsewhere on the schedule? NBC has regularly launched shows in the post-Voice Monday slot only to relocate it after its initial season, which has consistently lead to a downturn in ratings (usually because the lead-out programs suck i.e. Revolution, The Blacklist). Blindspot started out hot, being the highest-rated new drama of the season when it premiered but losing steam throughout its run (y’know, because it sucked). Still, move it to Thursdays as even its current marginal ratings are an improvement for the night.
There are two contenders that stand out for the post-Voice spot (excluding comedies unless NBC wants to change things up): the new-but-familiar Blacklist spin-off and Timeless, Shawn Ryan’s umpteenth attempt to prove The Shield wasn’t a fluke. Either of them could conceivably end up on Mondays but give the edge to the buzzier Timeless and stick The Blacklist: Redemption on Wednesdays, where it might mesh better with NBC’s other cop procedurals.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: The Voice/Chicago Med/Chicago Fire
This is a stable-enough night, let’s not mess with it.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Heartbeat/Law & Order: SVU/Chicago P.D.
Have The Blacklist: Redemption lead-off the night and hope it does better ratings than what had recently been filling the timeslot, keep Law & Order: SVU and Chicago P.D. in their timeslots.

Thursday
Current Schedule: Strong/The Blacklist/Game of Silence
This is a night that needs heavy fixing. Changing from a night of comedies to a night of dramas has been a mixed bag for NBC: On the one hand, The Blacklist regularly rates higher than whatever comedies preceded it, on the other, NBC has been unable to find compatible schedule-mates to bookend the night. Move Blindspot to kick off the night and hopes it does the same “hey at least it’s better than what we had before” ratings and end the night with Taken, because, sure, why not. Take the one thing people liked about that franchise (Liam Neeson), remove it, and try to make a show out of it. Sure. Couldn’t be worse than what NBC’s tried with the timeslot thusfar, right?
NBC also splits the Thursday Night Football package with CBS, with CBS getting the first 5 games and NBC getting the second batch of 5 games. It’s a little awkward to start a season only to interrupt it with 5 weeks off. Kick off the season with five weeks of two hours of Emerald City (and maybe premiere Taken behind it), because NBC doesn’t really seem to want (or know what to do with) this “event series” that they previously ordered, cancelled before premiering, then ordered again. This seems like an ideal way to burn it off.

Friday
Current Schedule: Caught on Camera with Nick Cannon/Grimm/Dateline
With the pickup of supernatural drama Midnight, Texas, NBC has another chance to schedule a compatible show with Grimm after striking out with Hannibal and Dracula. The rest of the night stays the same.

2016-17 NBC television schedule
new shows in italics

Sunday: Sunday Night Football
Monday: The Voice/Timeless
Tuesday: The Voice/Chicago Med/Chicago Fire
Wednesday: The Blacklist: Redemption/Law & Order: SVU/Chicago P.D.
Thursday: Emerald City (2-hours)/Taken
Thursday Night Football
(After football: Blindspot/The Blacklist/Taken)
Friday: Midnight, Texas/Grimm/Dateline

2016 Upfronts Preview Pt 3d: If I scheduled FOX’s TV Schedule

Upfronts, the annual ritual when TV network execs trek to NYC to pitch their upcoming television schedule and hope advertisers are enticed enough to buy commercial time during those shows.

In my preview of the 2016 Upfronts, I’ve taken a look at the pilots (aka first episode) under contention for a full series pick-up as well as the prospects for renewal/cancellation of the shows currently on air at each of the networks, the vast majority of which have been revealed in the last two days.

In the last part of the Upfronts Preview, I’ll play backseat network executive and lay out how I would program the television schedules for each of the networks for the upcoming season, as I have done for ABC, The CW, and CBS.

FOX does not have American Idol occupying nearly a third of its schedule anymore. As such, it needs to order a lot of series and hope to high heaven they have a better success rate than this past season.

Sunday
Current Schedule: Bordertown/The Simpsons repeat/The Simpsons/Bob’s Burgers/Family Guy/The Last Man on Earth
With my drama-heavy outline for the schedule for weekdays, it’s time to move another live-action comedy back to Sunday. Bring back Brooklyn Nine-Nine to its prior Sunday time slot between Simpsons and Family Guy and then have Kaitlin Olson-starring (best known for being the bird on Always Sunny) The Mick follow Family Guy, which might mesh well with it tonally.

Monday
Current Schedule: Gotham/Lucifer
Lucifer performed surprisingly decent and while Gotham had a bit of ratings erosion, it more importantly has stayed quite consistent in its ratings. Keep Mondays the way it is for now, there are bigger holes to fill.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: New Girl/Grandfathered/Brooklyn Nine-Nine/The Grinder
Tuesdays haven’t worked on Fox for years now. They need to abandon the 4-comedy lineup they have repeatedly failed at attempting to schedule. They can be ambitious and stick in the promising-sounding Shots Fired and have that lead into Rosewood. Something new and something familiar. At this point, pulling in a 1.0 rating on a consistent basis would be a win for Fox’s Tuesdays. Even if Shots Fired performs along the line of ABC’s American Crime, that’s an improvement on the night.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Rosewood/Empire
Keep Empire on the night, it’d be foolish to move around something that’s appointment viewing for so many viewers. Rosewood is a wasted lead-in heavily dependent on early Empire tune-in for its ratings (as evidenced by the noticeable and consistent uptick in its ratings from its first half-hour to its second half-hour when followed by episodes of Empire). Stick another Lee Daniels show, the very compatible Star, in front of Empire and Wednesdays are shaping up to be a formidable night for FOX. With ABC’s waning comedy line-up, CBS’s consistent line-up lacking a blockbuster, and NBC’s crime procedurals falling or rising depending on crossover storylines, FOX could own Wednesdays by a mile if Star breaks out and Empire remains consistent.
When Empire goes on its hiatus, stick Lethal Weapon in its place.

Thursday
Current Schedule: Bones/American Grit
Another whopper of a fixer-upper for Fox. Have Bones play out the rest of its life here, leading off the night and end it with The Exorcist.

Friday
Current Schedule: Sleepy Hollow/Hell’s Kitchen
I initially scheduled a MasterChef Junior/Hell’s Kitchen combo for Friday but there were simply too many scripted shows to schedule so that cooking competition show combo will be benched for later in the season.
Sleepy Hollow was surprisingly renewed along with Scream Queens earlier in the season. FOX execs renewed Scream Queens under the guise that sure, it has crappy same-day ratings, but its younger-skewing audience watches in droves on VOD days after its original airing! So why not stick Scream Queens on a night with lower ratings anyways, if Fox’s logic holds weight then that audience will keep watching in delayed viewing anyways. Sleepy Hollow’s considerable drop-off in ratings and quality deserves nothing better than a Friday slot. Have Sleepy Hollow kick off the night so it doesn’t have to directly face NBC’s Friday staple Grimm.

You’ll notice some major programs (reboots mostly) are not listed: 24: Legacy and the Prison Break reboot/sequel/re-whatever. Save 24 for the post-Super Bowl slot and Prison Break for the post NFC Championship game (which has served as a strong lead-in for the X-Files revival and season premiere of The Following in years past). Fox execs also seem to be high on female baseball dramedy Pitch which could very conceivably get a fall spot (perhaps after heavily advertising throughout the MLB World Series) but I’m leaving off the immediate fall schedule.

2016-17 FOX television schedule
new shows in italics

Sunday: NFL overrun/Bob’s Burgers/The Simpsons/Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Family Guy/The Mick
Monday: Gotham/Lucifer
Tuesday: Shots Fired/Rosewood
Wednesday: Star/Empire
Thursday: Bones/The Exorcist
Friday: Sleepy Hollow/Scream Queens

2016 Upfronts Preview Pt 3b: If I scheduled the CW’s TV Schedule

Upfronts, the annual ritual when TV network execs trek to NYC to pitch their upcoming television schedule and hope advertisers are enticed enough to buy time to run commercials during those shows.

In my preview of the 2016 Upfronts, I’ve taken a look at the pilots (aka first episode) under contention for a full series pick-up as well as the prospects for renewal/cancellation of the shows currently on air at each of the networks. Note: these posts could already be out of date with renewal/cancellation & pilot pickup/passed over news since they’ve been published.

In the last part of the Upfronts Preview, I’ll play backseat network executive and lay out how I would program the television schedules for each of the networks.
ABC’s 2016-17 schedule
Next up: The CW

The CW is doing pretty darn well for itself this season. So well, in fact, that it went ahead and renewed every scripted show (excepting Containment which hadn’t aired at the time, but could very well be a contender as a summer show in the future). That makes it simultaneously easier and trickier to program its upcoming television schedule. Easier as the template for its schedule is laid out, trickier because how to slot any potential new series?

On to the hypothetical scheduling!

Monday
Current Schedule: Reign/Jane the Virgin
Keep Jane the Virgin. Save Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for winter (the writers could probably use the time to write all those songs too). Slot in Riverdale as a lead-in for Jane.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: The Flash/Containment
I see CW moving iZombie to another night to give a new show The Flash as its lead-in, but my fandom for iZombie is too strong. Keep this night as is.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Arrow/Supernatural
Although ratings have atrophied a bit in the spring, that’s par for the course for most shows in spring. Keep as is.

Thursday
Current Schedule: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow/The 100
Keep DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, slot in the Untitled Mars drama behind it as the sci-fi aspect of it meshes well with LoT.

Friday
Current Schedule: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals
Keep as is, moving The Vampire Diaries and The Originals to Friday has been a boon to Friday CW ratings and hasn’t hurt ratings for either show too significantly.

2016-17 CW television schedule
new shows in italics

Monday: Riverdale/Jane the Virgin
Tuesday: The Flash/iZombie
Wednesday: Arrow/Supernatural
Thursday: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow/Untitled Mars drama
Friday: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals

2016 Upfronts Preview Pt 3a: If I scheduled ABC’s TV Schedule

Upfronts, the annual ritual whereby advertisers and broadcast network execs trek to NYC to pitch their upcoming television schedule hoping advertisers are enticed enough to buy ad time during the shows.

In my preview of the 2016 Upfronts, I’ve taken a look at the pilots (aka first episode) under contention for a full series pick-up as well as the prospects for renewal/cancellation of the shows currently on air at each of the networks. Note: these posts could already be out of date with renewal/cancellation & pilot pickup/passed over news since they’ve been published.

In the last part of the Upfronts Preview, I’ll play backseat network executive and lay out how I would program the television schedules for each of the networks. First up: ABC.

ABC let its Chief of Entertainment, Paul Lee, go and promoted Channing Dungey a couple months ago. While ABC was last place in the 18-49 demo and third in overall viewers, this was surprising as I’d argue ABC had a more stable line-up than its competitors, even with notable declines this season from shows such as Modern Family, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder. It should also be noted that ABC is the only network that does not benefit from NFL games, as the gridiron action is saved for sister network ESPN (both ABC & ESPN are owned by The Walt Disney Company). It will be interesting to see how the programming strategy changes with a regime change. Ben Sherwood, President of Disney-ABC Television, was said to have clashed with Lee’s serialized drama programming, with Sherwood wanted more procedural dramas (think CBS). It will be interesting to see how that syncs up with Dungey, who oversaw drama development prior to her promotion, and was known for her close working relationship with Shonda Rhimes, the mega-producer known for her soapy ABC fare.

But enough with this inside baseball stuff, on to the hypothetical scheduling!

Sunday
Current Schedule: America’s Funniest Home Videos/Once Upon a Time/The Family/Quantico
AFHV is consistent enough, keep it. OUaT has lost steam but there are bigger holes to plug, keep it. The 3rd hour on Sundays is a helluva problem to solve given Sunday being such a television-heavy night to start with and that hour having heavy competition from cable channels. There are 3 potential programs to slot here: Agents of SHIELD spin-off Marvel’s Most Wanted, Archie Panjabi-starring The Jury, or Hayley Atwell-starring Conviction. While slotting a show starring Archie Panjabi in a time slot she long occupied while she starredin The Good Wife would be a shrewd move (and I’m tempted to do just that), this time slot needs a bigger splash, and the splashiest show amongst the options is Marvel’s Most Wanted.
Follow it up with Quantico. Granted it’s fortunes have fallen quite a bit since a promising start, keep it there for now.
Monday
Current Schedule: Dancing with the Stars/Castle
Nothing to fix here. Renew Castle for a final season and stick with this scheduling. Move along.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: Fresh off the Boat/The Real O’Neals/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D./Beyond the Tank
Alright, now we get to the biggest fixer-upper in ABC’s schedule. The 10/9c Tuesday hour has long been troublesome for the network, and its woes seem to have spread through to the rest of the night. Tuesday is a difficult night for all, CBS’S NCIS franchise, while still dominant, has been consistently trending downwards, FOX’s comedies are in shambles, only NBC does well this night with The Voice and whatever Chicago show(s) it has slotted behind it.
The most high-profile of ABC’s pilots (which already had a direct-to-series order) is Designated Survivor, the Kiefer Sutherland-starring presidential-succession drama. Have it kick off the night. Agents of SHIELD is not going to gain any new viewers at this point, don’t waste that lead-in on AoS (with apologies to AoS), have it followed by The Jury (though I was hard-pressed to find an organic lead-out for Designated Survivor), then end the night with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: The Middle/The Goldbergs/Modern Family/Black-ish/Nashville
In the fall, keep the schedule in tact with an abbreviated final season for Nashville. In the winter, kick off 6 hours of comedy. Yeah, slot Fresh off the Boat & The Real O’Neals behind Black-ish.

Thursday
Current Schedule: Grey’s Anatomy/Scandal/The Catch
Thursday is an extremely iffy night to program. On one hand, this is the night that Shonda built; on the other hand, the Thursday night ratings erosion have been so severe that a show in its 12th season is outranking the other two, younger, shows on the night. Something needs to be fixed here, but maybe dismantling TGIT is a step too far as the brand affinity, however eroded, for a night of Shondaland programming is too strong. Stick with the Grey’s Anatomy-Scandal-How to Get Away with Murder combo in the fall, initially. Shondaland may need to become an hour shorter come winter.
You know what, start rearranging the night from on the outset: the way things are going, the highest-rated episode of Scandal will likely be its season premiere. Don’t waste that on a sputtering HTGAWM. Use it to launch a rejiggered schedule. I initially want to put in Hayley Atwell-starring Conviction in the 10/9c hour. Its Washington D.C.-adjacent-ish character would segue well out of Scandal. However, the second season of Secrets & Lies is still awaiting a time slot, having been delayed from its initially-planned Spring 2016 premiere. It might be easier to launch a second season than an entirely new show, and its mysteries and intrigue would mesh well enough with Scandal. Either way, bench HTGAWM until Spring, maybe absence will make the heart grow fonder for this declining show, and maybe giving the writers more time can help them recapture the first season’s spark (/find it in the first place).

Friday
Current Schedule: Last Man Standing/Dr. Ken/Shark Tank/20/20
Shark Tank is another show that had a worrying drop in the ratings, but so far this night works enough to keep as is.

2016-17 ABC television schedule
new shows in italics

Sunday: America’s Funniest Home Videos/Once Upon a Time/Marvel’s Most Wanted/Quantico
Monday: Dancing with the Stars/Castle
Tuesday: Designated Survivor/The Jury/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Wednesday: The Middle/The Goldbergs/Modern Family/Black-ish/Nashville
Thursday: Grey’s Anatomy/Scandal/Secrets & Lies
Friday: Last Man Standing/Dr. Ken/Shark Tank/20/20