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 Note: these posts could already be out of date with renewal/cancellation & pilot pickup/passed over news since they’ve been published.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
Current Schedule: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow/The 100
AVthatsme 