Third up is ABC, which introduced its first schedule with new president Karey Burke at the helm. With the network reportedly unhappy with the previous regime’s development, there wasn’t a whole lot of big moves on their part; the biggest perhaps being moving cop drama The Rookie to Sunday following decent numbers on Tuesday. While this was the second consecutive year ABC pulled a new reality show out of its hit, this year being the Kids Say the Darndest Things reboot hosted by Tiffany Haddish, they’re only debuting three new scripted series in the fall. One of which is NBC transplant Emergence, an ABC-produced pilot that was passed on by the Peacock and promptly snatched up by the Alphabet. Elsewhere, The Conners is being used to boost FOX busted pilot-turned-series Bless This Mess, Wednesdays 8:00 – 10:00 stays the same despite Modern Family headed into a final season, and two-hour 20/20 episodes will do battle with two-hour Datelines on Friday. Will ABC being mostly defensive come back to haunt them later this season?
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Trailers: Mixed-ish | Emergence | Stumptown
SUNDAY
SHILO:
CRAIG:
ACTUAL SCHEDULE: 7:00 America’s Funniest Home Videos; 8:00 Kids Say the Darndest Things; 9:00 Shark Tank; 10:00 The Rookie
SHILO: For the second consecutive year, ABC pulls a filler reality show out of its hoo-ha, this time a Kids Say the Darndest Things remake hosted by Tiffany Haddish. It feels in line with their unscripted brand, but it seems like something that would fit better in summer with the likes of Celebrity Family Feud and To Tell the Truth. While I do like that ABC kept most of this night unscripted, I have to wonder about The Rookie. On one hand, Shark Tank is likely a stronger live lead-in than Black-ish would’ve been had The Rookie stayed Tuesdays at 10:00; plus, the series will get an American Idol lead-in come February which (theoretically) should help it. But Sundays at 10:00 is a rough slot to deal with anyway and putting one of ABC’s more male-skewing dramas up against the behemoth that is Sunday Night Football feels ill-advised. If Kids is a non-starter, it’s asking a lot of Shark Tank to essentially hold the entire night up and I feel like the way to maximize The Rookie‘s strong non-linear numbers is not to bury it in a DVR-friendly slot.
CRAIG: So, ABC stuck with reality for most of the night but did indeed move The Rookie to Sundays. I think it is inoffensive enough that it will do fine on that day; it also can be fodder against whatever cable decides to bring in. Kids Say the Darndest Things was certainly a surprise addition to the lineup. Also, I’ve never looked at the demographics but is The Rookie really all that male-skewing or is it housewives who love Nathan Fillion watching?