Analyzing the 2019 Fall Schedule: ABC

After an eventful couple of upfronts weeks, the five broadcast networks have put forth their fall 2018 schedules. There are some ingenious moves; there are some confounding moves. There are new shows hoping to be sampled and become the next big thing; there are relocated veterans hoping to improve their time slots and leg out a few more seasons. We won’t know whether each network put forth the right combination of shows until the fall, but that isn’t going to stop KSiteTV’s Craig Byrne and Shilo Adams from giving their annual first impressions on all five of the fall schedules. They’ll break down the schedule of every network on a nightly basis, telling you what surprised them and what they think might be set up for failure, all before naming everything from the most promising new show to worst scheduling move and what they’ll be watching in the fall.

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?

2019-2020 Scheduling Prediction Articles: NBC | FOX | ABC | CBS | The CW

2019-2020 Scheduling Analysis Articles: NBC | FOX | CBS | The CW

Trailers: Mixed-ish | Emergence | Stumptown

SUNDAY
SHILO: 7:00 America’s Funniest Home Videos; 8:00 Dancing with the Stars; 10:00 Shark Tank
CRAIG: 7:00 America’s Funniest Home Videos; 8:00 The Rookie; 9:00 Stumptown; 10:00 The Good Doctor
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?