MIDSEASON MUSINGS
SHILO: If ABC renews both of its 20th Century Fox comedies, Fresh Off the Boat gets a shortened final season to pad its syndication count. I wouldn’t be shocked to see one of its bubble dramas return, though they could feasibly cancel them all and not be worse for wear. Where ABC tends to pick up a heck of a lot of shows, their midseason coffers will likely be filled to the brim once again, with this past season featuring the debut of two comedies and four dramas once spring 2018 rolled around. Considering that ABC doesn’t have to deal with the Olympics in 2018-19, the numbers from this past season could very well change. Or at the very least, what they order for midseason (at least 2-3 dramas and 2 comedies) could be spread out more. In terms of what actually could get ordered, it’s tough to read the tea leaves with pilot season slower than usual this year, screenings not all the way complete, and ABC traditionally unpredictable.
CRAIG: I, too, would like to see more Fresh off the Boat. There’s surely also room for Speechless even though it wasn’t on my Fall schedule. Midseason will surely bring us more American Idol and I believe the Rachel Bilson-starring Take Two is a straight to series order, so there’s that. As a comic book fan, I would love to see something good developed from Marvel (i.e., more like the Netflix and cable offerings and less like Inhumans). There are definitely many options for ABC.
