ABC’s 2014-2015 Schedule: Thoughts & Predictions

MONDAY

SHILO: Dancing with the Stars’ solid spring ratings have me very tempted to put a new drama at 10:00, with Castle being moved to one of the network’s problem spots. However, I think any new drama the network could put here would skew very old and there’s no guarantees that the new ABC entry would hold up well against what NBC and CBS throw into the hour. Castle is a reliable performer that could emerge as the hour’s top dog if the cards fall right (e.g. CBS moves a less mighty veteran to 10:00, NBC’s new drama fails to launch) and frankly, ABC has other nights to worry about than Monday.

CRAIG: I was VERY tempted to move Castle to Tuesdays to pair with SHIELD somehow, as I do think they’d do well on the same night. But, at the same time, moving it might be squandering a good thing. So, I’m going to be boring and keep ABC Mondays as they are. As you said, it could be “the top dog if the cards fall right” – and it’s definitely one of the network’s most reliable performers.

TUESDAY

SHILO: With as much buzz as ABC’s comedy development has received, and as many comedy pilots as the Alphabet has ordered, I simply don’t see them cutting their comedy hours in 2014-2015. Assuming it stays in the same alignment as this year, with one hour on Tuesdays and Fridays to go along with the Wednesday bloc, I would use Tuesdays to launch two highly testing and diverse multi-cams in Cristela and Keep It Together. They likely won’t have much in the way of comedy competition in the hour and both sound broad enough to be paired with a relocated SHIELD, which isn’t strong enough to produce the full-night halo at 8:00 that the network wanted. However, away from NCIS, it could easily be one of ABC’s best lead-ins and provide a nice launching pad for a compatible drama. I do understand your choice of putting Agatha there, since ABC needs character procedurals now that Castle is aging, but I would go with Clementine, a character procedural with a supernatural bent. It sounds broad enough to draw in casual audiences while female friendly enough to stand out from its competition and genre friendly enough to lure in some of SHIELD’s audience.

CRAIG: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. consistently does better on weeks when it is NOT against the NCIS mothership. So, for something different,  I agree: why not run it at 9pm instead, with the comedy hour going beforehand?

It pains me not to have Trophy Wife on my prospective schedule, but I also think those two buzzy new entries — specifically, Cristela and Keep It Together — may do better in reaching a wider audience. But, at an 8PM hour, rather than 9, as you said.

There’s been talk about going straight to series with the Marvel spin-off Agent Carter. Rather than putting it on concurrently with S.H.I.E.L.D., which I’m sure would be tempting, I’d rather see it share the slot. Maybe run 11 new S.H.I.E.L.D.s, then an 8-episode (or so) Agent Carter run, before cutting back into more S.H.I.E.L.D.. Viewer drop off prevented, DVD’s available to sell, Hayley Atwell is awesome on TV, and everyone is happy.

Although I still don’t like the title “Agatha,” I put that one for Tuesdays at 10. It’s got a fun script and a likable cast. And, I slotted Clementine for Sundays, so, I’ve got to put something different here.

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