It’s the third day of KSiteTV’s week-long series of scheduling prediction articles and ABC is the network on the hot seat this time. The network had arguably the best 2014-2015 season of any broadcast network, finding a strong Modern Family lead-out in black-ish and another hit ShondaLand drama in How to Get Away with Murder among other successes. But can their 2015-2016 development live up to this season’s standards and produce enough building blocks to keep its schedule fairly young?
For the third year in a row, KSiteTV is deep diving into the world of network upfronts, as Editor-in-Chief Craig Byrne and ScreenFad Contributing Editor/KSiteTV Staff Writer Shilo Adams try to figure out how each network will be scheduling in the fall. This is not an article based on insider information, apart from what’s already been made public, nor is this an article solely based on what we want to happen. This is what we, two devoted fans of television and followers of the television media, believe could happen at upfronts come May – a possible scenario based on network history, development, present needs, and various other elements that were taken into consideration. Additionally, fans of any show left off a prospective schedule need not be insulted; this entire series of articles is in good fun and with nothing in the way of bad intentions.
To get an idea of where we stood around this time last year, you can check out the 2014-2015 ABC prediction article here. Thus far this year, we’re written about NBC and FOX, while CBS and The CW will close things out later in the week.
SUNDAY
CRAIG: 7:00 America’s Funniest Home Videos; 8:00 Once Upon a Time; 9:00 Boom; 10:00 Nashville
SHILO: 7:00 America’s Funniest Home Videos; 8:00 Once Upon a Time; 9:00 Of Kings and Prophets; 10:00 Nashville
CRAIG: Business as usual to start the night, starting with AFHV. Once Upon A Time keeps its Sunday slot – maybe vacating again at midseason, as it did last year for Galavant . . . maybe with that Muppets series they want to do – and at 9PM I’ll put Boom, the story of what happens after the largest oil discovery in U.S. history hits North Dakota. Partly, I hope it fills the Dallas-sized hole in my heart; also, it features Rebecca Rittenhouse who I enjoyed on Red Band Society, so there’s that. At 10, veteran drama Nashville comes in, replacing Revenge on the schedule.
SHILO: I think that ABC Sundays will go as Once Upon a Time goes. As long as it’s strong enough to hold the night together, ABC will continue attempting new shows at 9:00, even as Sundays have become increasingly difficult for broadcast networks to crack. (Hence moving Nashville to Sundays at 10:00 for its fourth and final season.) Biblical drama Of Kings and Prophets seems like a fairly ideal candidate to take up the task of breaking through on Sundays, given how widely its subject matter appeals, how much of a jump start it’d have on Sunday behemoth The Walking Dead, and how compatible it could be with Once (through its subject matter, all queens and power plays and swirling alliances) and Nashville (through its audience composition). ABC might be a little apprehensive about launching Of Kings and Prophets away from Easter and without the Oscar boost that something like Resurrection got, and I’m genuinely unsure if the subject matter could stretch into a 22-episode show, but if they want to go big, they’ll go with Of Kings and Prophets.
