CRAIG’S CHOICES:
Most Promising Trailer: The Real O’Neals. The show looks very fun and irreverent, and I wish the show was premiering in the Fall so we could see more sooner rather than later.
Most Anticipated New Show: Don’t judge me, world, but I’m looking forward to Blood & Oil. I hate the new title (Oil was better, more concise, and had a special place as the original title for Dynasty), but as I mentioned in our predictions article, this could fill the Dallas-sized hole in my heart. Don Johnson doing his worst Jock Ewing impression makes it even more fun to me. I’m a little concerned with Cynthia Cidre of New Dallas fame coming on — the first sight of a Mexican drug cartel and I’m gone. On the bright side, though, the Dallas cast seemed awfully fond of her, so if we never see Linda Gray or Patrick Duffy on this new show, I’m going to be GREATLY disappointed.
Best Scheduling Move: Keeping Shonda Night on T.G.I.T. Thursdays was VERY smart.
Worst Scheduling Move: Making us wait for The Real O’Neals! After that, I guess I’ll say “Tuesday at 10” – is it too late to get Forever back?
Most Likely New Hit: The Muppets. Because they’re The Muppets, timeslot be damned.
Likely First Cancellation: Of Kings & Prophets. (Too soon?)
What I’ll Be Watching In The Fall: In the Fall? Once Upon A Time, though I’ve fallen behind; Blood & Oil, unless it gets really bad; The Muppets, DVR’ed of course as Tuesdays belong to The Flash; and The Goldbergs; same deal because of The Olicity Show – I mean, Arrow.
SHILO’s SUPERLATIVES:
Most Promising Trailer: The Family was my favorite trailer from upfronts week. I’m still unsure of how a show like this is a multi-season series, especially since the trailer played like a great movie vs. a great TV show, but I’m extremely intrigued by how this premise could play out on a broadcast platform.
Most Anticipated New Show: The Real O’Neals should be a lot of fun. While ABC has been a bit hit/miss in terms of dramas recently, they’ve seemingly gotten family comedies down to a science and this show is no different. It’s smart, it’s got a very distinct voice, and it’s important, both for its portrayal of teenage boys (who very rarely get center stage on television anymore) and the coming out process in general.
Best Scheduling Move: Of Kings and Prophets on Sundays was smart; it was just on an hour too late. Otherwise, I agree that keeping Thursdays together was a good idea, as it was an easily promotable programming block and something that helped ABC combat Thursday Night Football. Plus, with Scandal looking a bit peaked at the end of this past season, this type of synergy should get it back on the right path.
Worst Scheduling Move: I don’t like them keeping Wednesdays the same. I understand their rationale, that 2014-2015 was so successful that they didn’t want to rock the boat, but that type of conservative scheduling will catch up with them this season. black-ish might be looking at a sophomore slump thanks to the looming presence of Empire, while Nashville will continue to waste one of ABC’s premiere drama launchpads for no discernible reason.
Likely First Cancellation: Since I think Dr. Ken will hang around for a while and The Muppets shouldn’t have much trouble drawing an audience, it looks like one of the Sunday dramas will be the first to go. Blood & Oil might have the better time slot, but it also has more competition to deal with and ABC has been tinkering around with it through a title change and recastings, signifying a dissatisfaction that could lead to a quick hook.
What I’ll Be Watching in the Fall: Fresh Off the Boat, for sure. In terms of new shows, I’ll give Blood & Oil a couple of episodes to impress me, while Quantico’s engrossing trailer and pretty solid pilot earned it a season pass.
SO, HOW DID WE DO?
Continuing our usual point system – 1 point per accurate timeslot hour, a half cut off if the night is right but the timeslot isn’t the same – Craig had 12 points out of a possible 19; Shilo did better with 13.5 out of 19 (including a +.5 bonus for having Of Kings and Prophets on Sundays).
Next up: CBS! Come back to find that soon here at KSiteTV!
1 Comment
Agree with most of what you guys are saying here. Quantico should be on Tuesdays, and Nashville on Sundays. Though I disagree about the Tuesday comedies working better at 9—both are seemingly very family-friendly that could benefit from airing at an earlier hour.
The Muppets was kind of like the Cristela of this year’s bunch—a pilot presentation pitched to ABC that tested through the roof, though there was little hype about them in development season amongst the public. I think everyone expects The Muppets to do good based on their brand, while also helping out Fresh Off The Boat. If that is indeed the case, and Fresh Off The Boat can hold decently mid-season, I think we are finally into the second ABC Comedy Wednesday era.
The Muppets is a mockumentary, as is Modern Family. If it’s as good as we all think it will be, or rates high at least, ABC has the next Modern Family-rated comedy on their hands. We saw the same exact thing happen to The Goldbergs this year, which now looks to be a suitable Middle replacement when it becomes time. And down the line, I foresee Blackish and Fresh Off The Boat being those much-needed second tier comedies, a la Suburgatory or Season 2 Cougar Town.
I think The Middle has two seasons left, and Modern Family three (maybe four if they really want to stretch out those storylines) before ABC can retire them. Here’s my reasoning: it always helps to have a couple of your first-run comedies in syndication. Whether or not tat syndication money is going to you or not, it still may help in first-run ratings. We know The Goldbergs is getting to syndication in two seasons, which can help retire The Middle. Modern Family will wait out another year or two for Blackish or Fresh Off The Boat (I have to imagine at least one will make it).