FALL PREVIEW 2015: Friday

Continuing this year's Fall Preview, here is Friday... a night with minor changes.

Past Friday previews: 2014   2013   2012   2011   2010

ABC
8:00 Last Man Standing (5th season)
8:30 DR. KEN
9:00 Shark Tank (7th season)
10:00 20/20 (39th season)

ABC is staying pretty much the same on Friday nights except there is a fourth different 8:30pm entry in four years. Last Man Standing continues to soldier on at 8pm and it has continued to do decently. The newest 8:30pm entry is Dr. Ken, a multi-camera comedy starring Ken Jeong. If it can improve on Cristela's ratings, it would have a chance but Cristela improved on The Neighbors from the year before that and it didn't help. Shark Tank and 20/20 return to their familiar spots.

CBS
8:00 The Amazing Race (27th edition)
9:00 Hawaii Five-0 (6th season)
10:00 Blue Bloods (6th season)

The CBS lineup stays as is for a second season. The Amazing Race had a rough transition to Friday but it leveled off after awhile and CBS will leave it here. I think they'd be wise to shorten it to one cycle per year but that doesn't seem to be the plan. Dramas Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods remain at 9pm and 10pm. They skew very old but the total viewer count is not bad at all for Friday night dramas. I think CBS should be quite happy with what they have going here for their dramas. They have plenty more during the week that don't do much worse.

NBC
8:00 Undateable (3rd season)
8:30 TRUTH BE TOLD
9:00 Grimm (5th season)
10:00 Dateline NBC (25th season)

NBC is devoting exactly one hour of its fall schedule to sitcoms and that hour comes on Friday nights at 8pm. They have had so much trouble with comedy, can you blame them? At 8pm is season three of onetime summer show Undateable. The unique aspect here is that Undateable will be airing live shows all season long. It's an interesting approach as shows will do this as a stunt but it's been decades since a scripted sitcom did this regularly. If NBC can market it well, it could do enough on Friday nights and it fits into NBC's plan for live/event programming. At 8:30pm is a more traditional sitcom in Truth Be Told. This is the show that seems to have next to no buzz this year (there's always one) and I don't see it doing much of anything even if Undateable surprises. Grimm has continued to be reliable on Friday nights but it was looking a little weaker last season and NBC has seemingly given up trying to find it a suitable companion. Dateline NBC will do battle with 20/20 at 10pm.

FOX
8:00 Masterchef Junior (3rd season)
9:00 World's Funniest (2nd season)

FOX is not giving scripted programming a go on Friday but they should be OK because Masterchef Junior is a decent performer. Unless it gets called into service elsewhere, it should do enough to make FOX competitive on Friday. Looking at the rest of the FOX lineup, I don't see it needing to plug in somewhere so it should stay here. It's paired with World's Funniest, which was a decent performer last spring, also on Fridays. It could be worse for FOX on Friday.

New Friday Show Survival Chances
Dr. Ken (ABC) - Poor. I just don't see this doing what Cristela and Malibu Country couldn't in recent years and ABC seems unwilling to accept an OK performer. Until something stays even with or builds on the Last Man audience, it seems like they'll move on. I don't think Dr. Ken is the show to buck the trend.

Truth Be Told (NBC) - Very Poor. This is the show I'm most down on for the season. It has no buzz and critics are already savaging it. It's this year's Manhattan Love Story, but it may not be the first cancellation with a later premiere date.