FALL PREVIEW 2016: Sunday

Here is my Fall Preview for Sunday, the final night! Check back later today for my recap to the Fall Preview week!

Past Sunday Previews: 2015   2014   2013   2012   2011   2010

ABC
7:00 America's Funniest Home Videos (27th season)
8:00 Once Upon a Time (6th season)
9:00 Secrets and Lies (2nd season)
10:00 Quantico (2nd season)

Despite problems on the night, ABC is not changing much on Sunday nights. As usual, America's Funniest Home Videos will lead off the night. At 8pm is Once Upon a Time, a show clearly on the downturn. I don't think this has many years left and I'd be really surprised if it's still airing in this slot in Fall 2017. I don't think they can give it another shot of life at this point and it may help bring down the night. At 9pm, Secrets and Lies returns after last being seen in Spring 2015. Back then, it had a slow start but built momentum from there. However, that momentum has to be completely gone by this point over a year later. It is an anthology show so it will be a new story but I don't see it having the same kind of magic it had in season one. Quantico returns at 10pm after a strong start last season fizzled in the end. There doesn't seem to be a lot of buzz for this show anymore so I think a pretty rough sophomore drop could happen here. In case you couldn't tell, I'm pretty down on ABC Sundays.

CBS
7:00 60 Minutes (49th season)
8:00 NCIS: Los Angeles (8th season)
9:00 Madam Secretary (3rd season)
10:00 Elementary (5th season)

CBS Sundays are seeing a small change that may benefit them at least in the fall. The Good Wife has ended and is gone from the night. 60 Minutes continues to air at 7pm as it is nearing an incredible 50th season. The new member of the night is NCIS: Los Angeles, moving over from 8pm. This is a departure from the "prestigious" programming CBS has been going for on this night. However, it seems like it could be a popular option for football fans who will be tuning in during the fall. The bigger question is how it will perform in the spring, though. For the fall, I think it's a great choice. Madam Secretary slides back an hour to 9pm. This always surprisingly did well out of football but it will get less of the halo effect airing an hour later. It also seems like an odd fit out of NCIS: Los Angeles so I wouldn't be surprised to see some drops here. Elementary continues at 10pm (sometimes 10:30) and I wouldn't expect much. At this point, it's only airing to rack up syndication dollars though that has kept some CBS shows on the air quite awhile so I wouldn't go so far as to say this will be its last season, though it definitely could be.

NBC
7:00 Football Night in America (11th season)
8:30 Sunday Night Football
As usual, NBC will be dominating Sundays in the fall with Sunday Night Football. The games could be a little down or a little up but they'll continue to be what people watch on Sunday nights. The plan for now at midseason is Little Big Shots, the new Chicago Justice, and Shades of Blue, which seems like a solid Sunday lineup.

FOX
7:00 NFL Overrun/The OT/Animated Encores
7:30 Bob's Burgers (7th season)
8:00 The Simpsons (28th season)
8:30 SON OF ZORN
9:00 Family Guy (15th season)
9:30 The Last Man on Earth (3rd season)

FOX is back with very few changes to their Sunday lineup as it looks almost identical to last fall with one change at 8:30. This lineup still does OK when there is a football lead-in but it gets bad on non-doubleheader Sundays and really ugly in the spring. The animated anchors continue as does The Last Man on Earth, entering season three. The newbie is Son of Zorn, an animated/live action hybrid that is getting a sneak peek tonight after the Week 1 doubleheader. It is an outrageous concept but it could appeal to fans of both football and its lead-in, The Simpsons. It's a gamble for FOX but this slot tends to be OK to FOX shows in the fall.

New Sunday Show Survival Chances
Son of Zorn (FOX) - Fair. It has a good timeslot in the fall (some of the time) but it's also a pretty outrageous concept and the FOX Sunday lineup is absolutely terrible when there's not a football lead-in. So I'm somewhat skeptical.