UPFRONTS 2019: ABC's Official Fall Schedule

Here is the ABC fall schedule!

Past ABC Upfronts: 2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2012   2011

MONDAYS
8:00 Dancing with the Stars (28th edition)
10:00 The Good Doctor (3rd season)

Despite many predictions and suggestions to the contrary, ABC is not changing up their format for Monday night. They are not sending Dancing with the Stars to Sunday, they are simply keeping the status quo with the veteran Dancing at 8pm Mondays despite a really rough Fall 2018. The Good Doctor remains at 10pm. This is a show that seems like it really could have taken off if ABC had found the right way to get it to a 9pm slot following its breakout season. But now entering season three, ABC seems content to let it be what it's going to be. It is still one of TV's top 10pm dramas so that counts for something.

TUESDAYS
8:00 The Conners (2nd season)
8:30 Bless This Mess (2nd season)
9:00 MIXED-ISH
9:30 Black-ish (6th season)
10:00 EMERGENCE

ABC had a horrible time with their Tuesday comedy lineup this spring after The Conners ended its season, but they are sticking with two hours of comedy though it is shuffled up quite a bit. The Conners continues at 8pm and plans are for it to have closer to a full season run of episodes next season. Bless This Mess was an afterthought with a mid-April premiere, but it outperformed expectations and gets a timeslot upgrade to 8:30pm behind The Conners. I guess there is some crossover appeal between the two, but it's not a perfect match. 9pm goes to Mixed-ish, the newest spinoff of Black-ish centered on Young Bow in the 1980s. It says something about the mothership and its struggles that its the spinoff getting the 9pm anchor slot to lead into the show it spun off from. Black-ish had a very rough year and will move back half an hour to 9:30pm. 10pm is given to a new drama, the sci-fi thriller Emergence. This show looks like so many other failed ABC sci-fi dramas and it's hard to believe it will find a pulse in a very tough 10pm slot that might be holding down the fort for the yet to be greenlit NYPD Blue reboot.

WEDNESDAYS
8:00 The Goldbergs (7th season)
8:30 Schooled (2nd season)
9:00 Modern Family (11th season)
9:30 Single Parents (2nd season)
10:00 STUMPTOWN

ABC continues to go with the comedies into a new drama on Wednesday nights. The drama slot was not kind to A Million Little Things or Whiskey Cavalier this year, but here we go again. This time, it is the Cobie Sulders drama Stumptown, seemingly the only drama pilot ABC actually liked this year. Earlier in the night are the same four comedies as this spring. The Goldbergs and Schooled in the 8pm hour makes sense. What I don't understand is keeping Single Parents after Modern Family. Family is entering its final season. ABC had one more chance to give that lead-in, however diminished it might be, and they chose to give it to a show that showed no signs of growth or enthusiasm this year.

THURSDAYS
8:00 Grey's Anatomy (16th season)
9:00 A Million Little Things (2nd season)
10:00 How to Get Away with Murder (6th season)

Ah, a night with some sense. ABC wisely resisted the urge to go full TGIT and instead will keep A Million Little Things at 9pm after the drama showed some strength when it was moved to Thursdays from Wednesdays in January. This was absolutely the right move and Million may benefit from a full season (or near full season) behind the always reliable Grey's Anatomy. At 10pm is How to Get Away with Murder, which has been delivering diminished results but won't do much damage at 10pm and will eventually give way to another show, most likely Station 19. Although it wasn't announced today, I wouldn't be surprised to get a final season announcement for Murder at some point in the coming months.

FRIDAYS
8:00 Fresh Off the Boat (6th season)
8:30 American Housewife (4th season)
9:00 20/20 (38th season)

ABC is keeping a comedy block on Friday nights with Fresh Off the Boat returning to the 8pm slot despite star Constance Wu's objections to a renewal. Boat started off rough but stabilized pretty quickly and did okay given expectations for a Friday night slot. It will be followed by American Housewife, which has been all over the schedule, and now gets a significant timeslot downgrade. As it enters its fourth year, it will get its fifth timeslot so it has clearly become the bench player for ABC. Black-ish was more deserving of a timeslot downgrade, but it has a spinoff airing now so Housewife draws the short stick. 20/20 regularly beat Dateline NBC this year and will stay at two hours as it has been this spring.

SATURDAYS
8:00 College Football

SUNDAYS
7:00 America's Funniest Home Videos (30th season)
8:00 KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS
9:00 Shark Tank (11th season)
10:00 The Rookie (2nd season)

ABC is going unscripted from 7-10pm with the veterans America's Funniest Home Videos and Shark Tank bookending a reboot of Kids Say the Darndest Things, hosted by Tiffany Haddish. The last incarnation aired nearly 20 years ago and was hosted by Bill Cosby, but of course the franchise goes back even further. This is a low priority show that should pair decently with Home Videos, so I don't mind the move. At 10pm is The Rookie, which has a tough task ahead of it after not doing great on Tuesday nights. It seems like it will have a tall order to avoid being two and done with a really tough slot.

MIDSEASON: THE BAKER AND THE BEAUTY, FOR LIFE, UNITED WE FALL, American Idol, The Bachelor, The Great Christmas Light Fight, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Station 19
The Baker and the Beauty and For Life seem like potential Tuesday or Wednesday replacements or Baker could also work on Thursdays after A Million Little Things end. I'm sure American Idol and The Bachelor will retain their usual positions. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is likely to be held until Summer 2020. Possible midseason shows not picked up yet include retooled versions of pilots NYPD Blue, Heart of Life, and Nana.

CANCELLED/ENDED: The Alec Baldwin Show, Child Support, Dancing with the Stars Junior, For the People, The Fix, The Kids Are Alright, Speechless, Splitting Up Together, Whiskey Cavalier

FATE TBA: The Great American Baking Show

TO SUM UP:
ABC has notoriously been bad with scheduling no matter who is in charge. Well now it's Karey Burke's turn to show some really bad choices. I get that they didn't like their pilot crop this year, that wasn't even developed under the current regime. But this is a really weak effort by ABC, which used to be one of the most exciting networks at upfronts and always some buzzy new titles. Now here we have a spinoff of a show that struggles mightily in the ratings and two dramas airing in slots that are notorious drama killers. All because ABC is so stubborn and won't move Dancing with the Stars off of Mondays to give its new dramas a chance to succeed. They have Thursdays sewn up and have turned Sundays mostly over to unscripted so they have nowhere to ever put new dramas and that's a huge problem for them. This is so uninspired with so many of their shows showing continued declines. Next spring is going to look rough and ABC may be in need of a major overhaul. NBC's schedule was safe but solid. FOX took some strategic risks. ABC is just keeping the status quo and that doesn't work when you have a network sprouting leaks all over the place.