ABC releases its 2015-16 schedule
Muppetmania reigns supreme as the revival is already being talked about to death
ABC unveiled its 2015-16 season schedule on Tuesday, and much of it looked like last season’s: much of the lineup is unchanged, with four new comedies and six new dramas joining the lineup. Five of those shows debut this fall.
Of note is Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s lineups remains unchanged. Let’s focus on the nights where there are changes:
– Tuesdays starts off with a completely different, revamped version of The Muppets, executive produced by Big Bang Theory’s Bill Prady. The series plans to take a look at the Muppets’ personal lives’ at home and work.
I know what you’re thinking. Huh?
Vulture had a much more accurate description than the press release: the new Muppets is set at a talk show.
After Muppets is Fresh Off The Boat at a new time. Following Agents Of Shield is a new drama titled Quantico and yes – it’s another FBI drama! Can’t get enough of those!
– Replacing the canceled Cristela on Friday is new comedy Dr. Ken, leading out of just-renewed Last Man Standing.
– Sunday brings us two new dramas following Once Upon A Time: Oil, about a couple who moves to North Dakota to take advantage of an oil boom; and Of Prophets And Kings, set in biblical times.
Midseason shows include The Catch, The Family (not related to the 1976-80 ABC drama Family), The Real O’Neals, Uncle Buck, and Wicked City.
For a complete schedule and descriptions of all of ABC’s new shows, click here.
Analysis: While you can applaud ABC for their stability, this may not be the best policy as ratings for some of their returning programs are down from last year – for example, Shield, Grey’s Anatomy and even Scandal have seen drops. Playing it out until 2016-17?
Don’t know about the new Muppets. While a lot of us grew up with them in the ’70’s, seeing them in a single-camera format Office-style may not work. Meanwhile, Quantico sounds so bad and stupid, it should be avoided at will.
Sundays has Oil – the original title of Dynasty – but don’t look for John Forstyhe pimping like Luscious Lyon or Linda Evans and Joan Collins fighting in a swimming pool. But you do get another ’80’s icon in Don Johnson. Maybe he’ll sing Heartbeat…. Prophets and Kings sounds blah.
Finally, was there a need to revive Uncle Buck? While scheduled for midseason, slotting it with an all African-American cast reminds yours truly what ABC did to The Odd Couple in 1982. Wait a minute…didn’t The Odd Couple return to TV recently?
Sadly, there’s nothing to write about regarding ABC’s new shows. They better hope their veteran shows keep performing well – which is already too much to ask.