What’s on TV for fall 2023: The best we can do

Schedules affected by writer’s strike with possibly more labor unrest to come

This post has been updated. 

The 2023 Writer’s Strike has put a monkey wrench into the fall schedules of the five broadcast networks as a few are holding off on making announcements and erecting temporary schedules as it’s likely scripted programs will be delayed.

The wild card in all of this of course, is whether or not actors and directors join their writer colleagues on the picket line. Contracts for each guild expire June 30 and if one or the other – or both go on strike, then the television production community will completely shut down. So basically, take these schedules with a grain of salt.

With that said, how the networks are handling the fall schedules are quite varied – not unlike the last time a strike delayed the start of the season in 1988 (we’ll have more on this in a special industry piece deep dive soon.) CBS is betting on the strike is being resolved soon as they are putting some of their new shows on the schedule. ABC meanwhile is going the unscripted route, while The CW is relying on imported dramas and comedies from Canada and some unscripted. Fox isn’t even bothering with one.

With the exception of CBS who didn’t hold one, upfront presentations for each network were held in New York but were picketed outside by writers as almost no stars showed up to any of the events, showing solidarity with the writers. But media buyers didn’t seem to be fazed by the strike nor the absence of big names and basically conducted business as usual.

Here’s a cliffs notes version of what to expect this fall, and maybe beyond:

ABC

Starting with ABC, the network has eighteen out of 22 hours with unscripted fare or theatrical movies with the network bringing back Dancing With The Stars and re-installing it on Monday nights, after an ill-fated move to Disney Plus last season. There are two editions of The Bachelor on the schedule – In Paradise and a new Golden version featuring older people (how old we don’t know.) ABC is also adding its summer game show schedule to its fall lineup, including Press Your Luck, $100,000 Pyramid, and Celebrity Jeopardy! – all have enough episodes to run if a work stoppage proceeds further. ABC is also going heavy with sports, airing its usual Saturday night college football lineup (though they now have to compete with NBC’s new Big Ten package in primetime) and six Monday Night Football games – the most since 2005.

The only scripted show on ABC is fall is Abbott Elementary, in reruns of course. Once the strike is settled, all of ABC’s scripted shows will return including new pickup 9-1-1 from Fox.

CBS

CBS is implying a different approach, maintaining the status quo on four nights (Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays – that is, if labor peace returns to Hollywood.) On Thursdays, CBS is adding Elsbeth in the last hour of primetime, replacing CSI: Vegas, which shifts to Sundays and won’t return until winter. On Sundays, the Matlock reboot takes the post-60 Minutes slot, pushing Equalizer back a hour. Unlike the previous version, this version is headed by a woman (Kathy Bates) and is set in New York, not Atlanta. One after-effect of the strike is Survivor and The Amazing Race getting “supersized” on Wednesdays to 90 minutes each – a tactic used by NBC in 1970s for their Mystery Movie.

CBS announced Monday their new season of Big Brother won’t begin until August 2 – a month later than in previous years, extending its season well into October.

NBC

NBC is adding two new scripted dramas (Found, The Irrational) and a comedy (Extended Family) to its fall slate – all shot some episodes before the strike began and will premiere in the fall. Two returning series (Night Court and Quantam Leap) also shot episodes before the strike and will have new segments this fall.

The network does have unscripted shows such as The Voice, The Wall, and others ready to fill slots if the strike is extended. Other series finished include the second half orders of Magnum P.I. and La Brea. Most other scripted renewed by NBC – including all the Dick Wolf shows, are expected back mid-season as they are affected by the strike.

NBC will have football on weekends, with either Notre Dame or Big Ten football Saturdays and of course, Sunday Night Football.

Fox

For the second year in a row, Fox is deferring announcing its schedule but given the writer’s strike, it’s understandable. The network does have some scripted pickups including Rescue Hi-Def and Doc (which is NOT a reboot of the 1975 CBS sitcom of the same name) and animated series Krapopolis and Grimsburg. But Fox is going heavy on unscripted series – renewing almost all of them on the schedule and you will see tons of them this fall. One possible exception is We Are Family, a new game show hosted by Jamie Foxx and daughter Corinne, but the elder Foxx was hospitalized recently with an undisclosed medical condition. Fox will wait until the conclusion of the labor messes to figure out what to do with Welcome To Flatch.

The CW

Now owned by Nexstar, The CW made good on its plan to reduce its lineup of superhero shows and add cheaper imported programming and shows that ran on other networks. One interesting pickup is 61st Street, a shot-in-Chicago series that previously ran on AMC before getting shelved, including its entire unseen second season. Paired with All American (one of the very few holdover series retained), 61st is airing Mondays. Tuesdays has a Canadian sitcom lineup featuring the CBC’s Son of a Critch, Run the Burbs and CTV’s Children Ruin Everything. Wednesdays are also all-Canadian with CTV dramas Sullivan’s Crossing and procedural The Spencer Sisters.

Thursdays has HBO Max’s FBoyIsland (don’t ask me what it means) while Fridays and Saturdays are unchanged. Sundays has documentary series I Am. The CW is saving Walker for midseason, obviously an effect of the writer’s strike.