ABC’s breakout comedy Abbott Elementary will move to a new night — and a prime location on the network’s schedule — in the fall.
The show will anchor the network’s Wednesday comedy block, moving into the 9 p.m. slot. ABC’s lineup to start the 2022-23 season will feature a pair of new dramas in The Rookie: Feds and the Hilary Swank-led Alaska, along with a Celebrity Jeopardy! game show on Sunday nights. The network is also making a big bet on Bachelor in Paradise, which will air on both Monday and Tuesday nights — replacing the Disney+-bound Dancing With the Stars on Mondays.
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The overall schedule looks fairly familiar, however, with unscripted blocks leading into dramas early in the week, the Wednesday comedy block and Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy anchoring Thursday nights.
“The stability of the schedule was one of our priorities,” Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment president Craig Erwich told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview Tuesday morning. “What it allows us to do is really focus on launching the new shows in the fall. We have some incredible opportunities and and high priority programs with Alaska and The Rookie: Feds. With fewer moves, it really allows us to focus in on creatively bringing those shows to market.”
Abbott Elementary’s move to 9 on Wednesdays signals the network’s confidence in the critically acclaimed hit, which averaged some 9 million viewers across all platforms. It takes over a spot previously held by The Conners (which now will lead off the night at 8 p.m.) and Modern Family before that.
The Rookie: Feds, a spinoff of The Rookie starring Niecy Nash-Betts as the oldest trainee in the FBI academy, will fill in the 10 p.m. Tuesday spot. The episodes introducing the character on the parent show were among The Rookie’s most watched of the season.
Alaska, which stars Swank as a reporter who leaves New York after a scandal to start over at a newspaper in Anchorage, will follow Grey’s Anatomy on Thursdays. It displaces Big Sky, whose third season will run at 10 on Wednesdays.
Celebrity Jeopardy! will join Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, The Rookie and the stalwart America’s Funniest Home Videos on Sundays. Celebrity Jeopardy! will take over the 8 p.m. slot previously occupied by Supermarket Sweep, whose future is still to be determined.
Mayim Bialik was announced as host of Jeopardy! primetime specials last year (and shares hosting duties on the syndicated game show with Ken Jennings). Sources tell THR a deal for her to host Celebrity Jeopardy! isn’t done but ABC and producer Sony Pictures TV hope to have one in place soon. Bialik also stars in Fox’s comedy Call Me Kat, which was renewed for a third season earlier this week.
Bachelor in Paradise will fill the Dancing With the Stars spot on Mondays — making for a more grown-up start to the week — as well as the two-hour block on Tuesdays that fall seasons of The Bachelorette held the previous two seasons. ABC will also feature five Monday Night Football broadcasts at the start and end of the NFL season, including an exclusive telecast on Sept. 19. The other four will be simulcasts with ESPN.
Not on the fall schedule are second-year comedy The Wonder Years and drama A Million Little Things, which will enter its fifth season in 2022-23. They’re set to premiere in midseason along with new comedy Not Dead Yet, starring Gina Rodriguez. Avalon, a straight to series drama from David E. Kelley and Michael Connelly, is also in the mix for midseason, though it hasn’t yet been cast.
Unscripted shows The Bachelor, American Idol and Judge Steve Harvey are also set for midseason.
ABC’s fall schedule is below. New series are in italics.
7 p.m. |
7:30 p.m. |
8 p.m. |
8:30 p.m. |
9 p.m. |
9:30 p.m. |
10 p.m. |
10:30 p.m. |
|
Monday |
Bachelor in Paradise |
The Good Doctor |
||||||
Tuesday |
Bachelor in Paradise |
The Rookie: Feds |
||||||
Wednesday |
The Conners |
The Goldbergs |
Abbott Elementary |
Home Economics |
Big Sky |
|||
Thursday |
Station 19 |
Grey’s Anatomy |
Alaska |
|||||
Friday |
Shark Tank |
20/20 |
||||||
Saturday |
Saturday Night College Football |
|||||||
Sunday |
America’s Funniest Home Videos |
Celebrity Jeopardy! |
Celebrity Wheel of Fortune |
The Rookie |
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