ABC set its fall 2022 schedule Tuesday, revealing summer staple “Bachelor in Paradise” will be taking over the longtime Monday home of “Dancing With the Stars” as that series moves to Disney+. The “Bachelor” spinoff will also be airing on Tuesdays, marking four full hours of the dating show per week on ABC’s fall primetime slate.
Additionally, ABC has ordered “Celebrity Jeopardy!” to pair with “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” on Sunday nights; given Niecy Nash-Betts’ “Rookie” spinoff the “BiP” lead-out on Tuesdays; swapped in “Abbott Elementary” on the Wednesday fall comedy block; and set Hilary Swank’s new drama “Alaska” as the 10 p.m. show behind “Station 19” and “Grey’s Anatomy” on Thursdays.
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The new season of “Bachelor in Paradise” will be hosted by Jesse Palmer, with Wells Adams returning to tend bar.
“‘The Bachelor’ franchise has long had a presence on Monday and Tuesday nights, so we know the audience likes watching it on those nights,” Craig Erwich, president of Hulu Originals & ABC Entertainment, told Variety Tuesday ahead of the schedule’s release. “‘Bachelor in Paradise’ has a very unique format in that it’s such a big tent for so many characters and storylines that it is easily expands across connected programing. So even just creatively, which is obviously the most important consideration, we think that is going to be really fun for the viewers to have watch these things over the course of the two nights — and not just watch them, but talk about them. ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ is one of our most social shows, in terms of conversation, people just love to watch, discuss, and then kind of watch again. And in terms of ratings, the show was kind of equal to or exceeded the Live + Same Day ratings of ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ For stability of schedule and size and flow of audience, it was the perfect show to bring in.”
As for if you’ll ever see “Dancing With the Stars” with some presence on ABC again, now that it will be streaming live as a Disney+ exclusive, it could possibly have a finale tie-in, Erwich said: “What I can say is I think you’ll see it be a key priority across all of the Disney ecosystem. In the same way we focused the messaging on ‘Abbott Elementary’ or the synergistic opportunities for the Oscars, I’m sure you’ll see the same thing on ‘Dancing With the Stars.’”
The Disney-owned network is holding new Gina Rodriguez comedy “Not Dead Yet” for midseason, along with the returns of “The Wonder Years,” “A Million Little Things,” “American Idol,” “The Bachelor” and “Judge Steve Harvey.”
Erwich says that moving “The Wonder Years” back “did not” have to do with the recent accusations made against now-ousted executive producer Fred Savage, noting there is “a lot of noise in the fall.” “The only consideration we had for ‘The Wonder Years’ is the show is such a special show, it has touched and reached so many people, both fans and critics. It is one of the few broadcast sitcoms to have been nominated for a Peabody, which is a remarkable achievement in and of itself, but especially in today’s TV landscape. So the midseason order was really about giving the show the time to creatively assemble in the best way possible and for us to bring the show to market in the best, most caring way possible.”
See ABC’s fall schedule below, with new shows in all caps.
MONDAY
8:00 p.m. “Bachelor in Paradise”
10:00 p.m. “The Good Doctor”
TUESDAY
8:00 p.m. “Bachelor in Paradise”
10:00 p.m. “THE ROOKIE: FEDS”
WEDNESDAY
8:00 p.m. “The Conners”
8:30 p.m. “The Goldbergs”
9:00 p.m. “Abbott Elementary” (new night)
9:30 p.m. “Home Economics”
10:00 p.m. “Big Sky” (new night)
THURSDAY
8:00 p.m. “Station 19”
9:00 p.m. “Grey’s Anatomy”
10:00 p.m. “ALASKA”
FRIDAY
8:00 p.m. “Shark Tank”
9:00 p.m. “20/20” (two hours)
SATURDAY
8:00 p.m. College Football
SUNDAY
7:00 p.m. “America’s Funniest Home Videos”
8:00 p.m. “CELEBRITY JEOPARDY!”
9:00 p.m. “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune”
10:00 p.m. “The Rookie”
See the descriptions for ABC’s new series below.
NEW FALL SERIES
ALASKA
From the mind of Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”), “Alaska” stars as Eileen Fitzgerald, a recently disgraced reporter who leaves her high-profile New York life behind to join a daily metro newspaper in Anchorage on a journey to find both personal and professional redemption.
Alongside Swank, “Alaska” stars Jeff Perry as Stanley Cornik, Matt Malloy as Bob Young, Meredith Holzman as Claire Muncy, Grace Dove as Rosalind “Roz” Friendly, Pablo Castelblanco as Gabriel Martin, Ami Park as Jieun Park and Craig Frank as Austin Greene.
Tom McCarthy is creator and executive producer. Hilary Swank, Melissa Wells, Bert Salke, Kyle Hopkins (Anchorage Daily News) and Ryan Binkley (Anchorage Daily News) are executive producers on the series. “Alaska” is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.
The pilot episode is written and directed by Tom McCarthy.
CELEBRITY JEOPARDY!
“Celebrity Jeopardy!,” produced by Sony Pictures Television, is an all-new game show airing this fall on ABC. This new series welcomes celebrity contestants to compete for a chance to win money for a charity of their choice. A host will be announced at a later date.
“Celebrity Jeopardy!” is executive produced by Michael Davies.
THE ROOKIE: FEDS
From the executive producers of flagship series “The Rookie” comes “The Rookie: Feds” starring Niecy Nash-Betts as Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy. The spinoff was introduced as a two-part event during the current fourth season of “The Rookie,” where Officer John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and the LA division of the FBI enlist the help of Simone Clark when one of her former students is a suspect in a terror attack.
“The Rookie: Feds” stars Niecy Nash-Betts as Simone Clark, Frankie Faison as Christopher “Cutty” Clark and Felix Solis as Special Agent Matthew Garza.
Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter are co-creators and executive producers. Mark Gordon, Niecy Nash-Betts, Nathan Fillion, Michelle Chapman, Bill Norcross and Corey Miller are executive producers. Entertainment One (eOne) is the lead studio and international distributor of “The Rookie: Feds,” a co-production with ABC Signature.
NEW MIDSEASON SERIES
NOT DEAD YET
From creators David Windsor and Casey Johnson (“This Is Us,” “The Real O’Neals”) and starring Gina Rodriguez, “Not Dead Yet” follows Nell Stevens (Rodriguez), a broke and newly single self-described disaster, working to restart the life and career she left behind 10 years ago. When she lands the only job she can find – writing obituaries, Nell starts getting life advice from an unlikely source. The series is adapted from the book “Confessions of a 40-something F**k Up” by Alexandra Potter.
“Not Dead Yet” stars Gina Rodriguez as Nell, Joshua Banday as Dennis and Angela Gibbs as Cricket.
Casey Johnson and David Windsor are creators and executive producers. Also executive producing is Gina Rodriguez and Wonderland Sound and Vision’s McG, Mary Viola and Corey Marsh. The series is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.
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