ABC will jump into the fall with a less-is-more plan. Except for “The Conners,” for which more is more.
Last year at this time, the network was announcing seven new fall shows, plus four more for mid-season. It was too much, new programming chief Karey Burke said this morning; she has just four new fall shows (one a familiar reboot), with three for mid-season.
She will, however, have more “Conners” (shown here),, the show that powers Tuesdays. It had only 11 episodes this season and nine (as “Roseanne”) the previous one. Now Burke expects to be “very close to a full season,” which would be about 22.
Several others didn’t fare as well. Burke said cancelling “Speechless” was “a very hard call.” She also dropped “For the People,” “Whiskey Cavalier,” “The Kids Are Alright,” “The Fix” and “Splitting Up Together.”
The new shows are a comedy (“Mixed-ish,” a prequel to “Black-ish”), a reality show (Tiffany Haddish hosting “Kids Say the Darnedest Things,” a duty previously held by Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby) and two dramas.
In “Emergence,” Allison Tolman is a police chief who finds a bigger mystery when she takes care of an amnesiac little girl. In “Stumptown,” Cobie Smulders is a military veteran who is great at private-eye work and poor at life, including gambling debts and wayward romance.
Other mid-season shows will be added later, Burke said, including “NYPD Blue” — this time, unlike the original, being filmed in New York. The show didn’t get picked up yet — “the bar is incredibly high for reboots” — but is being re-worked.
The fall line-up:
–Mondays: “Dancing With the Stars,” 8 p.m.; “The Good Doctor,” 10.
— Tuesdays: “The Conners,” 8 p.m.; “Bless This Mess,” 8:30; “Mixed-ish” (new), 9; “Black-ish,” 9:30; “Emergence” (new), 10.
— Wednesdays: “The Goldbergs,” 8 p.m.; “Schooled,” 8:30; “Modern Family,” 9; “Single Parents,” 9:30; “Stumptown” (new). 10.
— Thursdays: “Grey’s Anatomy,” 8 p.m.; “A Million Little Things,” 9 p.m.; “How to Get Away with Murder,” 10.
— Fridays: “American Housewife,” 8 p.m.; “Fresh Off the Boat,” 8:30; “20/20,” 9.
— Saturdays: College football.
— Sundays: “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” 7 p.m.; “Kids Say the Darnedest Things,” 8; “Shark Tank,” 9; “The Rookie,” 10.
— Mid-season dramas: “Station 19” returns; “The Baker and the Beauty” and “For Life” are new.
— Mid-season comedy: “United We Stand” is new.