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ABC leans on top producer

As the networks set their schedules for next season, the strategy is pretty basic: You hold on to what's working for you and jettison what isn't.

Anthony Anderson (left), Laurence Fishburne as son and father in the comedy "Black-ish," about parents worried about too much suburban assimilation. (ABC)
Anthony Anderson (left), Laurence Fishburne as son and father in the comedy "Black-ish," about parents worried about too much suburban assimilation. (ABC)Read more
    by By David Hiltbrand, INQUIRER TV CRITIC | Columnist, Inquirer
    Published 

As the networks set their schedules for next season, the strategy is pretty basic: You hold on to what's working for you and jettison what isn't.

And for ABC, which announced its 2014 fall roster Tuesday afternoon, what's working is prolific producer Shonda Rhimes.

The network will simply turn over its Thursday-night lineup to the saucy dramatist. Rhimes' long-running Grey's Anatomy will start the evening (a risqué selection for the 8 p.m. "family friendly" slot), followed by her Beltway sensation Scandal, and then Rhimes' newest show, How to Get Away With Murder, a thriller starring Viola Davis.

ABC is in a curious situation. After an anemic season, it was looking to make wholesale changes. But just recently, its shows caught fire in the ratings.

ABC has finished first among adults 18 to 49 for the last four weeks. When the season ends on May 21, it will still most likely trail NBC, Fox, and CBS overall. But had the hot streak started sooner, ABC might have taken a more conservative approach to restocking its programming cupboards.

As it is, the network canceled Mixology, Trophy Wife, The Neighbors, Mind Games, Suburgatory, The Assets, Super Fun Night, Killer Women, Lucky 7, Betrayal, Back in the Game, and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

The other new fall drama is Forever, starring Ioan Gruffudd as the medical examiner in Manhattan. It's an ironic job for him, since he is apparently immortal.

The comedies are Selfie, starring Scottish cutie Karen Gillan as an Internet celebrity who has trouble living offline; Manhattan Love Story, which allows us to hear what's really going through the minds of people as they date; Cristela, starring Cristela Alonzo as an ambitious, modern woman weighed down by her traditional Mexican American family; and Black-ish, with Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross as African American parents in the suburbs who worry that their four kids are growing up too white-bread.

ABC has given Black-ish the greatest advantage it can bestow: the time period immediately following Modern Family. Well, second-greatest. They could ask Shonda to write it.

THE FALL TV LINEUP

ABC

New programs in boldface 

Sunday

7 p.m. - America's Funniest Home Videos

8 p.m. - Once Upon a Time

9 p.m. - Resurrection

10 p.m. - Revenge

Monday

8 p.m. - Dancing With the Stars

10 p.m. - Castle

Tuesday

8 p.m. - Selfie

8:30 p.m. - Manhattan Love Story

9 p.m. - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

10 p.m. - Forever

Wednesday

8 p.m. - The Middle

8:30 p.m. - The Goldbergs

9 p.m. - Modern Family

9:30 p.m. - Black-ish

10 p.m. - Nashville

Thursday

8 p.m. - Grey's Anatomy

9 p.m. - Scandal

10 p.m. - How to Get Away With Murder

Friday

8 p.m. - Last Man Standing

8:30 p.m. - Cristela

9 p.m. - Shark Tank

10 p.m. - 20/20

Saturday

8 p.m. - Saturday Night Football

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