The Peacock series Based on a True Story, starring Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina as a married couple who start a podcast with a serial killer, was cancelled last year following its second season. The show certainly had its moments and brought in interesting guest stars, so I was a little surprised to see it wrapped up so early. But, that is the nature of streaming and I’m sure Cuoco will pop up in something new sooner rather than later.
Category / Television
ABC Upfronts
ABC wraps up upfront week with one of their most stable schedules in network history. Monday once again will simulcast Monday Night Football with ESPN. The one shock comes on Tuesday, where the next installment of Dancing With the Stars will be followed by R.J, Decker, which was considered to be a bubble show heading into this week.
Wednesday kicks off with the comedy block of Scrubs and Abbott Elementary, followed by another installment of Celebrity Jeopardy! and Shark Tank. Thursday remains the same with the original 9-1-1 followed by 9-1-1: Nashville and the 23rd season of Grey’s Anatomy. Friday sees Celebrity Wheel of Fortune followed by two hours of 20/20. Sunday also stays stable, with America’s Funniest Home Videos followed by three hours of The Wonderful World of Disney.
On the bench for mid-season are new installments of High Potential, American Idol, The Bachelor, Bachelor in Paradise, Shifting Gears, The Rookie, and Will Trent. The one new scripted show for mid-season is The Rookie: North, a spinoff of The Rookie.
In a first, no shows were cancelled and never to be seen again.
FOX Upfronts
FOX is looking for stability in their fall schedule, closely mirroring their schedule from last fall during their upfront presentation earlier this week. The week starts with game shows on Monday, with Celebrity Name That Tune followed by Celebrity Weakest Link. Tuesday has a second installment of Best Medicine followed by season three of Doc.
Competitions are the order of the day on Wednesday, with the latest installment of The Floor followed by 99 to Beat. Thursdays focus on reality competitions, with new editions of Hell’s Kitchen and Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. Sports remains the focus on Friday, with college football and basketball filling the night. Sunday, as always, is Animation Domination, with The Simpsons, the live-action Animal Control, Universal Basic Guys, and Grimsburg wrapping things up following football.
New shows on tap for midseason include a revamped version of Baywatch, starring Stephen Amell, The Interrogator, an espionage thriller from Stephen Fry, and Marriage Market, a reality competition show hosted by Whitney Cummings where single people give their closest family control of their love lives. New editions of returning shows include Memory of a Killer, Fear Factor: House of Fear, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Masked Singer.
Gone and mostly forgotten is Going Dutch.
NBC Upfronts
Sports continues to be a big driver for NBC For the first time in 23 years, with the NFL, MLB, the NBA, and college football taking up a good part of the fall schedule, which was released on Monday. The week gets off to a familiar start in September with two hours of The Voice returning for another round on Mondays, followed by Line of Fire, a new drama starring Peter Krause. Come November, St. Denis Medical and The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins take over the first hour as The Voice goes to a single hour. Tuesday will belong to the NBA when its season begins in October.
Wednesday and Thursday continue to be dominated by Dick Wolf franchises, with his three Chicago series running back-to-back-to-back on Wednesday and the two original entries in his Law & Order franchise the following night. Thursday starts with a civilian version of the Peacock hit reality show The Traitors, hosted by Alan Cumming. Happy’s Place and Newlyweds, a new comedy starring Téa Leoni and Tim Daly, kick off Friday, followed by a two-hour block of Dateline. The weekend is dominated by football, with the Big Ten or Notre Dame on Saturday and the NFL on Sunday.
On the bench, NBC has one drama, one comedy, and a game show waiting for midseason. The Rockford Files stars David Boreanaz in the role originally made famous by James Garner in the 1970s. Sunset P.I. takes a comedic approach at the private investigator space, starring Jake Johnson and Jane Levy. Finally, Today co-host Savannah Guthrie will host a live version of Wordle.
Shows gone from our television sets include Brilliant Minds and Stumble.
CBS Upfronts
For reasons I don’t entirely understand, CBS unveiled their plans for the 2026-2027 season this week, well ahead of the traditional May timeframe for their upfront presentation. The week starts with a revamped Monday without the familiar comedy block starting out the night. FBI and its spinoff CIA both move up an hour, followed by Harlan Coben’s Final Twist, a true crime series hosted by the best-selling author. Tuesday gets turned over to the NCIS franchise, with the original version leading off the night, followed by the new NCIS: New York and the returning NCIS: Origins.
Wednesday continues as all reality, with extra-long episodes of Survivor followed by The Amazing Race. Thursday has the network’s only remaining comedies, with Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage followed by Eternally Yours, about a vampire couple whose 500-year marriage has grown stale. Another installment of Elsbeth and the new Cupertino, a legal drama set in Silicon Valley, finish out the night. Friday remains the same, with Sheriff Country followed by Fire Country and Boston Blue. Sunday kicks off with 60 Minutes, followed by Marshalls, Tracker, and reruns.
On tap for midseason on Wednesdays are the returning NCIS: Sydney, Ghosts, and Matlock, along with Einstein, starring Matthew Gray Gubler as the great grandson of Albert Einstein who is forced to help the police solve their toughest cases.
Gone and never to be seen again are The Neighborhood, DMV, and Watson.
Another One Bites The Dust
Little more than a year after the death of former co-star Michelle Trachtenberg, Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Nicholas Brendon died Friday at his San Francisco home at the age of 54. Brendon, who had suffered public struggles with alcohol and drug abuse and mental illness, revealed in 2023 that he had suffered a heart attack and had been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. His death is believed to have been due to natural causes.
Brendon made his first mark in the entertainment industry as Xander Harris on Buffy, starring for the show’s seven season run between the WB and the CW. He failed to find long term success following the show’s end, starring in the adaptation of Anthony Bourdain’s memoir Kitchen Confidential, which lasted four episodes, and scoring notable guest appearances on Criminal Minds and Private Practice.
It has been a rough week for Buffy fans, with Brendon’s death coming on the heels of the news that Hulu was passing on the pilot for the planned sequel series from director Chloe Zhao and original star Sarah Michelle Gellar.
I Don’t Want To Wait For Our Lives To Be Over
James Van Der Beek, titular star of the iconic teen soap series Dawson’s Creek, passed away yesterday at the age of 48. Van Der Beek announced he had been diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer in November of 2024.
Van Der Beek rose to fame starring as Dawson Leery on the WB hit drama. He would later play a fictionalized version of himself on Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23. On the big screen, he was known for his starring role in Varsity Blues.
Van Der Beek is survived by his wife and their six children.
Midseason Review – Fridays
Our final look back at the new fall season gives us Friday’s amazing slate of shows.
9:00
Boston Blue – The Blue Bloods spinoff sends Donny Wahlberg to Boston for some reason.
I never managed to watch this.
Debuting this spring:
Celebrity Jeopardy! All-Stars – The latest installment of dumbed down Jeopardy! for mostly D-list celebrities to win money for charity.
Midseason Review – Thursdays
We are on the back half of our look back at the offerings for the new fall season. Thursday night is traditionally the busiest night of the week for my television viewing habits, but not this year. Here’s what was on the slate for this season.
7:00
9-1-1 – Returning for its ninth season, and its third on ABC, although without star Peter Krause.
I’m not saying that sending two of the characters on a space adventure for the first three episodes of the season was a jump the shark moment, but I’m also not saying it wasn’t.
8:00
9-1-1: Nashville – Another spinoff, moving the franchise to Tennessee.
This isn’t clicking for me. It doesn’t have the heart of the original.
9:00
Elsbeth – The The Good Wife spinoff returns for its third season, but I still have to watch the second one.
I’ve stopped recording this one but may circle back one day on streaming.
Grey’s Anatomy – The medical drama enters its 22nd season with the follow-up on last season’s explosion.
What can I say after 21+ seasons? The show is what it is at this point.
And now the new entries:
Scrabble – The game show returns to The CW with a new host: Craig Ferguson.
Trivial Pursuit – LeVar Burton returns for a second go-around of the board game-based quiz show.
Midseason Review – Wednesdays
We have reached the halfway point of our look back at my thoughts on the offerings for the new fall season. The cupboard looked pretty bare for Wednesdays and will continue to be so this winter, with nothing I plan on watching airing on the night.