What do you get when you take a dynamic actress and place her in a tired legal procedural? You get ABC’s Conviction, which tried to make you overlook the cancellation of Agent Carter by keeping Hayley Atwell in the family. Sadly, she was about the only thing this show had going for it. 13 episodes later, the plug was pulled. Hopefully Atwell finds something worthy of her talents again soon. She will be missed.
Tag / ABC
ABC Upfronts
ABC is shaking up their lineup this fall, with changes on every night save Thursday. The week gets off to a familiar start with Dancing With The Stars, followed by The Good Doctor, a new medical drama about an autistic country doctor who moves to the big city. Seriously. The Tuesday night comedies get switched around somewhat, with black-ish moving over from Wednesdays, followed by The Mayor, about a young wrapper looking for his big break. The night ends with The Gospel of Kevin, starring Jason Ritter, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, and J. August Richards.
Wednesday stays mostly the same, with American Housewife moving over from Tuesdays to take black-ish‘s place. Thursdays stay exactly the same, with the three Shondaland shows remaining in place. A revamped Friday kicks off with Once Upon A Time, which will be losing most of its main cast, followed by Marvel’s Inhumans, the most recent attempt to make the Inhumans happen. Sunday goes mostly reality, with To Tell The Truth and Shark Tank moving over. The night ends with Ten Days In The Valley, a new drama about a producer whose daughter goes missing.
Agents of SHIELD will take over for The Inhumans on Fridays after 8 weeks and Quantico will return at some point for an abbreviated 3rd season. Also on the bench for mid-season are The Crossing, a drama about war refugees from America, Deception, about a magician who turns to the FBI which is in no way similar to The Mentalist, and For The People, about a set of new lawyers trying to find their way. Comedies include Alex Inc, based on a podcast, and Splitting Up Together, starring Jenna Fischer.
Cancelled shows never to be seen again are The Real O’Neals, Imaginary Mary, The Catch, Dr. Ken, Last Man Standing, American Crime, Secrets and Lies, Time After Time, Notorious, and Conviction.
2016 New Fall Season – Wednesdays
We have reached the half way point of our look at the offerings for the new fall season. Here’s what Wednesdays have on tap for the fall.
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Arrow – Season 5 finds Oliver Queen trying to save the city, both as the Arrow and as mayor. This also promises to be the last season of flashbacks, making me look forward to season 6.
Lethal Weapon – FOX reboots the movie series with Damon Wayans. Might be worth a look, at least.
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Modern Family – The comedy, entering its eighth season, is really starting to show its age. It’s still fun, but the plots are starting to get a little out there.
Criminal Minds – The show returns for its twelfth season minus original stars Shemar Moore, who left last spring, and Thomas Gibson, who was fired for attacking a writer in the early going of this season. To fill the void, Aisha Tyler has been bumped up to a regular cast member and Paget Brewster returns as Emily Prentiss.
Frequency – The CW reboots the movie, replacing Dennis Quaid with the fetching Peyton List.
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Black-ish – After a strong second season, the show returns looking to improve yet again.
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2016 New Fall Season – Mondays
It is time once again to dive in to the new fall lineups for the television season that kicks into gear tonight. We start this year, thanks to last night’s Emmy Awards, with Monday night’s offerings, which features some returning favorites and a few new potentials.
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The Big Bang Theory – Once again, The Big Bang Theory moves back to Mondays until late October to accommodate the NFL. The show continues to be a ratings powerhouse, so I assume the move won’t shake things up too much.
Supergirl – Despite a successful first season, CBS jettisoned the show and now the second season will air on The CW.
Gotham – I still have the last 9 episodes of season 2 sitting on the DVR, so things don’t look that great for my continued interest in Gotham this year. But, you never know.
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Man With A Plan – Matt LeBlanc returns to network television in this comedy about a contractor who takes more responsibility at home after his wife returns to work. It should be worth at least a shot.
8:00
Jane The Virgin – At this time last year, I was worried that this show would be a one-season wonder and that I would tire of the telenovela aspect of the show. Those worries turned out to be unfounded, as the show continued to be a solid, entertaining watch. I’m expecting more of the same this year.
2 Broke Girls – A 6th season for this crass show that has never been as good as it should be, given the talents of the leads.
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Post Mortem – Castle
After 8 seasons, ABC decided to put Castle out to pasture. Given the expected change in direction for the potential 9th season, with Stana Katic and Tamala Jones written off the show, it is perhaps for the best. I assume this will also be the end of the road for the Richard Castle novels, which had been a mainstay of my bookshelf over the past few years.
I assume Nathan Fillion and Katic will show up on my screen, either big or small, sooner rather than later.
Post Mortem – Agent Carter
After two impressive, if lowly rated, seasons, ABC pulled the plug on Agent Carter, the time-appropriate sequel to the first Captain America film. Hayley Atwell portrayed the title character, Agent Peggy Carter, who worked for the SSR after WWII. The series filled the gaps, both between the loss of Captain America at the end of the war and the current day Marvel universe and also during the hiatus of Agents of SHIELD on the ABC schedule.
Of all the shows that found themselves cancelled this year, this is the one I will likely miss the most. There was tremendous talent involved in this show and it offered a certain fun spy vibe that no other show fulfills. I certainly expect bigger and better things from Atwell in the future and hope the character shows up again, somewhere in the vast Marvel cinematic universe.
Post Mortem – The Muppets
For the first time since 1998, the Muppets returned to prime time in this self titled show that served as a mockumentary, showing the “real” lives of the Muppets as they work on a late night television show hosted by Miss Piggy. Unfortunately, the tone of the show was a misstep from the beginning. A shake-up at midseason brought in a new show runner and the tone changed to be more in line with what one would expect from the Muppets, but, by that time, the damage had been done. ABC decided in May that there would not be a second season.
Post Mortem – Rookie Blue
Rookie Blue, the Canadian-produced drama that had been a staple of ABC’s summer offerings since 2010, wrapped up its run at the end of last summer. Starring television vets Missy Peregrym and Gregory Smith, the show followed a group of rookie police officers in Toronto as they trained to be police and, eventually, moved up the ranks.
While I’ll miss Rookie Blue, which rarely took itself too seriously, I will enjoy having the extra hour back during the summer. I may even get to spend some of that time outside, enjoying life away from my television.
ABC Upfronts
Lots of changes coming this fall on ABC, as the network announced their upcoming schedule this week. 4 shows that I’ve been watching, Castle, The Muppets, Agent Carter, and the summer series Rookie Blue, were given the heave ho, leaving lots of holes in their, and my, schedule.
Conviction, a new legal drama starring Agent Carter star Hayley Atwell, moves in to the post-Dancing With The Stars slot on Monday vacated by Castle. Tuesday sees the network expand their comedy block to two hours, with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. moving back to the 9pm hour. Minnie Driver stars in the new comedy Speechless, airing before Modern Family on Wednesday. Following Black-ish comes Designated Survivor, a new drama starring Kiefer Sutherland as the new President after a devastating attack on Washington DC.
Thursday gets some new blood, thanks to Scandal star Kerry Washington’s pregnancy, in the form of Notorious, a sexy legal drama starring Piper Perabo and breaking Shonda Rhimes stranglehold on the night, at least until the spring. Friday nights stay exactly the same, as do Sundays. Saturday is still left for college football.
The mid-season slate, aside from the returning Scandal, looks uneventful.
Post Mortem – Cougar Town
After 6 seasons, split evenly between ABC and TBS, the poorly-named Cougar Town drew to a close this spring. Originally featuring Courteney Cox as a divorced cougar (hence the name) trying to navigate the dating world, the show quickly pivoted to focus on Cox and her family and friends, far surpassing any juice in the original premise.
After 6 years, the show was starting to show its age. Brian Van Holt had left the show as a regular during the last season, and the rest of the cast also seemed ready to move on. At the end of the day, Cougar Town was the most successful post-Friends attempt by any of the Friends and certainly brought an audience to TBS, along with Conan, that might not have gone there otherwise.