Preview US broadcasting Season 2018-2019: ABC
It’s September, which means that in the US the new TV broadcasting season is about to kick off. The nights are getting longer and broadcasters will make sure they have something to entertain you. Here’s a list of all returning and new series coming your way (eventually, if you aren’t in the US) from ABC. For the sake of streamlining this already long list we will not include reality programming, only scripted drama.
RENEWED
Returning this season to ABC are these series…
– Grey’s Anatomy: The Seattle set hospital drama is coming back for its 15th season! It starts airing Thursday 27 September.
– How to Get Away With Murder: The Viola Davis (Fences, Suicide Squad) starring legal/crime drama returns for a fifth season. Most likely for another batch of 15 episodes. Season 5 starts airing Thursday 27 September.
– The Goldbergs: The Patton Oswalt (Young Adult, Happy!) narrated 1980s set family comedy is returning for a sixth season. More later on about its spinoff Schooled. Season 6 starts airing Wednesday 26 September.
– Black-ish: Creator Kenya Barris has moved to Netflix to create new shows, but his family comedy is staying around on ABC for a fifth season. Meanwhile on cable, ABC’s sister channel Freeform has renewed college set spinoff Grown-ish for a second season. Season 5 starts airing Tuesday 16 October.
– Fresh of the Boat The family comedy, loosely based on the life of chef and food personality Eddie Huang and his autobiographic book of the same name, will return for a fifth season as well. Season 5 starts airing Friday 5 October.
– American Housewife: The wealthy housewives comedy will return for a third season. The amount of episodes (which makes a series lucrative in syndication) makes this one a sure bet for a Season 4 renewal coming May 2019. Season 3 starts airing Wednesday 26 September.
– Speechless: The Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting) led comedy about a family with three children of which one a disabled son returns for a third season. The amount of episodes makes this one also a good bet for a Season 4 renewal coming May. Season 3 starts airing Friday 5 October.
– For the People: After a ten episode first season the New York City set legal drama returns for a second season. It is currently unknown when Season 2 starts airing, but probably somewhere in the new year.
– The Good Doctor: The American adaption of Korean medical drama Good Doctor and the number one drama of last season, obviously returns for a second season. Freddie Highmore (Bates Motel) returns to his Golden Globe nominated role of autistic Doctor Shaun Murphy, who makes his way at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. Season 2 starts airing Monday 24 September.
– Splitting Up Together: After a first season of just eight episodes the Ellen DeGeneres (Finding Nemo) executive produced comedy returns for a second season. The series follows a couple whose marriage is reignited by their divorce. Season 2 starts airing Tuesday 16 October.
– Station 19: The second Grey’s Anatomy spinoff which follows firefighters will return for a second season. Season 2 starts airing Thursday 4 October.
– Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Its renewal for Season 6 is an interesting one we saved for last. After struggling in the live ratings for a number of seasons, but with a big bump in the delayed viewing ratings, the Marvel Cinematic Universe set series has been fighting cancellation for some time now. While most might have expected Season 5 to be the series’ last, including the writers who wrote Season 5’s finale to also serve as a possible series finale, it got a renewal. Season 6 will see the return of Phil Coulson and his S.H.I.E.L.D. team, but we will have to wait until next Summer for a reduced amount of episodes. Its return date is interesting, as it will premiere after the release of the as of yet untitled Avengers 4. Will it be set after it? There’s a good chance, as Season 5’s back half already ran parallel to Avengers: Infinity War.
PICKED UP
ABC has chosen the following series to be added to their programming line-up…
– Take Two: From the creators of Castle a kind of gender-swapped version. An actress playing a detective starts to tag along with an actual police detective. This one has just finished airing in the US as a Summer offering. There is no word yet of a possible renewal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke6Tvvjghvw
– A Million Little Things: A group of Bostonians get a wake-up call to start living when one of them dies. The series might be ABC’s answer to NBC’s This is Us. It premieres in the US on Wednesday 26 September.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0aB4nA5MOQ
– Single Parents: A group of single parents form a support group. The comedy premieres Wednesday 26 September.
– The Kids Are All Right: Comedy following a traditional Irish-Catholic family in the 1970s. It will premiere Tuesday 16 October.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5-0wgrWB9g
– The Rookie: Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle) plays a middle-aged guy who becomes the LAPD’s oldest cadet. Alexi Hawley is its showrunner and was the former showrunner of Castle and is brother to Fargo and Legion’s showrunner Noah Hawley. The series will premiere Tuesday 16 October.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9K06dCP-lc
– The Conners: This should have been Roseanne Season 10. That comedy series returned with big ratings last season and was quickly renewed. Then Roseanne Barr send out a tweet and the rest is history. ABC however does not want to lose those ratings of course, so enter follow-up The Conners. Everyone is back, except for Barr.
– The Fix: Legal drama following a former LA prosecutor who has lost a high-profile case involving a famous defendant. She is lured back to the courtroom when the same defendant is a suspect in another murder. O.J Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark is executive producer. The series will premiere mid-season, meaning early 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkJhX-ccM5k
– Grand Hotel: Prime time soap opera in a luxury Miami Beach hotel. From executive producer Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives, Devious Maids). It will premiere mid-season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsSMv0EcX04
– Whiskey Cavalier: An FBI agent (Scott Foley) going through a bad breakup is teamed up with a tough CIA agent (Lauren Cohan) to lead a spy team. With Lauren Cohan as one of the leads it makes us wonder how much she will be in The Walking Dead Season 9, a series she is already leaving. The series’ premiere will be mid-season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhYQU5eWdCo
– Schooled: This comedy got a backdoor Pilot last season as a The Goldbergs episode called “The Goldbergs: 1990-Something.” As the title of that episode tells you this series will be set in the 1990s instead of the 1980s of The Goldbergs. Schooled will focus on the faculty and staff of Philadelphia’s William Penn Academy. Tim Meadows, Bryan Callen, and AJ Michalka will all reprise their characters from The Goldbergs. The series is set to premiere mid-season. There’s no new trailer yet, but this is the backdoor pilot’s promo.