25th Annual TV Preview: Broadcast Networks
Please note the schedule for the 2020-21 TV season is ever-changing due to the pandemic. The information provided below is as of 8/17/20.
ABC | Wendy Rumer, Senior Media Director
The ABC fall lineup only has one major change – since we missed our summer fix of The Bachelorette, we will have it this fall. But Bachelorette cannot just bump out Dancing with the Stars to air in its usual timeslot on Mondays. Instead, ABC is rearranging, and in some cases pausing, its sitcoms. Bachelorette will air 8-10 pm on Tuesdays. The Connors and black-ish will move from Tuesday to Wednesday to air with The Goldbergs and American Housewife, the latter having moved from Friday. Four other ABC comedies were cancelled and, of course, Modern Family ended its reign, making it possible to condense all the sitcoms into one night. ABC has big hopes for Big Sky, the David E. Kelley thriller which will air after Bachelorette on Tuesdays. ABC’s other new venture is Supermarket Sweep starring Leslie Jones. This will fit in nicely after AFV on Sundays. For midseason, in addition to the new Call Your Mother, we can expect to see some of the old summer favorites return: $100,000 Pyramid and Card Sharks. Also, we will see the return of For Life and mixed-ish and, of course, The Bachelor and American Idol.
FALL PREMIERES
BIG SKY | TUESDAY 10P-11P | DRAMA | WATCH TRAILER
Set in Montana, Big Sky is a procedural drama starring Kylie Bunbury (Pitch) and Katheryn Winnick (Vikings) as a private investigator and an ex-cop who team up to solve a kidnapping. Ryan Phillippe, the soon-to-be ex-husband of Winnick’s character, also joins the investigation. Their search leads to deeper mysteries. COMMENTS: ABC is so excited by David E. Kelley’s latest project that they ordered it straight to series, instead of just the first 10 or 13 episodes. Karey Burke, ABC Entertainment President, says Kelley himself will be the showrunner.
SUPERMARKET SWEEP | SUNDAY 8P-9P | GAME SHOW
This is the fourth incarnation of the 1960s game show. Hosting this revival will be the hysterical Leslie Jones best known for Saturday Night Live. Jones says she always loved the show and in fact tried out for it. She was not chosen, so she reportedly considers this her perfect revenge. COMMENTS: Leslie Jones is very funny and I have no doubt she’ll be worth watching. But, just like a drama or comedy, success is going to depend on how it is done – the flow of the show and the entertainment value of the games.
MIDSEASON REPLACEMENT
CALL YOUR MOTHER
Comedy starring Kyra Sedgwick, Joey Bragg (Liv and Maddie), comedian Rachel Sennott, along with a young ensemble cast. Sedgwick plays Jean Raines who decides to move from Iowa to Los Angeles so that she can be where her two adult children reside. Jean plans to be part of their LA lifestyle and is hoping they will realize they still need their mom.
CBS | Joyclyn Faust, Associate Vice President
Finishing first in total viewers for the 2019-2020 season, CBS holds onto the title of “America’s Most Watched Network” for the 12th year in a row. CBS had the top dramas: NCIS, FBI and Blue Bloods (2nd, 4th, and 6th respectively), bettered only by NFL football. The network also had the top comedy with Young Sheldon (finishing 9th). CBS Entertainment executive Kelly Kahl declares that “CBS is simply loaded with a lineup that will clearly appeal to both our advertising partners and our loyal viewers.” With five returning freshman shows, the strength of long-running programs like NCIS and 60 Minutes, and the broadcast rights to Super Bowl LV in 2021, CBS has poised itself for another successful year. The network will add three new programs, two dramas and one comedy, to their 2020-2021 schedule.
FALL PREMIERES
B POSITIVE | THURSDAY 8:30P-9P | COMEDY | WATCH TRAILER
After learning he needs a new kidney, Drew (Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley) reconnects with a former high school friend (Annaleigh Ashford, American Crime Story) who offers him one of her kidneys. COMMENTS: Chuck Lorre (Big Bang Theory) is no stranger to successful sitcoms! It may face some competition against the NFL and NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine but airing after Young Sheldon should provide a nice-sized audience for this new show.
THE EQUALIZER | SUNDAY 8P-9P | DRAMA
Queen Latifah (Girls Trip) stars in this reboot from the ‘80s. She uses her specific skill set to help desperate people with dire problems. Chris Noth (Sex and The City) also stars. COMMENTS: The network has mastered the art of “reimagining” former TV series.
MIDSEASON REPLACEMENT
CLARICE
This drama picks up six months from where Silence of The Lambs left off. We follow Clarice Starling (Rebecca Breeds, PreHy Little Liars) as she must cope with the aftermath of Hannibal Lector as well as come to terms with events from her past.
NBC | Jamie Rudenstein, Associate Vice President
The postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to COVID-19 dealt a harsh blow to NBC, who spends billions of dollars to be one of the brands most associated with the Games. Lost was thousands of hours of programming and the biggest live TV event of the year. Inventory within the Games was at 90% sellout and had generated a record-breaking $1.25 billion of income. NBC was also looking to the Games as an ideal platform to promote Peacock, its new streaming service, to millions of captivated viewers.
Some Olympic advertisers may require make goods on their commitments via inventory in other prime programming. This adds more complexity to the fall season, as most productions have been shut down; thus, programmers are contending with a dearth of new scripted programming. NBC premieres one show this fall, a Law & Order extension, featuring a character with whom fans are already intimately familiar. There is potential for an onslaught of sports content with leagues that have never played simultaneously as professional teams resume regular play. Looking hopefully to midseason offerings, NBC has ordered two programs direct to series, featuring Ted Danson and Dwayne Johnson.
Challenging times often inspire creativity – NBCU unveiled 11 new ad formats in their network Upfront event this year, which are grouped into three different categories: talent, content, and sensory experiences. All three of these categories will be available in the network scatter market and involve integrating advertisers with NBCU talent and programming.
FALL PREMIERE
LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME | THURSDAY 10P-11P | DRAMA
The Law & Order: SVU spin-off features Christopher Meloni reprising his role as Elliot Stabler, who returns to the NYPD to battle organized crime after a devastating personal loss. The city and police department have changed dramatically in the decade he has been away, and he must adapt to a criminal justice system in the midst of its own moment of reckoning. The series follows Stabler’s journey to rebuild his life, while leading a new elite task force that is taking apart the city’s most powerful criminal syndicates. Dick Wolf executive produces the series. COMMENTS: Fans of Law & Order: SVU (there are legions) were upset when Meloni’s Detective Stabler abruptly retired from the force in 2011. This show feels like a safe bet to be a success given the popularity of the franchise and character.
MIDSEASON REPLACEMENTS
THE KENAN SHOW
Originally ordered as a 2019-20 midseason replacement, this comedy stars Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live) as a recently widowed host of Atlanta’s No. 2 morning show who struggles to balance his job, his young daughters and a father-in-law who “helps” in the most inappropriate ways.
MR. MAYOR
Ted Danson stars in this comedy as a wealthy businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles for all the wrong reasons. Once he wins, he must figure out what he stands for, gain the respect of his staff and connect with his teenage daughter — all while controlling the coyote population. Bobby Moynihan also stars in the single-camera series from Tina Fey and Robert Carlock.
YOUNG ROCK
Inspired by and starring Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock, this comedy series will chronicle his formative years.
FOX | Pam Gulotta, Media Director
Michael Thorn, President of Entertainment at Fox Entertainment, touted the network’s first production year. “Entering Fox Entertainment’s first development season as a new company, our methodology was to carefully curate our content more like a start-up; looking for new opportunities, new stories and new voices in ways perhaps others might not be able.” Despite production delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic the network will premiere four new shows this September along with new seasons of current shows, animaSon, and sports. Returning shows include The Masked Singer as well as a new season of MasterChef Junior that features a new judge alongside Gordon Ramsay. The rest of the fall lineup includes animaSon on Sunday nights and the long-awaited return of sports: Thursday Night Football; WWE Smackdown and weekends full of MLB and NFL.
FALL PREMIERES
L.A.’S FINEST | MONDAY 8P-9P | DRAMA | WATCH TRAILER
Originally airing on Spectrum, this offshoot of the Bad Boys film franchise stars two actresses who exemplify the bad boy (or girl!) mentality. Gabrielle Union plays Special Agent/ Detective Lieutenant Sydney (“Syd”) Burnett, an ex-DEA agent transferred to the LAPD. She is the sister of Marcus Burnett of the Bad Boys movies, played by Martin Lawrence. Jessica Alba plays Nancy McKenna, a working stepmother and secret formal career criminal who is Syd’s new partner and friend. COMMENTS: The two actresses look to be the right fit to counter the connection portrayed by Lawrence and Will Smith on the big screen. I am anticipating the same antics, action, and laughs.
FILTHY RICH | MONDAY 9P-10P | DRAMA | WATCH TRAILER
This series was originally ordered as a 2019-20 midseason replacement. When the patriarch (Gerald McRaney, This is Us) of a mega rich Southern family, famed for creating a wildly successful Christian TV network, dies in a plane crash, his wife (Kim Cattrall, Sex in the City) and family are stunned to learn that he fathered three illegitimate children, all of whom are written into his will, threatening their family fortune. COMMENTS: A soap-like drama will suit Kim Cattrall all too well and can fill a needed guilty pleasure hole in the network’s lineup.
COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS | TUESDAY 8P-9P | SCIENCE DOCUMENTARY | WATCH TRAILER
Originally airing on National Geographic, the science documentary is a follow-up to the 2014 series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey and the 1980 Cosmos: A Personal Voyage that aired on PBS. COMMENTS: This series will grab the attention of those interested in the history of past human civilizations and those intrigued by what potential future awaits us. Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) is Executive Producer.
NEXT | TUESDAY 9P-10P | DRAMA | WATCH TRAILER
Silicon Valley pioneer (John Slattery, Mad Men) teams up with a cybercrime agent (Fernanda Andrade, The First) after discovering that an artificial intelligence he created has gone rogue. The series was originally ordered as a 2019-20 midseason replacement. COMMENTS: The series looks to turn the lens on how technology has taken over our lives, using an at-home “Iliza” (a takeoff on Amazon’s Alexa) to scare us to our very core.
CW | Donna D’Achillo, Senior Media Director
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the CW decided to postpone much of its upcoming season until January 2021; however, this summer the network premiered Coroner as well as Tell Me a Story, the latter of which originally aired on CBS All Access. Both shows are slated to run through 4Q. Premiering in the fall are financial thriller Devils and the superhero horror series Swamp Thing will make its broadcast debut. The highly anticipated seven final episodes of Supernatural, cut short due to the pandemic, will finally air on Thursdays and a new comedy clip show World’s Funniest Animals will air on Fridays. In January, new shows Superman & Lois and Walker will premiere, along with renewed second seasons of Batwoman and Nancy Drew.
FALL PREMIERES
DEVILS | WEDNESDAY 8P-9P | DRAMA | WATCH TRAILER
Devils is based on the best-selling Italian novel by Guido Maria Brera, partly inspired by the global financial crisis in 2008. Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) stars alongside Italian actor Alessandro Borghi. Set in the London office of a major U.S. bank, Massimo Ruggero (Borghi) is hired by Dominic Morgan (Dempsey), the bank’s CEO. Ruggero becomes entwined in a financial war and must choose whether to fight against Morgan, his ruthless mentor. COMMENTS: This is a well-made thriller that pulls you in from the first scene. Patrick Dempsey’s Grey’s Anatomy following will likely flock to this series which may help CW garner a new (older) audience.
WORLD’S FUNNIEST ANIMALS | FRIDAY 9P-10P | COMEDY CLIP SHOW
This new series, hosted by Elizabeth Stanton (Great Big World), will feature a celebrity guest panel watching clips of animals caught on video doing funny things. The videos will come from a variety of sources, including viral internet clips as well as footage from major motion pictures and TV series. COMMENTS: Everyone loves candid clips of funny moments caught on video. Similar to America’s Funniest Videos on ABC, this series should provide a great deal of entertainment and laughs for all viewers!
JANUARY PREMIERES
SUPERMAN & LOIS | TUESDAY 9P-10P | DRAMA
Tyler Hoechlin (Supergirl) and Bitsie Tulloch (Grimm) star in this new series which centers around two of the most well-known DC characters as they navigate parenthood and their intense careers. COMMENTS: The series is sure to please superhero fans as the CW gives us Lois and Superman – a couple with children who must balance their personal and professional lives in our present-day world.
WALKER | THURSDAY 8P-9P | DRAMA
Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) returns to the CW as Cordell Walker, a widower and father of two who relocates to Austin. He is haunted by the suspicious death of his wife. This series is a reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger starring Chuck Norris which aired from 1993-2001. COMMENTS: Walker, Texas Ranger was an iconic series. Hopefully, CW can breathe life into this reboot for the next generation of viewers to enjoy!
MIDSEASON REPLACEMENTS
KUNG FU
A martial arts action adventure series set in present day. Nicky Chen (Olivia Liang) is a Chinese-American woman who uses her newly acquired martial arts skills to combat a crime-laden San Francisco.
THE REPUBLIC OF SARAH
Sarah Cooper (Stella Baker) is a high school teacher who confronts a greedy mining company set to destroy her hometown. Sarah finds a legal loophole and fights to declare the town’s independence.
