Supplementing its lineup with reality fare, game shows, newsmagazines, sports and occasional Hulu series reruns, ABC has the fewest scripted shows of the broadcast networks that program three hours of primetime this season — nine — 6 dramas and 3 comedies, including the six-episode final run of The Conners. Compare that to 18 for CBS, 14 dramas and 4 comedies; and 15 for NBC — which, like ABC has a night of NFL football in the fall — 11 dramas and 4 comedies.
Unlike CBS or NBC, ABC does not have pilots — regular or planted spinoffs — in contention for next season. The network has picked up one straight-to-series drama for 2025-26, spinoff 9-1-1: Nashville. With few scripted shows on the air, no pilots in the pipeline and an existing series, The Conners, departing as 9-1-1: Nashville is coming on, there is no great pressure for major scripted slate cuts heading into next season for lack of shelf space. Still, there are two ABC shows heavily on the bubble, freshmen Doctor Odyssey and Shifting Gears. More on that in a bit.
So far, ABC has renewed its flagship comedy Abbott Elementary and red-hot freshman crime series High Potential for 2025-26. A number of other dramas are virtually a lock to join them. That includes veteran procedural 9-1-1, which, in its second year on ABC, remains a top linear and digital performer for the network and Hulu, as well as fellow veterans Grey’s Anatomy and The Rookie, whose linear ratings are not as robust as they used to be, something the shows more than make up for in strong streaming viewership on Hulu.
Meanwhile, Will Trent may be ABC’s underrated success story. Now in its third season, the procedural starring Ramon Rodriguez actually is the most watched ABC scripted series in linear Live+Same Day (9-1-1 is second in viewers and #1 in L+SD adults 18-49). With its streaming numbers also solid, Will Trent is considered a shoo-in for a renewal too.
That leaves the two scripted series that are on the bubble for next season, drama Doctor Odyssey and comedy Shifting Gears.
Both are headlined by top TV stars, Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson (Doctor Odyssey) and Tim Allen and Kat Dennings (Shifting Gears). Both also got off to strong starts, especially Shifting Gears; it is the declines that followed which have left the shows in limbo.
The drop-off is particularly significant for Shifting Gears, which launched its 10-episode midseason run big, with 6.1 million Live+Same Day viewers, and ended it with 3.8M. Its premiere demo rating also was off by half by the finale. Doctor Odyssey, which recently got a performance bump from a 9-1-1 crossover, is at about 3.5M L+SD viewers, off from 4.2M for the premiere.
Both bubble series, from 20th Television, started strong on streaming too. Doctor Odyssey, whose trailer set a record for a new broadcast series with 77.8M views in the first 48 hours, amassed 13.6M cross-platform viewers for the premiere in its first week; Shifting Gears‘ pilot episode did even better, logging almost 17M cross-platform viewers over that period for ABC’s biggest new series launch in more than six year. But neither show exhibited the growth curve of High Potential, which closed out its freshman season with series high multi-platform ratings.
With its slick production values and big stars, Ryan Murphy’s cruise ship medical drama Doctor Odyssey is expensive to make, and it could go either way on the renewal front, I hear. Possibly with that in mind, the upcoming Season 1 finale has an ending that could serve as a series finale, sources said.
Regardless of the outcome, Murphy, one of Disney’s top TV creators, is expected to have at least two series on ABC’s schedule next season with 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Nashville.
Meanwhile, Shifting Gears ended its first season on a cliffhanger, with star Dennings, in an interview with Deadline, teasing what fans could expect if the comedy is renewed and weighing on the notion that it is a red state show.
Shifting Gears could get a boost from the fact that ABC has no comedy pilots. With The Conners ending, the network would be down to a lone comedy series, Abbott Elementary, next fall, if the Tim Allen sitcom is not renewed. While it is multi-cam, the more cost-efficient half-hour format, Shifting Gears boasts high-profile cast, which also includes Seann William Scott, making the show pricy for the genre.
In both cases, Disney/20th TV’s long history and close relationship with Murphy and Allen is also likely to come into play.
The post ABC Renewal Status Report: ‘Grey’s’, ‘9-1-1’, ‘The Rookie’, ‘Will Trent’, ‘Doctor Odyssey’ & ‘Shifting Gears’ appeared first on Deadline.
