ABC Shakes Up Fall Schedule, Shifts Bachelor Franchise to Thursday
ABC is making some 11th hour tweaks to its fall game plan.
The network announced that it is relocating the Bachelor franchise — which this fall consists of rookie entry Golden Bachelor and a new season of Bachelor in Paradise — to Thursday. Both series will premiere on Thursday, Sept. 28, with Golden Bachelor opening the night at 8 and Bachelor in Paradise airing from 9-11.
ABC initially had Golden Bachelor airing Mondays after Dancing With the Stars, while Bachelor in Paradise had been earmarked for Wednesdays.
Elsewhere, new seasons of Celebrity Jeopardy! (now hosted by Ken Jennings, as Mayim Bialik continues her strike-fueled hiatus), Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and $100,000 Pyramid will shift to Wednesdays, beginning Sept. 27.
Shark Tank is staying put on Fridays, with its 15th season set to bow Sept. 29. The new season of America’s Funniest Videos, meanwhile, debuts Sunday, Oct. 1, leading into The Wonderful World of Disney.
ABC has yet to confirm premiere dates for Dancing With the Stars (first look here!), Judge Steve Harvey, What Would You Do? and Press Your Luck.
ABC’s unscripted-packed lineup comes as a result of the ongoing Hollywood strikes. The plan is for most, if not all, of ABC’s scripted offerings to launch at midseason, pending a resolution of the WGA and SAG strikes. As a result, the network will “likely” be reducing episode orders on certain shows (translation: don’t expect traditional 22-episode seasons of faves Grey’s Anatomy, Station 19 and The Rookie).
Does ABC really need to hire Steve Harvey EVERYWHERE?? I don’t like to watch him and I’m sure there must be others in the audience who feel the same way, He’s a real judge?
In response: No. Agreed. No.
I really don’t like Steve Harvey. I don’t watch any of his shows. But he’s popular. And I watch Wonder Years which was on after his judge show and at the end of the closing credits, it says he’s neither a judge nor a lawyer.
That being said, I have 100 channels and 9 streaming services – there’s plenty of other stuff for me to watch so for those who like him, more power to them!
UGH!
Settle the strike! Tired of all the UNSCRIPTED shows!
They’ve all yet to premiere.
Many of the networks are airing repeat episodes of game shows, a lot of them on ABC. I’ve looked to see if any are new, most are not episodes.
Agree about Steve Harvey, don’t really see the appeal, he’s trying to beat Ryan Seacrest for the record of how many shows can you be on at the same time.
Im just waiting for the writers strike to end so people can complain about the quality of writing. Just like they’re complaining about the game & ” reality” shows.
This is why I have a backlog of saved shows / DVD sets that I havent watched, as well, as watching in moderation (aka – no binge watching).
While the fall is going to be mostly reality / unscripted shows (which I dont watch. The closest I come “reality” tv is science shows, like Nova), I have a line of shows like 9-1-1, FBI, and others, as well old stuff like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and even shows from other countries (thank you, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and Australia, for making entertaining tv).
That’s possibly the worst Fall lineup in the history of television.
NBC in the 70s says “Superseason”.
But Reality Shows have scripts too. They are just choosing to use folks other than union writers to write the scripts. My bet is execs are going to write them instead, and we will see that reflected in the quality of those scripts. As my Godfather, who wrote the Jerry Lewis Telethon amongst other things, used to say “What, did you really think Jerry just ad libs for over 24 hours?”
Absolutely but those writers are under a different contract. I believe reality and daytime are up for renegotiation next year.
Thank you. Can you elaborate please, as I have heard conflicting info about whether reality TV writers are WGA guild members or not. (I do know about SAG vs SEG, and am glad to see that SAG members are also fighting for those in the Extras guild, in terms of AI reuse of likenesses.) I love being educated on things I am under-informed or misinformed about, as it gives me a TIL for the day. :)
Performers including soap opera actors, news readers, late night and daytime talk shows, and game show hosts’ SAG/AFTRA agreement is called the National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting or Netcode. This agreement doesn’t expire until 2024. This is a different agreement than the one actors on scripted series and movies operate under. WGA writers have one contract which includes all writers . Therefore you have non union writers writing the soaps and Jeopardy reusing questions on “new” episodes.
One error, the writers of network news have their own union contracts. Each network CBS, NBC, ABS etc negotiate individual agreements.
Thank you so much for taking the time to educate me (and the thousands of other people reading this comment thread.)
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And although there are good sides and bad sides to all of the theatrical unions, I am glad to see solidarity for “the little guy.” In 2023, more actors are paid like minor league ball players than like major league ones. And I think writers are probably paid more like bat boys in too many cases. There is a reason SNL writers strive to move from the writer’s room to the screen. :) The folks in the newsrooms, likewise, are paid like minor leaguers in the smaller outlets, and strive to move to bigger markets where the salaries are better. And of course soaps people have the worst or the best job security in the biz…lol.
I honestly thought that ABC/ESPN would be showing Monday night football across both platforms since there’s no scripted TV
There are a few weeks in September ABC will show the MNF games!
How about shifting the Bachelor series to streaming or to never-never land! I cannot believe this garbage is still on the air!
It’s on the air because it gets high ratings and costs bupkis to produce. Remember, television is supposed to make money, not just entertain you.
How are they doing a new season of Celebrity Jeopardy! without writers? Also, if Ken Jennings got grief for crossing the picket line to finish off the season after Mayim left, how are they getting striking celebrities to participate?
https://tvline.com/news/jeopardy-season-40-start-date-host-ken-jennings-writers-strike-1235024275/
“Celebrity” doesn’t necessarily mean actors. There are plenty of social media “celebrities,” sports stars, etc. etc. who already populate “celebrity” shows, so this won’t be much different.
Why You Need Writers, Exhibit A.
Broadcast (its corporate parents, moreso) so foolish to lose NFL Monday/Thursday nights. At least they carry college on Saturdays. Strikes will kill broadcast, I fear. But unscripted may be a casualty, too. There is too much and viewers will turn much of it off. I. for one, am tiring of all the games and trashy dating shows.
As an older lady, putting Dancing With the Stars and the Golden Bach is perfect not sure why they are changing it. I would definitely watch them back to back not sure I will search it out on Thursday.
That might make sense from the perspective of similar target demographics, but don’t DWTS and The Bachelor/Bachelorette both often have two-hour episodes? ABC couldn’t fit supersized episodes for both on the same night and they’re trying to pad the schedule anyway, so I guess they opted to spread them out. I’m curious how DWTS will do upon its broadcast return, and it remains to be seen how the “golden” take on The Bachelor will do after the probable early bump of curious onlookers…
Bye ABC, I don’t watch any of those stupid reality shows, seen once you’ve seen them all. I have Plenty of DVDS to watch. And yes ENGLISH SHOWS ARE ALWAYS BETTER WRITTEN. OUR WRITERS STINK ANYWAY.
Back to reading books in the evening time.
The Networks better wake up. I’m perfectly happy with my streaming services.
Is it just me or us the Golden Bachelor uncomfortable to look at. Is he supposed to be gold?
Well at least nbc has found, the last half of magnum pi season 5, quantum leap and the irrational at least
I was bummed when they held back Press Your Luck from summer to have content for fall; I’ll be really disappointed if they hold it to January now.
The networks gave up on all of us years ago. That’s when Saturday nights are basically barren. Gone are the days of All In The Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett show, Love Boat among many others that flourished on Saturday night. The viewers do care!
Because people don’t watch as much TV on Saturdays.
I was really looking forward to the second season of Will Trent but I guess because of the strike its gonna have to wait. Whatever happened to What Would You Do?. I watched that show since the first season and I know it was always on during the summer. I liked all of the different scenarios they would come up with. I hope they bring it back.
I still do not see how the SAG doesnt have issues with actors showing up and basically crossing the WGA’s line by being on these gameshows that are recycling prewritten content. It seems really sketchy to me.
OMG! Without scripted shows, Its going to a crappy “Reality TV” season. God help us!!!!!
God’s not going to help you here.
Unfortunately, I can’t help you either. Despite what Pat Robertson used to say, I really don’t have any control over Hollywood.
Wish dancing with the stars was on Monday nights. We are off that night. Gray’s and station 19 are great on Thursdays. Tuesdays would be better with the game shows. Get rid of Will Trent, terrible show. Go with the rookie and the good doctor in season 23/24. Bring back NCIS I miss that 😢. Thanks for listening, I know it won’t do any good.
I still have no desire to watch any of this. Not even Ken could make me want to watch Celebrity Jeopardy. I wish everyone would tune out this fall and maybe negotiations could make progress and the strikes would end.