After a relatively quiet upfront last year following the writers strike, ABC is returning to its let’s-order-a-ton-of-new-shows M.O. this year.
The network makes the official announcement of its 2009-10 schedule on Tuesday, and based on reports from the Hollywood trade papers, it’s going to be a busy one. Ten shows — six dramas and four comedies — will join the lineup for next season.
The four new comedies will join returnees Scrubs and Better Off Ted and represent ABC’s biggest commitment to half-hour comedy in several years. Three of the shows — the previously announced Modern Family, Courteney Cox’s Cougar Town and The Middle, starring Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn — are single-camera, while the Kelsey Grammer-led Hank is a traditional, multiple-camera and live-audience show.
ABC is also the backup home for The New Adventures of Old Christine should CBS decide not to pick it up — although it’s looking like the show will stay put.
The dramas are a mix of high-concept, mythology-laden shows (Flash Forward and the mystery Happy Town), character-driven pieces (Witches of Eastwick update “Eastwick” and the legal dramedy The Deep End) and one crime procedural, Jerry Bruckheimer’s The Forgotten. The sixth drama is V, which Variety says could air as a close-ended “event series” (i.e., one season and done) at midseason.
Source: Zap2It
