ABC midseason premieres include 'Work It,' 'Missing' 'The River,' but no 'Cougar Town'
'GCB' has a premiere date, but 'The B**** in Apartment 23' does not
Two of these women have penises. It's... "Work It."
Credit: ABC
ABC announced an extremely busy slate of midseason premieres on Friday (November 18), including three dramas, a comedy and a slew of unscripted shows, but if your Twitter feed is anything like ours, most of the buzz has been about at least one comedy that's nowhere to be seen.
The network's midseason plans will begin on Tuesday, January 3 with the launch of the cross-dressing comedy "Work It" in the 8:30 p.m. currently occupied by the soon-to-be-deceased "Man Up." The entirely self-explanatory "Celebrity Wife Swap" will air at 9 p.m. premiering on the same night.
"Celebrity Wife Swap' will remain in that Tuesday 9 p.m. home until February 7, when the found-footage horror drama "The River" premieres. "The River" will then run until "Dancing with the Stars" is back on Tuesdays on March 27 (a week after its Monday, March 19 premiere).
January 5 will mark the return of "Winter Wipeout" to its Thursday 8 p.m. slot, as ABC tacitly acknowledges that nothing scripted has succeeded in that hour for years. But don't give up on Thursday 8 p.m. drama forever, because ABC will then premiere "Missing," starring Ashley Judd and Sean Bean, on Thursday, March 15.
ABC's other midseason hour-long, "GCB" will move into the 10 p.m. (or 10:01 p.m.) Sunday slot after "Desperate Housewives" starting on March 4.
Finally, at least in terms of concrete premieres, ABC has "Shark Tank" returning on Friday, February 3 at 8 p.m.
But where is "Cougar Town"?
Nowhere, currently.
And where is ABC's highly anticipated "The B**** in Apartment 23"?
Nowhere, currently.
Both comedies, which ABC initially expected to pair on Tuesday nights between "Dancing with the Stars" seasons, are currently absent, but both comedies are still expected to return this spring. At some point. Somewhere.
Stay tuned!
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
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November 18, 2011 at 7:42PM EST Reply to CommentOkay, so I gather from this line up that ABC is attempting to become the new NBC?
EF
November 18, 2011 at 8:27PM EST Reply to CommentI'll give "Missing" a chance just cause Sean Bean is in it
debbie
November 18, 2011 at 8:27PM EST Reply to CommentAbed is going to be devastated!!!
Dave
November 18, 2011 at 8:51PM EST Reply to CommentLots of people freaking out online about no Cougar Town yet, but would people rather they just put it on the schedule and have it get trounced. The slot it was penciled in for Tue at 9 with Apartment 23 is now where New Girl resides. New Girl is appealing to the absolute exact same demo as Apt 23. New Girl is currently the highest rated scripted show 18-49, 18-34 and W18-34 on that night. ABC would serverly limit Apt 23's potential by airing it there. Some people said what about Thu at 8. Well.., aside from content issues, There is a hige muti cam airing at 8 and the NBC comedies are also close in audience to those ABC comedies. There's really not much more comedy audience avaialable. Also ABC is quite high on Apt 23. They want it to do well. Their success on Wed doesnt leave any other avalaible slots. In March more shows will be in reruns and there will be more available slots. Finally, anyone worried about needs only look at Happy Endings. It debuted in April and is an important part of ABC Wed now. Plus APT 23 will surely receive a much bigger promo campaign than HE did. If its held til March it will receive an Oscar push. In conclusion ABC not skedding Cougar Town now benefits it, as any avaiable ABC slot in Jan will just kill it.
Greg
November 18, 2011 at 9:55PM EST Reply to CommentWhere is Scandal, Shonda Rhimes new drama? I was expecting to premiere on thursdays...
November 18, 2011 at 9:58PM EST-Daniel
War Chief Shake Zula
November 18, 2011 at 11:07PM EST Reply to CommentMissing now equals dead, given the timeslot.
Just like Charlie's Angels, My Generation, The Deep End, Flashforward, In The Motherhood, Samantha Who, Miss/Guided, Alias, Jake In Progress (but don't let that one Monday @ 9:30 ep in 2006 tell you that!), Threat Matrix, Vengeance Unlimited, Nothing Sacred, High Incident, Charlie Grace, My So-Called Life, Missing Persons, Delta, Room For Two, Pros and Cons, Father Dowling Mysteries, the 1988 reboot of Mission: Impossible, Knightwatch, Probe, The Charmings, Sledge Hammer!, Our World, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Shadow Chasers, The Fall Guy, Wildside, People Do The Craziest Things, Two Marriages, Automan, Trauma Center, Condo, The New Odd Couple, Benson, Amanda's, The Greatest American Hero, Joanie Loves Chachi, Star Of The Family and Mork and Mindy all died in that slot over the last thirty years.
Although Mork and Mindy was originally a hit in that very same slot, and several of the others came in from different slots, some even having been hits in those slot previously. At the same time though, you'll find several shows that seven episodes or less.
The larger point being - Thursdays @ 8 are kryptonite for ABC, and I 100% guarantee that between Big Bang and Idol, Missing can be the best show on broadcast and it will still be no better than Flat Out DOA in the slot.