ABC schedules 'Red Widow' and 'Zero Hour,' shifts 'Suburgatory' again
Find out when 'Happy Endings' and 'The Neighbors' will wrap
ABC's "Zero Hour" cast
Credit: ABC
It's going to be a busy, busy spring of programming moves on ABC.
On Tuesday (December 4), ABC announced its midseason premiere dates, an impressively busy assortment of movies that includes premiere dates for "Body of Proof," "Zero Hour," "Red Widow," "How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)" and "Family Tools," plus another time slot swap for "Suburgatory."
Oh and ABC also announced premiere dates for the 16th installment of "Dancing with the Stars," as well as the new reality shows "Celebrity Diving" and "The Taste."
Up first is "The Taste," a cooking competition series featuring Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre and Brian Malarkey. It will premiere on Tuesday, January 22 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will settle into a regular Tuesday 8 p.m. slot the following week.
The heavily overhauled "Body of Proof" will launch its third season in the Tuesday 10 p.m. slot it has struggled in in the past, the same Tuesday 10 p.m. slot that finally claimed the life of "Private Practice" this year. That will be on Tuesday, February 5.
The next week, on Thursday, February 14, the Anthony Edwards conspiracy thriller "Zero Hour" will move into the Thursday 8 p.m. time period that has claimed the life of "Last Resort," "Missing," "Charlie's Angels" and "FlashForward" in recent seasons. Good luck!
The Radha Mitchell drama "Red Widow" takes the Sunday 10 p.m. slot, yet another of ABC's problem spots with recent victims including "Pan Am," "GCB" and "666 Park Avenue." Produced by "Twilight Saga" Melissa Rosenberg, "Red Widow" will have a two-hour premiere from 9 to 11 on Sunday, March 3 and will move into its regular 10 p.m. slot the following week.
Coming off a disappointingly low-rated All-Stars installment, "Dancing with the Stars" will kick off Season 16 on Monday, March 18. The entirely self-explanatory "Celebrity Diving" will premiere on Tuesday, March 19 at 8 p.m. and the "Dancing" results shows will move into the 9 p.m. hour on March 26. That puts "Happy Endings" and "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23" on track for early conclusions, though ABC suggests both shows will have a few remaining unaired episodes for a later date.
On Wednesday, April 3, "Suburgatory" will shift back to its original Wednesday 8:30 slot, allowing "How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)" to take the prime slot post-"Modern Family." "The Neighbors" will air 12 original episodes in a row and will be wrapping its season before the "Suburgatory" switch.
And, finally, "Suburgatory" will then wrap its season a little early, allowing "Family Tools" to take the 8:30 p.m. Wednesday slot starting on May 1.
Whee!
In case you didn't get all of that, here's a list:
ABC’s Midseason premiere dates are as follows (all times listed are ET):
Tuesday, January 22
8:00-10:00 p.m. “The Taste” (Two-hour Series Premiere)
Tuesday, January 29
8:00-9:00 p.m. “The Taste” (Regular Time Period Premiere)
Tuesday, February 5
10:00-11:00 p.m. “Body of Proof”
Thursday, February 14
8:00-9:00 p.m. “Zero Hour”
Sunday, March 3
9:00-11:00 p.m. “Red Widow” (Two-hour Series Premiere)
Sunday, March 10
10:00-11:00 p.m. “Red Widow” (Regular Time Period Premiere)
Monday, March 18
8:00-10:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars”
Tuesday, March 19
8:00-9:00 p.m. “Celebrity Diving”
Tuesday, March 26
9:00-10:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars the Results Show”
Wednesday, April 3
8:30-9:00 p.m. “Suburgatory” (New Time Period Premiere)
9:30-10:00 p.m. “How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)”
Wednesday, May 1
8:30-9:00 p.m. “Family Tools”
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.
News From Our Partners
-
The Telefile - Modern Family: The Best Lines of the Night
The Telefile - Fall TV 2013: What's On When
The Telefile - TNT & TBS Upfront 2013: Reaping What Other Networks Sowed
-
Cannes Film Festival: Cannes 2013, Day One: Sofia Coppola offers the first misfire of the festival
Hear This: A song with a long title succinctly encapsulates ’90s power-pop
Watch This: Laura Palmer lives—however briefly—in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
-
'Star Trek Into Darkness': The Reviews Are In!
Emma Watson In 'The Bling Ring': The Early Reviews Are In!
'Star Trek' And Klingon: Learn The Language Of The Aliens!
-
Total Recall: Star Trek Movies
Parental Guidance: Star Trek Into Darkness
In Pictures: The Stars of Star Trek Into Darkness
-
One Direction Announce Where We Are Stadium Tour for 2014
Miley Cyrus Wants Everyone to Know She's Still Engaged by Posting This New Pic
Most Anticipated Album Release for June 2013 – Readers Poll
-
State of Decay, TMNT Release Dates Leaked by Gamestop
Watch 'The Hangover 3′ Stars Zach Galifianakis and Ken Jeong Perform Stand-Up Together in 1998
'Pacific Rim' Trailer: When Man and Machine Become One
-
What to Watch Tonight: The Office's Big Farewell and the Season Finales of TVD, Elementary, and Five More
The CW's 2013-2014 Schedule: Supernatural Switches Nights Again, The Vampire Diaries Pairs With Reign
Watch the Trailers for The CW's New Series, Including The 100, Star-Crossed, and Reign (VIDEO)
-
Hulu.com: Is The Office the Definitive TV Show of the '00s?
Craziest 'Simpsons' Couch Gag Yet?
Denied By PBS?
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupCrow3711
December 4, 2012 at 4:26PM EST Reply to CommentIs Happy Endings gonna be cancelled after s3 in your opinion? Any thoughts?
dan Crow3711 - I think ABC would love to keep that show around, but with its ratings, there's a limit to what the network can realistically do. Premiering "Family Tools" that late shows ABC has very little confidence in it. It'll only have a week or two to prove itself before upfronts. If ABC has good comedy development, "Happy Endings" is probably dead. If the comedy development is only so-so, I can see ABC wanting to keep that fanbase happy with another renewal...
December 4, 2012 at 4:32PM EST-Daniel
War Chief Shake Zula Sony's one of the production companies involved in Happy Endings. Another season would get it to around 80 episodes. The possibility of them giving away a fourth season for syndication purposes cannot be ruled out.
December 4, 2012 at 5:25PM ESTCrow3711 thanks
December 4, 2012 at 7:43PM ESTCinemaPsycho They screwed up by scheduling it against New Girl (another sitcom that appeals to a young audience). I think Happy Endings is a much better show, but what made ABC think it was popular enough to move to Tuesdays at 9 anyway? It was doing decent numbers on Wednesdays with a strong lead-in, and they should have kept it there. This is the network's bonehead move.
December 5, 2012 at 2:53AM ESTdan CinemaPsycho - They didn't think it was popular enough for anything. It was losing much too much of its lead-in airing after "Modern Family" and it wasn't a viable match for anything else on ABC's Wednesday. So it couldn't stay at 9:30 and it had to go someplace else, so... Tuesdays at 9 it was. ABC's only choice was cancel it or give it a less-than-ideal time period.
December 5, 2012 at 3:03AM EST-Daniel
Jobin00
December 4, 2012 at 5:05PM EST Reply to CommentDaniel,
Can you please live-blog Celebrity Diving?
There is no downside.
dan Jobin00 - The value of my life is the downside.
December 4, 2012 at 5:52PM EST-Daniel
December 5, 2012 at 12:30AM EST(or, you know, not a big splash since the Judges are supposed to deduct for that).
War Chief Shake Zula I like Fienberg alive. He balances Sepinwall's inherent east-coasterness...or someother BS along those lines.
December 5, 2012 at 12:50PM ESTOf course, I don't always get my wish. I still can't understand why no one watched Threat Matrix, for one.
Donnie
December 4, 2012 at 5:07PM EST Reply to CommentI wish "Don't Trust The B" had a realistic chance to survive, but it does not. How many episodes did ABC order for season 2 anyway? I think there are six episodes left from season one and with 13 new episodes in season two, it would head to an early conclusion anyway...
Oh well, at least we still have Parks & Rec, Community and New Girl.
dan Donnie - I believe the "six unaired episodes from the first season" thing is an urban legend. It had a 13-episode order, but that order got trimmed. I think it's possible there's an episode or two that didn't air from last season's order, but it wasn't the full six...
December 4, 2012 at 5:54PM ESTI'd have thought it was a 13-episode order for this year, but I don't have a clue how that would line up with "Happy Endings." It's a mystery...
-Daniel
Donnie That is kind of interesting that nobody knows how many episodes of "Don't Trust The B" were actually ordered/shot in these two seasons.
December 5, 2012 at 12:46PM ESTWell, the episode from last night was definitely a season one-leftover with Liz Lapira being back and Dancing With The Stars back as a storyline and I think the producers talked in one interview about a big DWTS-episode in which we see James dancing and that one hasn't happened yet either, so there must be at least one more.
War Chief Shake Zula
December 4, 2012 at 5:20PM EST Reply to CommentI know that Zero Hour could be either awesome or terrible. But it still looks like a better show than pretty much anything ABC has tried that's actually succeeded in recent years (as far as their dramas go).
Sending it to Thursdays @ 8 so that it can just get buried alive like Last Resort (and Threat Matrix, a short-lived favorite of mine from long ago) makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It's like ABC execs don't want anything even remotely resembling Lost (or anything else that's skewed heavily male in recent years, for that matter) on the network.
erika_herzog
December 4, 2012 at 11:01PM EST Reply to Commentis there any excitement whatsoever in this fumble of shows? it's looking a bit grim.
December 4, 2012 at 11:02PM ESTWar Chief Shake Zula I think Zero Hour has potential. But I think that of just about any genre show, so my perspective is skewed...
December 5, 2012 at 2:39AM EST