Thoughts on ABC Fall 2010 Sked

Gonna try to make this and the CBS post quick so I can get to the 1,000 other blogs that I'm doing today.

MONDAY:
8:00 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars"
10:00 p.m. "Castle"

Standing pat, which is understandable.

TUESDAY:
8:00 p.m. "No Ordinary Family"
9:00 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars the Results Show"
10:00 p.m. "Detroit 1-8-7"

Many had pegged No Ordinary Family for Sunday at 8, which I think might have been a smarter idea. As it stands, it goes up against Glee and perhaps an underrated competitor in The Biggest Loser, both of which will have families tuning in. Gonna be tough. Detroit 1-8-7 will certainly have a chance against some relatively weak returning competition in The Good Wife and Parenthood, a couple of female-heavy shows. Then again, lead-in DWTS results is also very female-heavy. So the question becomes whether promotion can get the target audience to show up.

WEDNESDAY:
8:00 p.m. "The Middle"
8:30 p.m. "Better Together"
9:00 p.m. "Modern Family"
9:30 p.m. "Cougar Town"
10:00 p.m. "The Whole Truth"

Hmm. A multicamera comedy thrown into the middle (zing!) of a bunch of singlecams, and then a lawyer show that doesn't have a lead airing out of the fast-weakening Cougar Town. Depending on who you believe, Cougar Town is going to have a massive spike if they change its name (I resoundingly do not believe that), but it's still going to be tough skating here against a lawyer newbie on CBS and a new Law & Order on NBC. Prognosis preliminarily doesn't look good. Oh yeah, and there's the inherent fact that nobody below 50 cares about lawyer shows.

THURSDAY:
8:00 p.m. "My Generation"
9:00 p.m. "Grey's Anatomy"
10:00 p.m. "Private Practice"

My Generation will try to be dramatic counterprogramming in the same way Flashforward tried to be that last fall. Didn't work for Flashforward, but it wasn't because it was DOA. It was because it kept on dropping. Private Practice seems to be in its final resting place. Unlike Housewives, Grey's has a long history of shows flopping after it, so that's why ABC seems to think it's such a no-brainer once they find something that does decent retention.

FRIDAY:
8:00 p.m. "Secret Millionaire"
9:00 p.m. "Body of Proof"
10:00 p.m. "20/20"

One of their more buzzed-about shows, Body of Proof, gets thrown onto Friday and will air out of a reality show that has like a six-episode order. Seems a little baffling. Tuesday or Wednesday at 10 would be a tough task as well, but why not? Dana Delany is certainly a name that's going to have a shot on ABC moreso than Michael Imperioli on Detroit or ?????????????? on The Whole Truth.

SUNDAY:
7:00 p.m. "America's Funniest Home Videos"
8:00 p.m. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
9:00 p.m. "Desperate Housewives"
10:00 p.m. "Brothers & Sisters"

Yes, America, it's the fourth straight year that you were wrong about ABC finally moving Brothers & Sisters. It's back again. Is it the right call this time? I've historically supported them keeping this night together, and really I thought the only close call was when they were considering putting season 2 of Dirty Sexy Money in the hour. But now, we're really at a point where this could be the last year that Housewives is a legitimate lead-in. A lot of people want Body of Proof here because of the Delany connection. Eh. Maybe. I could also see My Generation as an option. I think maybe this was the first year where the scale tipped to "they should make a move." Once again, they didn't.

OVERALL

What I liked about the NBC schedule is that it gives the new shows a chance. On ABC, that is much more dubious. In fact, you can pretty reasonably say that almost every single new show is an a less-than-optimal situation, while some pretty marginal returnees are kept in good shape (especially Cougar Town and Brothers & Sisters). That usually looks like a sign of bad development. And as I've said in previous summaries, if that's how it is, then that's how it is. I still think most of these shows should have been given more of a chance to break out.