ABC Upfronts News - May 19, 2009

ABC announced their plans and previewed their new shows today during their upfronts presentation. Now, the obvious question from Lost fans revolves around Elizabeth Mitchell who plays Juliet on Lost. She is going to be the star of the new show, V. ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson had these comments during the press conference about how Elizabeth could appear in both shows if need be: "We're thrilled to be able to have her do both. It was a little bit of a juggling act and we're very thankful to the (Lost) producers, but I think we'll see her on Lost during the show's final season.” So, there you go. Wow, Ugly Betty is moving to Fridays. What is up with that???!!! That sure doesn’t sound like a good sign for that show. The decision appears to be ABC wanting to push Flash Forward on Thursday and see if it takes off while also mentioning Betty’s falling ratings on Thursday night. ABC made the comment that they still love the show and America Ferrera with them wanting to see Ugly Betty perform well on Friday just like Ghost Whipsper does for CBS. I just don’t think you can make fans of any show feel good about a move to Friday. Most fans take moves of their shows to Friday as a suttle threat from the networks. Speaking as a Chuck fan, I was nervous about the speculation of that move but it didn’t happen and also having Dollhouse airing on Friday as well bugs me. Hang in there Ugly Betty fans!! ABC is going to take a risk on Wednesday airing five brand new shows with four of them being sitcoms. Interesting to see the cast list for their new drama, Happy Town. Amy Acker is on the list. The show premieres at midseason. What does this mean for Amy on Dollhouse? The show also stars Geoff Stults of 7th Heaven fame. Then, we have Busy Philipps on the new show, Cougar Town. My first thought is that we sure have a lot of WB alums on the new upcoming ABC shows.

Returning Shows: Lost, Dancing With The Stars, Castle, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Supernanny, Ugly Betty, 20/20, America’s Funniest Home Videos, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, The Bachelor, Scrubs, Better Off Ted, True Beauty, Wife Swap.

Canceled Shows: Cupid, Samantha Who?, The Unusuals, In The Motherhood, According To Jim.

New Shows: Cougar Town (comedy about a middle-aged mom who is back in the dating world after a divorce which stars Courteney Cox), The Deep End (drama about young lawyers being recruited from all over the world to join a prestigious LA firm. Have to point out Tina Majorino who played Mac on Veronica Mars is in this show), Happy Town (drama about a Minnesota town that had kidnappings that went unsolved ten years previously, a new crime in the town brings back many secrets of people in the town), Eastwick (drama based on the movie The Witches Of Eastwick about a man who brings powers to three women which stars Rebecca Romjin, Lindsay Price, and Sara Rue), Flash Forward (drama about a black out and during the black out, everyone in the world sees a two minute vision of their future), V (drama starring Elizabeth Mitchell of Lost fame which is a remake of the 80’s series about aliens coming to Earth. Also stars Scott Wolf (Party Of Five), Morena Baccarin (Firefly) and also Laura Vandervoort (Smallville), The Forgotten (drama about amateur crime solvers taking cases that the police have given up on and trying to solve them), Hank (comedy starring Kelsey Grammer about a corporate executive who is now out of a job and back at home with his family), The Middle (comedy starring Patricia Heaton about a middle class family in Indiana), Modern Family (comedy starring Ed O’Neill which is done in a documentary style about a family), Shark Tank (reality show with people presenting their business proposals to millionaires with them hoping to get the money to make their dream happen).

Overall Thoughts: The huge things for ABC in the upcoming season is going to be the return of Lost for its final season. The usual shows such as Dancing With The Stars, Grey’s Anatomy, and others will bring their usual audience and do well. As far as new shows, I checked out some previews of each of them. Not really any of the video clips changed my mind on what I thought I’d like and not like. There are several shows that I’m really not interested in the concept of the show but I like members of the cast so I may have to check it out. I think Flash Forward could be a fun show and it has a Lost tie with Sonya Walger who played Penny. I like the idea of it with everyone getting a quick vision of the future. The only sitcom that got my attention was Modern Family and that is based off of it being shot like a documentary. The full pilot has been previewed to audiences and is said to have gotten positive reactions. I just don’t know about V. That seems like it could be a show that I would either like or not like with not much middle ground. I like the cast in it with many of them being on several of my other favorite shows so I’ll probably check that out on loyalty to the cast members. I think several of these new shows could do well. Just not sure if there are many that would interest me. As far as cancellations. Wow, The Unusuals sure didn’t stick around long. Anybody waiting to see if ABC changes their mind and brings back According To Jim again. That show has had nine lives. Incredible. Well, Nathan Fillion was even shocked that his show, Castle, got brought back. Funny comment from him on Twitter with him saying that he couldn’t remember the last time that any show of his got picked up for a second season. Ugly Betty moving to Friday nights is still a strange move for me. That surprised me. ABC needs a major hit this upcoming season with Lost on its way out. We’ll see if any of their new shows bring that.