[Opinion] 2019 Fall Schedule Breakdown

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Disclaimer

Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpoilerTV.

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Hello my dear SpoilerTv friends, after 2 weeks of surprising pickups, renewals, painful cancellations, and scared stable schedules the Upfronts wrapped. Here is my schedule breakdown with the best and weakest moves from the Bosses above.

ABC - 10pm Drama Death

A lot was expected from Karey Burke as she took the Head position at the Alphabet network. The low amount of pickups wasn`t a real surprise as this wasn`t really her "development" season. I did anticipate some bolder moves while scheduling the cards she was handled with.

Monday stayed the same, DWTS & The Good Doctor. DWTS isn`t the powerhouse it was formerly known for, the reason for that? As my STV colleague Beth often mentioned, the dancers are more famous than the stars learning to dance. It is a stable choice and the night will provide solid numbers, the drama replacing The Good Doctor will die an unnoticeable death, as The Crossing and The Fix. The 10pm Drama Death.

The "10pm Drama Death" isn`t only reserved for The Good Doctor`s follow up. Emergence and Stumptown were handed fairly bad cards as well. The comedic lead in the got served while stable for ABC won`t give the Network the success it is longing for. Last years a million little things is the best example of this scenario. The show delivered subpar live numbers and started thriving once it got the post-Grey`s slot. Launching a new drama without an established fanbase at 10 pm is rough. And while good buzz can help it get initial good numbers, like The Good Doctor, Quantico and Designated Survivor got during their premiere seasons live audience mostly doesn`t keep up the 10 pm pace and fizzles out eventually.

The question that arises is when deciding to break up the TGIT block why not give one of the dramas How To Get Away With Murder slot? A better lead-in and more compatible audience. Especially, Emergence will have a tough time finding an audience behind Black-ish.

Speaking of the comedies, which besides Grey`s are ABC`s best brand, will probably continue to struggle. Especially the Tuesday block. Giving the almost rookie, Bless this Mess the post The Connors slot with Mixed-ish following the show is a deeply risky move and ABC`s biggest gamble this season.

The Rookie moving to Sunday`s at 10pm is just poor, especially with no real idea what is going to headline the night. The Rookie mostly doubled it`s demo numbers with delayed viewing so dumping it on Sundays feels messy. The numbers won`t get better in the slot and will probably deliver the show a rather soon death.

CW - Perfect Sync

Not much is there to say about CW`s schedule, it feels perfectly in sync and should give the network the stability everyone is talking about. The Sunday girl power team up should be mutually beneficial for Batwoman and Supergirl. While a Sunday lead-in won`t do miracles for Batwoman, the 8pm slot should give a proper chance to grip an audience. The trailer looked interesting and gathered a rather positive buzz across social media. CW will certainly spend decent money on promotion so it should be a solid start for the show. Supergirl officially qualifies as a Veteran show and after a strong season 4 I assume the loyal fans will stick around for this slot change.

Monday nights might be the biggest surprise in the new CW schedule. All American turned into a major surprise for the CW heads as the show spiked in delayed viewing on Netflix after the end of its freshman run. The show getting this opportunity to turn things around for itself is a big sign of confidence from CW. Black Lightning getting the fall slot wasn`t a big surprise and the pair up with All American should work well but no wonders on Mondays.

The Flash and Arrow airing together for the first time is bittersweet and reminiscent of TVD and TO airing together during their final days. It will definitely be a nice pair up and hopefully help Arrow dig out of the 0,2 zone.

Riverdale keeping its 8pm slot is no surprise either. Nancy Drew is a proper companion, the trailer gave major freshman Riverdale vibes and the CW is betting big money on this combo. While my excitement for the show dropped with Freddie leaving the pair should draw in the same audience.

The Thursday line up will keep my Thursdays busy, as I watch both Supernatural and Legacies. Charmed moving to Fridays wasn`t a big surprise. CW blew it with airing the show Sundays at 9pm, should be interesting to see if the positive buzz and earlier timeslot will improve the life numbers. Dynasty is making good money for the CW and the show will stick around for another 44 episodes.

The big mystery with CW is always the midseason schedule with Roswell, Katy Keene, In The Dark and The 100 awaiting their chance to shine.

CBS - Mixed Signals

CBS picked up a bunch of newbies in their first post TBBT season and decided to give 5 of them a chance on their fall schedule. Mondays got a new revamp as the combo including Magnum PI didn`t really work out. The Neighbours proved to be a strong performer and the pair up with the stalker-ish comedy Bob "hearts" Abishiola should work well. ...all rise... should be a good follow up as newly appointed judge Lola (Simone Missick) should keep it funny and real at the same time. Bull should easily reach it`s syndication required numbers in the Monday 10pm slot. 

Tuesdays and Wednesdays didn`t change much as SWAT moving to Wednesdays 10pm is the only change in the line up for CBS. Once again CBS doesn`t mind wasting the Survivor lead-in on Seal Team which is a major shame on my opinion. Once Seat Team got the second season renewal it was a lock for a 4 season run, still, it overdid its welcome at the 9pm slot and should`ve been moved in favor of a newbie. 

Thursdays will be very different for CBS this year as their hit show ain`t returning in the fall. The newly added newbies, The Unicorn and Carol`s Second Chance should be a good base for the new Thursdays, Evil seems like the odd one out. IMO Evil seems like CBS`most intriguing show coming this fall but it would be the odd one out at any slot in CBS` schedule so why not give it the probably best 10pm slot, cause it certainly doesn`t seem like it could air at 9pm without scaring people. 

The MacGyver-less Fridays do come as a surprise but it shows CBS desire to make it happen. CBS wants it well cuddles in, keep the Plenkov brand alive. Sundays didn`t change this season with all three fan favorites keeping their respective slots.

Fox - Reality TV and Draaaaaama

Fox or better known as Fux online picked up a surprising number of drama pilots and put a lot of faith in Prodigal Son and Not Just me. The Monday pair up with 9-1-1 and Prodigal Son seems a bit incompatible, but the newbie had a lot of buzz going into pilot season and Fox surely considers it one of their more perspective launches heading into Fall. 

The biggest surprise on Fox`s Fall line up was Empire`s move for its final season but that was probably their smartest decision. Yes, Empire will go up against TIU but a newbie would probably have more issues delivering good and stable numbers. So Empire will deliver its Swan Song in a new slot and still be able to give Fox the numbers they want. The Resident won`t have too much competition at the 8pm Tuesday slot as the competition isn`t really what it once was. 

Giving Not Just Me (despite the ridiculous title) the post The Masked Singer makes me extremely happy. From the trailer, the show looks very promising and the pair up with The Masked Singer will hopefully be beneficial for the show. Still, having a show with such a strong lead it is a double-edged sword. Big numbers come with big retention expectations. 

Football on Thursdays and newly appointed WWE Fridays should provide Fox stability, while the new weirdly looking cartoon show, Bless The Harts should melt well with their remaining Sunday programming. A very promising schedule for Fox and probably the smartest one from all the broadcasters. 

NBC - Make NBC Comedies A Thing Again

NBC kept it on a mysterious down-low as they still didn`t make a decision on some very cancellable shows while putting an effort to make their comedies happen. The only change on their Monday to Wednesday schedule was the Bluff City addition to the post-Monday The Voice outing. NBC has big hopes for Bluff City to succeed and maybe the show will have an easier way to make it as The Voice isn`t the powerhouse it used to be so the expectations will be lower but so is the audience that can sample the new show. The Voice delivers strong numbers but launching a drama at 10pm is tough and the Monday 10pm struggle for NBC wasn`t resolved with last year`s very buzzing Manifest launch the show fizzled out fast. Personally, I feel they should`ve gone with another drama if stability is what they were looking for. 

Thursdays will certainly look different with Perfect Harmony and Sunnyside entering the game. Two very perspective comedies will try to find their audience as they will launch after NBC`s strongest comedies. B99`s and Will & Grace`s numbers weren`t the most convincing one as the season came to a close, but I didn`t expect NBC to bench both of them for midseason. It should be exciting to see how the newbies will perform and how NBC will work all their entries as the season progresses. 

Their post-football & award Sundays look fairly intriguing to me. Little Big Shots will be a good lead-in for Zoey`s Extraordinary Playlist and more compatible than anything NBC`s weekday line up can offer the show.

That`s a wrap, guys. What are your thoughts on the released Fall Schedules? Who hit a Homerun and who will have a tough start into the new season. Drop your thoughts in the comment section down below.