The Future of the Night: ABC Thursday

Welcome to a segment I call "The Future of the Night". The format is I take a look at a night on the network's schedule, see what could use improvement, and come up with scenarios which could potentially solve it. First, I present a short argument as to why it could work, then play Devil's Advocate with my reasoning, and then present the bottom line. Enjoy, and fee free to leave your opinions by leaving a comment!
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Just last year, ABC Thursday was Must-See TV. It went by many names: Shondaland, TGIT, Shonda Thursday, etc. Now, Grey's Anatomy remains on top of ABC's ratings, now their #1 drama, but Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder have fallen mightily. Scandal is no longer the show that seemingly there's someone walkabout about it at all times, and many associate a decline in quality with the ratings decline. At 10pm, the highly serialized nature of How to Get Away with Murder may have lost many old fans. In addition, spring replacement The Catch premiered to very low ratings, and is definitely not a force that can bring TGIT back up to where it once was. Thursday is far from being ABC's worst day, but it's also far away from its heyday not too long ago (in raw and relative ratings).

Option 1: Stay Steady
Why It Will Work: With Sunday and Tuesday being a mess, as well as holes on Monday and even Wednesday, does ABC really have the time to mess with Thursday? A network can only move so much in a season. Grey's Anatomy and Scandal are both expected to be above-average performers

next season, and Murder is still ABC's #1 10m show, so why not keep the block together?

Why It Won't: With declines like this, by next season How to Get Away with Murder risks going fractional. How do you promote the block as "Thank God It's Thursday" with ratings like that? Additionally, The Catch indicates that Scandal can't launch a show. And keeping the schedule stable would mean no launching a new show out of Grey's Anatomy, their #1 drama.

Bottom Line: This season, ABC played it safe by keeping almost every returning show in its old time slot. If ABC wants TGIT back, they should probably get experimenting. If they're OK with what they have now (and expect to get next season) and want to work on other nights instead, that's equally plausible, if not more plausible.

Option 2: New Drama at 10pm
Why It Will Work: Despite ratings declines, Scandal is still relatively high up there in terms of ABC scripted show rankings. Instead of having it leads into what is bound to be the weakest link of the night, move Murder to a problem slot and give a new drama a chance at Thursdays. Plus, there's barely any competition in the time slot. For promotional purposes they would probably choose Shondaland's Still Star-Crossed.

Why It Won't: Murder is bound to see declines next season just by its nature, but moving it from Thursday will do even more damage, and there's no way of telling if this new drama is going to be DOA or not.

Bottom Line: Trying a new drama at 10p after Scandal would be optimal to moving Scandal to 10pm and trying something at 9 just for the purpose of stability. If ABC thinks that it could better utilize Murder in a trouble time slot, then they should go for it. I don't see it as being utmost priority though.

Option 3: New Drama at 9pm
Why It Will Work: Opening up a spot after Grey's Anatomy will provide a new drama with its best chance at success.

Why It Won't: As mentioned earlier, a network can only do so much in one season. TGIT isn't what it once was, but that doesn't necessarily mean they go and move 2 of 3 shows.

Bottom Line: Grey's Anatomy is aging, so is it time that ABC use its lead-in on something other than Scandal? If they do go ahead and not only move Murder to another night but also shift Scandal back to 10pm, I wouldn't expect many other moves to be made on the schedule. I just don't think it's worth it.

What do you think? Are there any other somewhat-plausible options that I didn't cover? Let me know in the comments below!

ABC Comedy Development Watch: What Has Potential?

It’s November, and you know what that means—we’re “only” six months away from upfronts! All joking aside, ABC and the rest of the broadcast networks have already started the development cycle for 2016-2017. Right now, everything is in the very early stages—most shows in development have no more than a script ordered. Eventually, ABC will narrow it down to approximately 12 comedy pilots and 12 drama pilots, of which they will pick up a few. 

Right now, I wanted to take a quick look at a few of ABC’s comedy scripts, and what may have potential. This may be a fun little article to look back at come upfronts. To see the descriptions of ALL of the pilots/scripts currently in development, go to The Futon Critic here. Now, let's take a look at four comedy descriptions that may have some potential based on ABC's brand and the holes they may need to fill.

What Has Potential

1.    Splitsville

Main Production Companies: ABC Studios and Shondaland Productions

Creators: Emily Halpern (Trophy Wife) and Sarah Haskins (Trophy Wife)

EP: Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, Private Practice), as well as Halpern/Haskins

Story Line: Single-cam; About a bunch of divorced adults who come together in an effort to raise the kids.

Why Might It Work?: In my opinion, this one will be ordered to series in less the script/pilot is a massive let down. The fact that they are trying to do more business with the creators of poor Trophy Wife, as well as the fact that the one and only Shonda Rhimes has come on board with her own company and colleague Betsy Beers, tells me that ABC really wants this one to work.

     Family Show

Main Production Company: 20^th Century FOX

Creator: Danny Zuker (an EP of Modern Family)

Story Line: Follows the people who work behind the scenes of a family sitcom.

Why Might It Work?: Family sitcoms has officially become ABC’s comedy brand, and fans of their returning family comedies for next season may find this enjoyable. I wouldn’t mess with Wednesdays to launch something like this, but it seems like a cute little show that could work on a Tuesday night.

3.    The Fluffy Shop

Main Production Company: ABC Studios

Creator: Gabriel Iglesias (Cristela)

Story Line: Multi-cam; Loosely follows the life of stand-up comedian Gabriel Iglesias and his home life when he isn’t touring.

Why Might it Work?: ABC cancelled Cristela, but apparently they are more than willing to do business with Gabriel Iglesias, who discovered Cristela and played a recurring role on the show. If ABC can’t bring back Last Man Standing and want to continue Dr Ken, maybe The Fluffy Shop (possibly with a different title) is the way to go.

4.    The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport

Main Production Company: ABC Studios

Creator: Sarah Dunn

Executive Producer: Aaron Kaplan (The Neighbors, Life in Pieces, The Mysteries of Luara, Instant Mom)

Story Line: A single-cam family comedy narrated by a “slightly larger wife” who lives in a dysfunctional family in a world where everyone else is perfect

Why Might it Work?: Despite the terrible name, this one seems to be on ABC’s family comedy brand, from the voiceover to the dysfunctional family to the assimilation aspect. If they don’t focus on the weight of the woman and focus more on a dysfunctional family, maybe they could have something. Of all those listed here though, I like it’s chances the least.

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What do you think? Any script descriptions listed on Futon Critic that you found more interesting? Let me know!

Scandal S5 E7 Review

Photo credit: abcgo.com

Scandal S5 E7

      What did you think of Scandal: "Even the devil deserves a second chance"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!        
     
     To start this review off, this is my first review with the website, and I’m hopeful that I can write a review that you as readers, and fans of these amazing shows will appreciate. I hope you like it!

Scandal S5 E7 “Even the devil deserves a second chance”

        The episode begins with Fitz talking at a press conference about the whole impeachment debacle. He goes on about how he is so sorry, and how he’s asked God for forgiveness, and all the other things you say, when you’ve been caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Fitz has always been good at placating others, and finding ways for his mistakes, his shortcomings to appear like wins, or good qualities. He is a very talented man, when it comes to making everything into pointing the finger anywhere but at himself. 

        Behind closed doors, and away from the cameras, the staff at the white house is letting loose in celebration. They’ve just avoided impeachment! Olivia crosses the room, running into Abby on the way over to Fitz. They have a brief conversation about the Congressmen and women being blackmailed, and the insinuation that the blackmail is what got Fitz out of the investigation. Olivia neither denies, nor confirms her friend’s questions, before heading over to Fitz.

        With a brief bit of awkward nature on Olivia’s part; the fact that Olivia technically left him at the metaphorical alter is wiped away, without any drama. Fitz wanted a better wedding anyway. Fitz is happy that they are in the clear and happy for the moment. 

        In the same room, David and Susan are flirting very cutely I might add. Susan offers him a ride to a thing they’re both going to, and David agrees to go. That’s when the fun of the party ends.

        Cyrus comes into the room, bringing the negative energy that Cyrus always brings. With a few glances, Fitz, Abby, and Cyrus leave the party behind.

        Behind closed doors Fitz is informed that Rowan is out of jail, and that also, the secret service agent that administered the lethal disease to little Jerry is out. Fitz is confused, just like anyone would be at the random release of two criminals. Olivia joins them at this moment, and the conversations sort of stops. Olivia puts on her victim mask, and is all of a sudden all kinds of worried that her daddy is out, when she knows damn well that she did this. In comfort, Fitz hugs Olivia, which allows for a silent conversation between Abby and Olivia. Abby now knows with no doubt that Olivia has something to do with Rowan’s release.

        Olivia lets herself into her apartment, where she senses someone in her home. Calling out for her father, before turning the lights on to find Jake instead. He says that her wine isn’t very good. He commands for her to sit, which she does not do. When he says it more forcefully, she does so. In a drunken rant, he tells her that she is false. She goes around talking about white hats, and doing the right thing, but if it suits her needs, she’ll do anything she has to in order to get her way (He’s obviously talking about getting Rowan out) He says that letting Rowan out makes her responsible for his wife’s death, and that just because she takes in strays that doesn’t erase the evil she does.

        Jake is being a bit harsh in my opinion. How could Olivia have known that Elise was trying to kill Rowan? Jake has plenty of blood on his hands as well, and has no room to talk about doing evil. I may be too harsh for Jake, but I’m so ready for him to be gone. He feels like a forced addition at this point. He just kind of gets tacked onto the plots, so he has something to do. I have a very big feeling that he will die in the fall finale, or by the season finale. To finish this scene between Jake and Olivia. He refers to Olivia as Rowan’s biggest accomplishment. She is exactly the woman he wanted her to be power hungry, entitled, and dangerous I think it was. That’s when he kissed her. In that moment I realized that Jake & Olivia are finally done.

        The next day Cyrus enters the oval office to find Olivia hanging out with Fitz. This looks a little weird for me. It’s like bringing your girlfriend to work with you, and she sits there in your office while you do work. Cyrus begins to spout a plan he has to restore the image of Fitz. Fitz already has a plan though, and he has no aversion of bringing it up to Cyrus, when he forgets and Olivia has to remind him “Firefighters” Cyrus becomes aware of who came up with the plan. That’s when Cyrus and Olivia share a very sarcastic, unfriendly “Hello” I miss their friendship, so scenes like these make me sad. At this moment Olivia's phone goes off. She has a client! I miss the new client each week, and all the cases, so whenever we get a case it makes me happy!

        Abby meets the feminist icon, and tells him and his wife that he was the reason she had the courage to leave her abusive husband, and that he is pretty much her hero. A signed copy of his book is offered, to which Abby agrees excitedly.

        Olivia struts into OPA with purpose in her stride. The gladiators are there to block her way, and when none of her questions get answered, Olivia falters. When she asks them what’s going on, Huck answers by asking if she had anything to do with Rowan escaping. When Olivia confirms, he voices his concern about Rowan bringing B613 back. Olivia assures him that her father will not be bringing the spy organization back. You better hope so girl because I am so done with the B613 storyline.

        Now we meet our client. Hannah Taylor. She wants to know if Olivia gets justice for rape victims, to which Olivia replies that she sometimes gets justice, but each case is different. Hannah was raped two years ago, and nobody believed her at the time, and she tried to get over it, but she can’t let it go. She knows that Olivia “knows” the president, and wanted her to tell him her story. When asked if she was trying to change a law, or bill Hannah informs Olivia that the president will want to know her story because the man who raped her is the man receiving the presidential medal of freedom (Frank Holland).

        Meanwhile at the white house, Frank is being talked up by Fitz, and back at OPA they are watching the presentation on TV. Olivia learns that Hannah had went to the specific school because Frank was her hero. When she made it into his senior thesis seminar she felt validated. The attack happened at Frank’s home, when she went over to speak to him about a paper. When she tried to tell the college what had happened, they had put her on a leave of absence, which is pretty wording for expelled. Olivia explains how hard this path will be to get justice against a beloved man. Olivia leaves her office behind, to a confused Marcus who is told that the white house is always their client.

        Abby meets Elizabeth North at a park near the white house, and they talk excitedly over the signed copy of Holland’s book. I like their friendship. Elizabeth cuts the social meeting short by informing Abby that she has been offered to go onto Sally Langston’s show to spill the beans about what she knows from her time at the White house. She wants a job in the white house again, and she wants Cyrus gone within forty-eight hours, or she’ll do what Sally wants. Abby storms away.

        Olivia informs Fitz of the accusation of Holland, and he tells her to keep him updated, but at that moment The door opens, and Jake is ushered in. Olivia hears an update of some mission that ends up being the hunt for her father. Jake makes a couple pointed questions as to who could’ve helped him escape. That’s when the topic of what they will do with him, once they do find him. Jake is going to put a bullet in his head. I think this mission will be the mission that sets into motion my theory of Jake  being gone sooner rather than later. 

        Abby warns Cyrus of Elizabeth’s threat, to which he shakes off with no thought. Abby reiterates that he should alert the president. Cyrus just asks to have David Rosen put on the phone. Speaking of Rosen, the next scene picks up with Elizabeth being escorted into David’s office. She is indignant, and demands to know why she is there. He informs her that he is aware of her intent to share classified information on Sally’s show, and demands that she take a seat. She obeys.

        Over to Frank Holland’s house, where Olivia questions him on his memory of Hannah, which he does remember when prompted with a picture. He uses his wife’s memory to sharpen the vagueness of his memory for her. He replies that the accusations are insane, when Olivia informs him of the rape accusation. He tells Olivia of the plagiarism, and that maybe Hannah was angry with him.

        Olivia is not happy with Hannah because she lied by omission which is just as bad as lying. Olivia tells her that rape is already so hard to prove, and rape victims are held to a higher standard. Something like this could cost them this case. When Hannah thinks that all help is lost, Quinn reassures her, making Olivia pipe up and say that they have to find more women who have been victimized by Holland as well, in order to prove it.

        They split up, and find several victims who suffered horrifyingly similar occurrences of being drugged by the icon, and then having sex with them. They were all dismissed by the school as well. After they have found plenty of victims, they meet up and go on the hunt for a trail of whatever prescription medicine they were drugged with.

        At this point David and Elizabeth are arguing about David’s power, and how much of it he really has. Elizabeth doesn’t feel as though his accusations are warranted, not does she believe that she is planning to do anything illegal, but David trumps her arguments, when he mentions that she leaked the footage of Olivia and Fitz in the white house. She says something of how David is a man that believes in the law, and he should be doing that and not the bidding of Cyrus. She storms out. When David tells Cyrus of his failure, he tells him he’ll have to find his own way to thwart Elizabeth.

        The next day the gladiators find that Holland’s wife has a prescription for oxycodone. She calls them to her office, where she accuses him of stealing the pills. His wife quickly calls the allegation a malicious lie. She tells him to shut up and sit down, in this moment; Olivia realizes that she knew. In bewilderment, she questions the wife, but Frank tries to answer. His wife snaps her finger, and he bounces back in his seat, without a single word. She’s got him trained! The woman goes on to tell Olivia that her husband has helped so many more women than he has hurt, and that she had every intention of protecting his legacy.

        Olivia is telling Fitz the situation, when Cyrus interrupts them to inform Fitz about the threat that is Elizabeth North. (Took you long enough Cy) He seems to be growing increasingly tired of Olivia being right there for every conversation. He tells Fitz to either discredit Elizabeth, or soothe her into submission. Fitz will take it under advisement. When Cyrus leaves them alone, Olivia advises Fitz allow Elizabeth to go onto the show, and she literally encourages it.

        The show comes along, and the white house staff is waiting. It almost looked as if the whole room was holding their breath in anxious anticipation. Elizabeth tells Sally’s millions of viewers that she is mad, but not about what Sally wants her to be mad about. Elizabeth is mad that tax payer dollars were wasted on a fruitless attempt to drag a good man’s name through the dirt. Sally is shocked, and speechless, so she takes a premature commercial break. (Ha ha ha take that Sally!)

        Cyrus comes into the room, rejuvenated about the win they just had. That’s when he finds out Elizabeth was given a job as the vice president’s chief of staff. He meets Olivia’s eye, and knows that it was her idea.

        Back to David, he invites Elizabeth into his office to offer her laptop back to her, after it was seized. She expects an apology, which David counters with more argument, and I actually saw this coming a few seconds before it happened. They get rather close, and then the sensual behavior begins. Elizabeth asks if David likes her, and he confirms her suspicion. She commands him to sit down, which he eagerly does. Just outside of the office, poor Susan comes to bring David some wine coolers. Little does she know that David is doing some things she’d blush over right beyond the door. In her cute little awkward way she contemplates whether to wait for him or not, and eventually leaves the coolers for him, and decides to leave.

        Olivia is contemplating how to prove the damage that Holland has done, when an idea strikes her. She asks where Holland is doing his lecture. The scene flashes to a lecture hall, in which every single victim parades down to the front of the hall, and Frank is bewildered. That’s when the news outlets begin to speak about it. They won!

        Olivia sees Cyrus next. They have a conversation, in which Cyrus says that he thought she was trying to replace him, when Olivia denies this, he tells her that he knows that now. He tells her that she is now the woman behind the man. She is the most powerful person in the world. He tells her Fitz isn’t the president, she is. She isn’t tied down to the title of First lady, and she can come and go as she pleases. He is the guy behind the girl, and that Fitz isn’t in the picture anymore.

        Olivia comes into the oval office, and pours herself some scotch. She is obviously going over Cyrus’s words, and when Fitz informs her that her father has seemed to disappear, she visibly relaxes. At that moment, she seems to come to peace with the truth of Cyrus’s words because she begins giving him solutions to all of his problems. She is standing on the presidential seal, when the screen goes to the Scandal logo. Olivia Pope is in charge of a country.

        Some things I liked about this episode.

1. I loved the case, I always love the cases, and they should do more.
2. I loved Susan in this episode.
3. I love how far Olivia has come since the beginning.
4. I loved Elizabeth in every scene.

Some things I didn’t like in this episode.

1. No Mellie.
2. Cyrus was very petty, and annoying in this episode.
3. Jake irked me with every scene.
4. David doing something that is obviously illegal (having sex in the attorney general’s office. While he constantly judges others on their law breaking.

Well there we are! It was a pretty good episode, and I’m really looking forward to the fall finale, where my hope is for Jake to die. I hope we get some Mellie in next week’s episode. I hope you guys enjoyed my first review!

It's Only Smoo's Opinion: An Uneventful Fall Ratings Season

HerCampus

For those of you joining my editorials, I hope you appreciate my colorful positions and know they do not represent the opinion of this site and its contributors as a whole. The issue I'm addressing in this article relates to the fall performances early into the season. To be perfectly frank, this season has not been bad nor dynamite with ratings. The network averages are slightly down, albeit the returning shows are surprisingly stable. No show is creating ratings fireworks, but then again, almost all of the returning shows are in threatening positions. As predicted, Empire eroded, as did The Big Bang. However, both are settling into new territories and are still their network's highest scripted shows. ABC's TGIT now enjoys shows rated in the 2.0 territory, a far cry from its 3.0+ glory last fall. But ABC still dominates all three hours in scripted material. Wednesday is, well, dull with ratings. ABC's sitcoms are down, yet solid. Nashville is sinking further in the 1.0 territory and placing 3rd in its timeslot, only .1 and .3 behind other networks' competition.

Huffington Post

For those of us rooting for our scripted series to survive, we can take comfort that the new norm is a show attaining a 1.5 rating. My own pallet of returning shows includes Brooklyn 99, Fresh Off the Boat, The Goldbergs and Blackish. I also await the premieres of Mom, 2 Broke Girls and Mike and Molly. I predict all will place between 1.7 and 2.3 ratings, which is more than respectable for CBS. Among the freshman pilots, I am following Grandfathered and Scream Queens, both of which are hovering around the 1.0 mark. Their outlook is questionable, but they also air on Fox, which now holds a lower bar for acceptable scripted ratings. Scream Queens may have a shorter shelf life due to the limited premise, but Grandfathered may easily be renewed as the premise has potential. Quantico has a tougher premise to invest in, yet has respectable ratings (for Sunday) and leans toward renewal.

Music Times

Early into 2015, the networks have similar patterns from one year ago. Mondays are still dominated by reality-TV heavy NBC, followed second my moderately successful CBS. ABC is aging and steadily declining, while Fox struggles as Gotham has plateaued, and Sleepy Hollow declines below 1.0. Tuesdays have been gracious to ABC, which is regularly placing 3rd for the evening despite airing repeats in the 10pm hour. NBC again leads the evening with the Voice, followed second by stable CBS. And Fox again struggles to ignite fireworks and remains in the shark's grip of CW's leading evening overtaking it for 4th Place. Wednesdays are a carbon copy of the previous season. Fox holds its only winning evening during the week, followed by ABC's strong delivery of sitcoms. CBS trails in 3rd Place, and NBC's solid scripted evening takes 4th Place as Mysteries of Laura weighs down seasoned veterans SVU and Chicago PD. And Thursdays are a rinse and repeat of our last season. CBS rules with Football, and will likely still rank high with its sitcom block. ABC is solid, NBC a joke and Fox forgettable.

Even the shows losing viewers is anti-climatic and lacking urgency. Empire hemorrhaged 2 ratings points in a demo slide. But Empire appears to be stable in the high 4's, and could survive losing another 2 ratings points and be heralded a ratings juggernaut for Fox. ABC is experiencing ratings drama for Castle and Nashville, but does anyone care? Castle is in its 8th season and ranking close to its ailing CBS competition, NCIS: LA. And Nashville has reached syndication and likely stands poised to overtake CBS' misfire Code Black. Over at CBS, it has three troubled dramas, all ranking at or close to the 1.0 mark. CSI: Cyber is certain to be cancelled, but who cares? It's a Sunday show, and the drama surrounding its failure pales compared to last season when Revenge declined. NCIS: LA is now hovering lower on the radar, but does anybody notice? Even Hawaii 5-0 isn't generating any low-rated buzz, as it was "Certain to Be Cancelled" last season. The fans must laugh, as this show could likely see S7 and S8 as the pilots collapse around them like houses built on fault lines.

2015-16 is indeed an uneventful ratings season, and I am pleased. No buzzworthy press over cancellations beats the perennial decline the networks have experienced the last 8 seasons following the streaming/Youtube craze. Our ratings community appears to be more engrossed in the fall of our sister site, TVBN, which no longer features its prided "must see" articles such as the weekly ratings, cunning and insightful "Renew or Cancel" articles every Tuesday, and a decline in journalism as a whole. So sit back and enjoy a boring season. We earned it and should flaunt our shows slowing their ratings erosion.