TV Upfront Week usually brings lots of changes — but for ABC’s fall schedule, viewers can find comfort in the familiar.
The network’s prime-time lineup will stay mostly the same, ABC Entertainment Group president Paul Lee said Tuesday afternoon in a conference call with reporters. The Monday, Wednesday and Thursday night schedules (see below) won’t be altered at all: You’ll still get the reliable “Dancing With the Stars” and “Castle” night; half-hour comedies anchored by “Modern Family”; and the Shonda Rhimes “Grey’s Anatomy”/”Scandal”/”How to Get Away With Murder” lineup, respectively.
As for new shows, ABC is incredibly excited about its re-imagining of “The Muppets” as an “Office”-type mockumentary series. The show kicks off Tuesdays at 8 p.m., and Lee declares it “not your grandmother’s Muppets.”
Tuesday continues with “Fresh Off the Boat,” bumped a half hour to 8:30 p.m. It’s followed by the third season of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and new drama “Quantico” at 10 p.m., about a diverse group of FBI recruits who seem like shining stars — although one of them is also suspected of being a terrorist.
On Fridays after Tim Allen’s “Last Man Standing,” ABC replaces “Cristela” with “Dr. Ken,” starring Ken Jeong (the “Community” and “Hangover” actor who is actually a doctor in real life) as a physician with zero bedside manner. With “Revenge” gone on Sunday nights at 9 p.m., the network now has “Oil,” a drama starring Don Johnson as a guy who hopes to strike it rich. At 10 p.m., there’s “Of Kings and Prophets,” a biblical saga that Lee promises “has all the intrigue and sex of the real Bible.”
The real shake-ups arrive when other shows go on midseason breaks later in the year: “Secrets and Lies” (without Ryan Phillippe) subs in for “Nashville” on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. Later, “How to Get Away With Murder” on Thursdays at 10 p.m. will be replaced by another Shonda Rhimes show, “The Catch,” a drama centered on a fraud investigator who gets duped. Friday nights, family sitcom “Uncle Buck” takes over for “Dr. Ken” at 8:30 p.m.
On Sunday nights, musical comedy “Galavant” will temporarily replace “Once Upon a Time” Sundays at 8 p.m., while political thriller “The Family” eventually airs in the “Of Kings and Prophets” time slot.
And after “The Muppets” run is done, “Fresh Off the Boat” will move back to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, and comedy “The Real O’Neals” — about a “perfect” Catholic family that has some buried secrets — takes over at 8:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, no word on a place for “American Crime,” a bit of a surprise renewal for the network: But according to Lee, the drama will take a page from shows like “American Horror Story,” and certain actors will return playing different roles in a new story.
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FALL 2015 PRIME-TIME LINEUP ON ABC
MONDAY
8 p.m. Dancing With the Stars
10 p.m. Castle
TUESDAY
8 p.m. The Muppets
8:30 p.m. Fresh Off the Boat (new time slot)
9 p.m. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.LD.
10 p.m. Quantico
WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. The Middle
8:30 p.m. The Goldbergs
9 p.m. Modern Family
9:30 p.m. black-ish
10 p.m. Nashville
THURSDAY
8 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy
9 p.m. Scandal
10 p.m. How to Get Away With Murder
FRIDAY
8 p.m. Last Man Standing
8:30 p.m. Dr. Ken
9 p.m. Shark Tank
10 p.m. 20/20
SUNDAY
7 p.m. America’s Funniest Home Videos
8 p.m. Once Upon a Time
9 p.m. Oil
10 p.m. King of Prophets