You are viewing the archive: “ABC Comedy Block”

2011 Fall Schedule: 10-11 PM Comedies Out, 8 PM Comedy Blocks And 10 PM Dramas In

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday May 22, 2011 @ 10:07pm PDTTags: A GIfted Man, ABC Comedy Block, Charlie's Angels, Desperate Housewives, Free Agents, Last Man Standing, Mad Men, Man Up, Once Upon a Time, Pan Am, Person of Interest, Terra Nova, The Good Wife, The Middle, Up All Night
Nellie Andreeva

Running out of slots for comedy series and striking out with new dramas in the fall, NBC and ABC in midseason expanded their existing two-hour comedy blocks on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively, to three hours, to largely uninspiring results. Going into next fall, the 10-11 PM comedy hours are being scrapped in favor of opening up more traditional 8-9 PM comedy blocks on other nights. In another sign of the resurgence of the comedy genre, for the first time in six years, each of the Big Four broadcast networks will have two comedy blocks on the fall schedule. Interestingly, both NBC and ABC opted to launch their new comedy blocks in the time periods where they most recently ran comedies. And just like the last time, both NBC and ABC populated the blocks with new comedies. In fall 2006, NBC launched 30 Rock and Twenty Good Years from 8-9 PM on Wednesday, the same time slot the network is using this year for new comedies Up All Night and Free Agents. ABC, which is going with the Tim Allen vehicle Last Man Standing and Chris Moynihan’s Man Up Tuesdays 8-9 PM, last tried comedies on the night in the fall of 2007, with then-newbies Cavemen and Carpoolers.

Something else happened this season: the return of the 10 PM drama. Scores of new dramas met their demise trying to get off the ground in the hour over the past few years, with the only shows to make it were modest hits Brothers and Sisters, Castle and The Good Wife. Uncertain about the prospects of 10 PM dramas, NBC even tried a Jay Leno talk show in the slot two seasons ago and had since kept the hour comedy/reality branded. But this season, all four freshman dramas to make it to Season 2 were 10 PM shows: CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods, ABC’s Body of Proof and NBC’s Harry’s Law. What’s more, for the first time in five years, all Big 3 networks have scheduled dramas in the 10 PM slot every night Sunday through Thursday. READ MORE »

Comments (19)

ABC To Extend New Tuesday Comedy Block To 2 Hours In Midseason With ‘Cougar Town’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday May 17, 2011 @ 6:48am PDTTags: ABC Comedy Block, Apartment 23, Charlie's Angels, Cougar Town, Dancing With The Stars, Happy Endings, Last Man Standing, Man Up
Nellie Andreeva

ABC Unveils 2011-12 Primetime Schedule
We may have the first head-to-head faceoff of two-hour comedy blocks in years this spring. ABC, which is launching a new Tuesday 8-9 PM comedy block with the Tim Allen starrer Last Man Standing and Chris Moynihan’s Man Up, leading into the Dancing With the Stars result show, plans to extend the block to two hours between the two cycles of Dancing, ABC Entertainment Group president Paul Lee announced at a press conference this morning. In what could be dubbed “men vs. women,” the two comedies with male leads will be followed by Courteney Cox’s Cougar Town and freshman Apartment 23 starring Krysten Ritter. Fox, of course, already has a 8-10 PM comedy block anchored by Glee at 8 PM and announced yesterday that it will convert it into a four-show block in March when Glee goes on hiatus. Since Dancing usually returns at the end of March, there is a good chance for the two four-comedy blocks to go toe to toe for a couple of weeks, a return to the old times when comedy ruled primetime with blocks on virtually every night of the week. Read More »

Comments 23

ABC Plans Mix Of Series-Order Sizes, To Open Second Comedy Block On Tuesday?

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday May 16, 2011 @ 5:30pm PDTTags: ABC, ABC Comedy Block, Good Christian Belles, Missing, Tim Allen
Nellie Andreeva

Three days after the euphoria of getting their pilots picked up by ABC, I hear the producers of the newly picked-up series are in panic mode over conflicting information about the sizes of the network’s series orders. Word is, with … Read More »

Comments (9)

ABC Slots ‘Mr. Sunshine’ Behind ‘Modern Family’ And ‘Happy Endings’ At 10 PM

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday December 6, 2010 @ 4:07pm PSTTags: ABC Comedy Block, ABC Midseason Schedule, ABC Scheduling, Cougar Town, Happy Endings, Matthew Perry, Matthew Perry Mr. Sunshine, Modern Family, Mr. Sunshine, Off the Map, TV, TV Scheduling
Nellie Andreeva

This trend of comedies at 10 PM seems to be catching on quickly at the broadcast networks. Right after NBC announced that it will expand its 8-10 PM Thursday comedy block to 11 PM in midseason, ABC is doing the … Read More »

Comments 26