Television
ABC: We're staying with what we have
By Toni Fitzgerald
May 13, 2008 - 8:53:38 AM

After a season in which ABC seemingly ripped up its schedule every three weeks, giving some shows several new timeslots in a four-month span, the network will concentrate on stability and nurturing its second-year returning shows this fall.

ABC will air just two new programs this fall, in stark contrast to last year, when it introduced eight new shows.

Wednesdays and Sundays, where ABC led before the writers’ strike, will return intact, while Monday, Tuesday and Thursday received minimal tweaks. Fridays will get a new look with reality airing in the first two hours after several years of attempting and failing to launch a successful drama on the night.

“We dominated the fall, we were winning till the writers’ strike and then ‘American Idol’ comes on and wreaks havoc,” ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson said this morning while introducing the network’s 2008-’09 schedule. “We had a few openings we wanted to build on, and we have 17 pilots still in development for midseason.”

ABC actually devoted a large part of this morning’s teleconference not to pumping its new schedule but to hyping a new program called the advertising value index. ABC sales president Mike Shaw said the system will allow advertisers to better define who they want to reach based on 15 different measurements such as demographic data, engagement, commercial ratings and more.

“It fully defines the audience it is actually delivering, giving actual consumer prospects. We want to take a deeper dive into the audience itself,” Shaw said. “This year not one marketing dollar can be wasted.”

That continues a trend of playing directly to advertisers in this upfront, following the big ratings dips from the writers’ strike and poor economic environment. It was an idea NBC emphasized in its presentation last month, when it promised to work with advertisers as it wrote and developed its programs.

ABC did pick up three midseason programs, including NBC’s seventh-year comedy “Scrubs” and a new beauty pageant reality series from Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher, who is also producing new addition “Opportunity Knocks.” “Lost” will also return at midseason, as will eighth-year comedy “According to Jim,” though neither has a timeslot yet.

For the fall, ABC’s schedule tweaks mainly seem designed to develop better flow in its nights, giving a new reality lead-in to “Dancing with the Stars” on Tuesdays and putting David E. Kelley’s new “Life on Mars” in the plum post-“Grey’s Anatomy” timeslot.

Mondays will be largely the same, with “Dancing with the Stars” leading off at 8 p.m. followed by “Samantha Who?” at 9:30 p.m. “Boston Legal” moves from Tuesday at 10 p.m. to Monday, replacing “The Bachelor,” whose ratings slipped this spring. “Bachelor” will return at midseason, and this will be the last season for “Legal.”

“Knocks,” a hybrid game-reality show focused on families, will lead off Tuesday at 8 p.m., followed by “Stars” and, at 10 p.m., the quirky drama “Eli Stone,” which drew low ratings after bowing during the strike.

Wednesday will be the same as last fall, with “Pushing Daisies,” “Private Practice” and “Dirty Sexy Money” all returning for a second season.

“Ugly Betty” and “Grey’s” will remain at 8 and 9 on Thursday, followed by “Mars,” a remake of a BBC series about a modern-day detective who is transported back to 1973.

Fridays get the biggest makeover, with “Wife Swap” and “Supernanny” taking over the first two hours and “20/20” remaining at 10 p.m.

“Saturday Night Football” remains on Saturday, and the Sunday schedule remains intact for the third straight year: “America’s Funnies Home Videos,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Brothers & Sisters.”

The network canceled "Men in Trees," "Women's Murder Club" and "October Road."