‘Abbott Elementary’ Returning to TV This Fall, But There’s a Catch

ABC recently announced its fall schedule for the 2023-24 season. While it is made up of primarily unscripted series, Abbott Elementary has found its way onto the lineup, but there’s a catch. The Emmy darling will indeed be airing on the network in the fall, but only in the form of back-to-back reruns on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET. Reruns are at least better than nothing, especially with the lack of scripted series on the lineup.

The reasoning for the nearly all-unscripted lineup is because of the writers’ strike, which as of now, has no end in sight. It’s already affected TV shows, with Abbott Elementary on its third season. This also means that fans will have to wait a little bit longer to find out what will happen when the show returns, especially when it comes to Greg and Janine. However, they will be able to rewatch episodes every week to keep occupied, so at least their fall won’t be totally void of Abbott.

It’s unknown what episodes of Abbott Elementary ABC will be reairing each week, as it could be random or chronological, either starting with Season 1 or Season 2. Either way, it will be nice to see a familiar scripted series on the ABC schedule since it will literally be the only scripted series on the fall schedule, even if it is only reruns. That will just keep fans ready and prepared for when Season 3 finally premieres.

As for when Abbott Elementary will actually be back for new episodes, it’s a little early to think about midseason. It’s likely that ABC will announce their midseason lineup sometime in the beginning of fall or possibly before. It wouldn’t be surprising if Abbott stayed on Wednesdays, though, since it’s clearly dominating still. Though that all probably depends on the writers’ strike and how long it will last. Luckily, it is also streaming on Hulu so fans won’t have to completely depend on reruns.

It will be interesting to see how Abbott does in the company of unscripted series, as it will be sandwiched between Judge Steve Harvey and What Would You Do?. The fall schedule will be a little different, so it will be nice to have at least some semblance of normalcy with Abbott Elementary still being something to look forward to, especially since Season 2 ended in April.