ABC Orders ‘Wonder Years’ Reboot and 3 Other New Shows to Series

While ABC canceled several shows on Friday, the network quickly found replacements for them on the 2021-2022 TV schedule. The projects include The Wonder Years reboot, as well as Queens, a musical drama featuring Brandy and former The Talk host Eve. The other sitcoms picked up include Abbott Elementary, starring comedian Quinta Brunson, and Maggie, starring Four Weddings and a Funeral‘s Rebecca Rittenhouse. All four shows were picked up to series, meaning at least 13 episodes will be produced.

The Wonder Years reboot was written by Saladin Patterson (Dave) and counts the show’s original co-creator, Neal Marles, as a consultant. Lee Daniels is also an executive producer. The series is set during the same time period as the original Wonder Years, 1968-1974, but will instead follow the Williamses, a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama.

Like the original, it will be told from the perspective of the adult version of one of the family’s children. Don Cheadle narrates the show as Dean Williams, while Elisha “EJ” Williams plays the young Dean. The cast also features Dule Hill, Saycon Sengbloh, Laur Kariuki, Julian Lerner, Amari O’Neil, and Milan Ray. 20th Television produces the series, and the pilot was directed by original Wonder Years star Fred Savage.

Maggie was based on Tim Curcio’s short film of the same name. It centers on a young woman coping with life as a psychic. She can really see the future of her friends, family, and random people, but when she starts seeing her own future, she learns how to live in the present. Rittenhouse stars as Maggie, alongside Chris Elliott, David Del Rio, Nichole Sakura, Angelique Cabral, Leonardo Nam, Ray Ford, Kerri Kenney, and Chloe Bridges. It was written by Justin Adler and Maggie Mull and is a 20th Television production.

Abbott Elementary is a new school-based workplace comedy set at a Philadelphia public school with a tone-deaf principal. Brunson, who starred in HBO Max’s A Black Lady Sketch Show, wrote the pilot and stars as Janine Teagues. Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Chris Perfetti, Lisa Ann Walter, and Sheryl Lee Ralph also stars.

The only new drama joining ABC’s lineup is Queens. This series centers on four women who were members of a 1990s group called the Nasty Bitches. Now in their 40s, the quartet is hoping to find fame again. Eve, Naturi Naughton, Nadine Velazquez, Taylor Sele, Pepi Sonuga, and Brandy star. Zahir McGhee wrote the pilot, which was directed by Tim Story. The show is an ABC Signature production.