ABC Releases 2021 Fall Schedule With Mix of New and Returning Primetime Shows

ABC announced its line-up for the upcoming fall TV season on Tuesday, May 18. Things look [...]

ABC announced its line-up for the upcoming fall TV season on Tuesday, May 18. Things look relatively similar to last season in the new layout, except with COVID-19 restrictions considerably loosened. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network is introducing only two new shows this year.

ABC is shuffling the time slots for Big Sky, Home Economics, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and Supermarket Sweep in the new season. It introduces two new shows — a remake of The Wonder Years and a music drama Queens. President of ABC Entertainment Craig Erwich said: "We are proud to continue to deliver highly entertaining, culturally relevant and powerful stories that further drive our momentum as the No. 1 entertainment network. We've also made it a priority to be intentionally inclusive across all of our content, and we're excited to introduce our audience to the rich new characters, bold stories and strong ensemble casts featured in our upcoming programming slate."

The Wonder Years reboot has caught many fans' attention, with a promising cast including Dulé Hill and Saycon Sengbloh as the parents to 12-year-old Dean, played by Elisha "EJ" Williams. The show will be set in Montgomery, Alabama in 1968. Don Cheadle will narrate as an adult version of Dean, and Fred Savage will direct the pilot episode in a nod to the original series. The show comes from writer Saladin K. Patterson of The Big Bang Theory and executive producers Lee Daniels, Marc Velez and Savage. Original co-creator Neal Marlens is a consultant.

Meanwhile, Queens is about four women who were once in a 90s group called "The Nasty B—es" trying to recapture the fame of their youth. It comes from writer Zahir McGhee of Scandal, with executive producer Sabrina Wind and director Tim Story. Queens will air on Tuesday nights following The Bachelorette. In contrast, The Wonder Years will air on Wednesday nights at 8:30 p.m. ET, leading into The Conners just as the original once led into Roseanne decades ago.

Big Sky is moving to Thursday nights, while Home Economics will move back an hour but stay on Wednesday nights. Celebrity Wheel of Fortune jumps from Thursdays to Sundays, and Supermarket Sweep moves back an hour on Sundays. Five shows are holding back until the 2022 TV season — Black-ish, American Idol, Abbott Elementary, Maggie and Women of the Movement.

ABC has more pilots under consideration and more time slots to fill, so the schedule could change before the season begins. So far, there is nothing too shocking on deck for the network.

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