ABC's 'Big Sky' Replacement Revealed After Cancellation
ABC announced its fall schedule, revealing an almost entirely reality show-filled lineup. Amidst the series and new seasons premiering in the fall is the replacement for the now-canceled drama Big Sky. The long-running hidden camera series What Would You Do? is taking over Big Sky's former timeslot on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET, a complete shift considering how different the two shows are.
While Big Sky's future was unknown for a while, and it was likely it would have gone either way, the cancellation didn't hurt any less. The third season, Big Sky: Deadly Trails, brought in two huge faces with, Reba McEntire and Jensen Ackles, but not even them or a subtle rebranding was able to save the series from its ultimate fate. The fall schedule just makes it even more real, even though all scripted series have been replaced, it just means even more that we won't be looking forward to it come midseason.
What Would You Do? initially premiered in 2008 and was coincidentally ordered after the first writers' strike in 2007. The show, which hasn't aired a new episode since 2020, will be going into its 17th season and follows the reactions of passing strangers who are put into difficult situations in public, unaware they're being recorded, hence the hidden camera element. News correspondent John Quiñones has been hosting the series since the beginning, and it's highly likely he will return for Season 17.
The reasoning for the fall schedule being made up of almost entirely unscripted series is due to the writers' strike. A handful of shows are already being affected, even Abbott Elementary has paused production on its third season. However, the network has yet to make decisions on Home Economics or The Rookie: Feds, not to mention the pilots that ABC is still deciding on. Since there's no telling how long the strike will last, it's unknown when the network will make final decisions or when it could announce its midseason schedule. It's hard to predict whether a scripted series will replace What Would You Do? for 2024, but considering previous seasons have been relatively short, it's a safe bet.
ABC has yet to reveal premiere dates for the fall schedule, but it's likely the network will announce something in the coming months, at least before the end of summer. Fans will just have to stay tuned to see when What Would You Do? and other unscripted series will finally be coming back to ABC, but since it's been three years since What Would You Do? last aired, a few more months won't hurt.