Last year they debuted 8 new shows for a total of 6 hours, and this coming fall they will debut 7 shows for a total of 6 and a half hours (With more on reserve for mid-season.)

Comedy Wednesday was a success, or at least Modern Family was, The Middle is doing middling ratings (pun intended) and Cougar Town has seen its ratings dip post-renewal.  In all, only Hank was a total strike out, and that one quickly disappeared.  Considering how awful ABC has been at launching successful comedies, the fact that they had any success with its bold Wednesday night block is a huge win for them.  Literally, ABC was scraping the bottom of the barrel, underscored not just by the fact that they even bothered saving Scrubs from NBC, but then renewed it despite its average of under 5 million viewers.  That didn’t happen again, Scrubs is now dead.

Dramas are where ABC has some problems.  They banked pretty much everything on FlashForward being the heir-apparent to Lost, and as anyone who endured FlashForward knows, that didn’t happen.  As the guy who actually watched The Forgotten, I actually thought it was a better show than FlashForward, and I’ll miss that one quite a bit more.  Alas, The Forgotten lived up to its title and the Jerry Bruckheimer drama will be replaced by The Whole Truth, a Jerry Bruckheimer drama.
ABC needs some success with its new dramas, striking out last season combined with its aging and dying veteran shows, it could be in serious trouble if it comes out of this season empty-handed.  Its Sunday line-up saw its ratings dip across the board and many expected that schedule to get a shake-up.  That will happen once Brothers and Sisters wraps early, but given that ABC is trying to launch so many new shows, it needed some familiarity in its schedule as well.  Desperate Housewives is still strong enough for a couple more years, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was considered most likely to shift to Fridays, and still could, as it has definitely weakened over the past year.  Brothers and Sisters saw its ratings tank last year and may well be heading into its swan song.  Producers are still moving full steam ahead on a flash-forward that will see the show pick up one year in the future following the tragic events in the season finale.

Despite struggling on Fridays for years, ABC hasn’t entirely thrown in the towel just yet.  Body of Proof, the new Dana Delaney drama will launch on the night.  Because a female-centric detective drama worked so well there last time with Women’s Murder Club.  It will be paired with Secret Millionaire, the canceled reality show that ABC picked out of Fox’s scrap heap.

Sundays

7:00 – America’s Funniest Home Videos
8:00 – Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9:00 – Desperate Housewives
10:00 – Brothers & Sisters

Mondays

8:00 – Dancing with the Stars
10:00 – Castle

Tuesdays

8:00 – No Ordinary Family
9:00 – Dancing with the Stars Results Show
10:00 – Detroit 1-8-7

Wednesdays

8:00 – The Middle
8:30 – Better Together
9:00 – Modern Family
9:30 – Cougar Town
10:00 – The Whole Truth

Thursdays

8:00 – My Generation
9:00 – Grey’s Anatomy
10:00 – Private Practice

Fridays

8:00 – Secret Millionaire
9:00 – Body of Proof
10:00 – 20/20

Saturdays

8:00 – Saturday Night College Football
(followed by a mix of specials/reruns)

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http://twitter.com/TVMoJoe/status/11323362325
http://twitter.com/EWAusielloFiles/status/11323327850
http://twitter.com/franklinavenue/status/11323221786

Update: Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly is confirming that pick-up is for a full 22 episodes!
http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/03/30/abc-renews-castle/

That’s good enough for me to take this to the bank!  The news does not come as a surprise, Castle has been on the rise especially of late, but for fans like me it’s reassuring to see it official.

As for its recent surge in ratings, just last week it set a series high 12.2 million and 3.3 demo.  That was topped this week (although final Nielsen numbers could alter it just a bit) by another series high 14.4 million and 3.7 demo.

Who else is excited for Castle?

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It is entirely possible this was a typo, though given its performance the past two seasons, I think that is unlikely.  Last night, it pulled in 4.3 million viewers and a 1.5 demo.  For persepective,  last week a repeat of Modern Family pulled 5.1 million and a 1.7 demo.   To rub salt in that wound, the final episode of Hank which aired on 11/4/09 managed 5.3 million and a 1.4 demo.  Yes, one million more viewers (to be fair, fewer in the demo) cared to watch Hank.  Given all of this perspective, I would say it’s a safe bet that Scrubs on Wednesdays is a burnoff, not a tryout.

SECOND BOOK FROM RICHARD CASTLE – STAR OF ABC’S “CASTLE” -
PLANNED FOR RELEASE SEPTEMBER 2010

HEAT WAVE by Richard Castle, star of the hit ABC series “Castle” (Mondays, 10:00-11:00 p.m., ET), has been a successful cross-platform collaboration between ABC and Hyperion. Published at the end of September 2009, HEAT WAVE has spent 14 weeks on the New York Times Hardcover bestsellers list, currently holding the #32 position for Sunday, January 17, 2010. Hyperion has gone back to press eight times and now has over 170,000 copies in print. With this great success, a second book from Richard Castle will be published at the end of September 2010.

HEAT WAVE is Hyperion’s #2 bestselling ebook for 2009, surpassed only by “The Last Lecture.” It is also Hyperion’s #5 Kindle bestseller for the year. The free chapters of HEAT WAVE offered on ABC.com have been downloaded almost 100,000 times since the first chapter posted in August 2009. HEAT WAVE will be released as a mass market paperback edition in August 2010.

UNTITLED CASTLE BOOK 2 by Richard Castle –
In the sequel to HEAT WAVE, Castle’s new thrilling mystery continues the story of NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City’s top homicide squads. In what’s sure to be another smash sensation by this blockbuster author, readers will once again follow Nikki Heat and hotshot reporter Jameson Rook as they trade barbs and innuendos, all while on the trail of a murderer!

For more information on “Castle,” visit ABC.com

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A nice show of confidence for those sitcoms.  Personally ecstatic about “Modern Family,” which is my favorite new show of the season.  “Cougar Town” is growing on me, meanwhile “The Middle” dropped off my DVR list faster than “Hank,” and that’s saying something.

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Currently, its unknown what time it will show up and when but ABC has a few options. With EASTWICK canceled, BETTY could move into the 10pm spot or with HANK likely to be toast, ABC could move THE MIDDLE (which was picked up for a full season) somewhere else and put BETTY on at 8. We’ll know soon enough.

But ABC has canceled EASTWICK. Anyone upset?

since ABC picked up an additional 5 episodes (now up to 18) while ABC did not pick up any additional episodes of EASTWICK. Looks like that show is a goner (no doubt making room for HAPPY TOWN).

ABC's next LOST?

Daaaaamn. V premiered last night with a 5.0 in Adults 18-49 and nearly 14 million viewers.

With such big numbers will ABC stay with their current plan of running 4 episodes of V in November and the rest in March or fast-track the series for an earlier launch to not lose any momentum? With EASTWICK and THE FORGOTTEN likely toast by the end of the year and only a few 1 hour dramas for them on the schedule (LOST, HAPPY TOWN) this might be a wise decision instead of putting the show on a 3-4 month hiatus.

What did everyone think of the episode?

I loved the little nod to The 4400 and felt it was a great pilot….but this may have worked out a bit better as a 2 hour pilot instead. Things flew by way too fast.

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