Two dramas, `Celebrity Jeopardy!’ to premiere on ABC this fall
ABC Tuesday unveiled a fall prime-time lineup that includes four hours of “Bachelor in Paradise” and Oscar-winner Hillary Swank starring in a new newspaper drama set in Alaska.
“Bachelor in Paradise” will air both in the Monday 8-10 p.m. time slot that “Dancing with the Stars” had occupied each fall since 2007 and the Tuesday 8-10 p.m. time slot where “The Bachelorette” had aired the last two falls.
“Dancing with the Stars” is moving to Disney+ after airing on ABC since 2005.
Swank will portray what ABC describes as “a recently disgraced reporter who leaves her high-profile New York life behind to join a daily metro newspaper in Anchorage on a journey to find both personal and professional redemption” in “Alaska.”
The series was created by Tom McCarthy, who won a best original screenplay Oscar for the script he co-wrote for “Spotlight,” the 2015 drama about The Boston Globe’s investigative unit’s investigation into cases of widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Roman Catholic priests.
The other executive producers of “Alaska” include Ryan Binkley, the CEO and president of the Anchorage Daily News, and Kyle Hopkins, the lead reporter on the paper’s “Lawless” series that revealed one-third of Alaska’s villages had no police protection. Those stories won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for public service.
The other new scripted series on ABC’s fall schedule is “The Rookie: Feds,” starring Niecy Nash-Betts as the oldest person to have gone through the FBI Academy. Her character was introduced in a two-part episode of “The Rookie” that began on April 24.
The other new program on ABC’s fall schedule is “Celebrity Jeopardy!” with celebrities playing on behalf of a charity of their choice. The host will be announced later.
The reboot of “The Wonder Years” will begin its second season at midseason. The other series to premiere on ABC last fall, the musical drama “Queens,” has been canceled, as has the family drama “Promised Land” which premiered Jan. 24 and was dropped from ABC’s lineup following its fifth episode.
ABC announced last May that the comedy “black-ish” would end its eight-season run in the 2021-22 season.
The comedy “Abbott Elementary,” which premiered Dec. 7, will also return for a second season.
The drama “A Million Little Things” will begin its fifth season at midseason. “Not Dead Yet,” a new comedy starring “Jane the Virgin” star Gina Rodriguez as “a broke and newly single self-described disaster, working to restart the life and career she left behind 10 years ago,” will premiere at midseason, according to ABC.
The alternative series “American Idol,” “The Bachelor” and “Judge Steve Harvey” will begin their seasons at midseason.
Just like last fall, ABC’s fall prime-time schedule consists of eight hours of alternative programming, seven hours of dramas, three hours of sports, and two hours each of comedy and news programming.
Here is the fall ABC prime-time schedule:
— Sunday: “America’s Funniest Home Videos”; “Celebrity Jeopardy!” “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune”; “The Rookie”;
— Monday: “Bachelor in Paradise”; “The Good Doctor”;
— Tuesday: “Bachelor in Paradise”; “The Rookie: Feds”;
— Wednesday: “The Conners”; “The Goldbergs”; “Abbott Elementary”; “Home Economics”; “Big Sky”;’
— Thursday: “Station 19”; “Grey’s Anatomy”; “Alaska”;
— Friday: “Shark Tank”; “20/20”; and
— Saturday: College Football.