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It’s was a lackluster fall season for premieres, industry watchers agree, but ABC Entertainment Group President Paul Lee has faith in much of his schedule. Of the rookies, Quantico, and star Priyanka Chopra, seem to shine the brightest right now.
Meanwhile, ABC will forge ahead with its reboot of the much-anticipated Muppets, although Lee admitted “we didn’t quite feel that it had the joy, the laughter and the heart that we were looking for,” he told TV reporters and critics at winter press tour in Pasadena on Saturday.
ABC replaced co-creator and show runner Bob Kushell in November with Galavant’s Kristin Newman, and says the network now has “very high hopes” for the program.
He also wished Wicked City well, a much-promoted drama about a serial killer on the Sunset Strip that came and went after just three episodes.
He also spoke truth about the tough jobs of broadcast entertainment presidents: “You’re in a much worse place in these jobs if you’re not taking big swings and you’re trying to eek out some B-pluses.” As for Wicked City, which starred Gossip Girls’ Ed Westwick and Parenthood’s Erikca Christensen: ”It didn’t find an audience, and we didn’t have any belief that it would in the long term.”
In midseason, ABC will be debuting five series, including season two of American Crime; Shonda Rhimes’ The Catch, starring Parenthood’s Peter Krause and The Killing‘s Mireille Enos, from which he also showed an extended clip; The Family, starring Joan Allen and The Newsroom’s Allison Pill; Biblical saga Of Kings & Prophets, which may see a racier version posted online; and comedy The Real O’Neals, starring Martha Plimpton and Jay R. Ferguson about a Catholic family who’s son comes out of the closet. Catholic groups already have made noise about that last program, but Lee says “when that audience sees the show, they’ll see that it’s a beautifully made show.”
Fans of veteran dramas Castle and Nashville got some good news from Lee, when he said he saw no end in sight for the country soap, and that he’d love to keep Castle going for “many years to come.” Both stars of Castle are currently renegotiating their contracts, and Lee said he’s having conversations about extending the franchise even without Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic, who also serves as a producer on the program.
Brief take: ABC is tied for third place among adults 18-49 with Fox, but it’s got some solid nights in place, including its Wednesday night comedy block and Thursday’s TGIT.
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