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After two years of virtual presentations, in-person network and studio upfronts are back in 2022, complete with private parties and dinners.
But before the celebrations come the cancellations, and this year saw a bloodbath, with 17 series cut from network schedules as streaming increasingly takes hold.
Below are the cancellations, pick-ups and renewals for the five broadcast networks ahead of upfront week starting Monday.
ABC
ABC announced that rookie series Queens and Promised Land would not proceed to season two, while Black-ish has completed its critically-acclaimed run after eight seasons. The Disney-owned network renewed all five of its bubble series – A Million Little Pieces, Big Sky, The Connors, Home Economics and The Wonder Years – notwithstanding executive producer and director Fred Savage’s firing for alleged misconduct. Those five join previous renewals Abbott Elementary, The Goldbergs, The Good Doctor, Grey’s Anatomy, The Rookie and Station 19.
ABC chose not to go forward with an LA Law reboot that would have starred original stars Blair Underwood and Corbin Benson.
Picked up for next season are four new series: Hilary Swank-starrer Alaska; David E. Kelley and Michael Connelly mystery Avalon; comedy Not Dead Yet, starring Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez; and The Rookie spinoff The Rookie: Feds.
ABC also renewed reality series The Bachelor, The Bachelor in Paradise, American Idol, America’s Funniest Home Videos, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, Judge Steve Harvey and Shark Tank, which will open season 14 with the series first-ever live episode, while Dancing with the Stars is moving to streaming service Disney Plus.
ABC’s upfront presentation is Tuesday afternoon at Basketball City at South Street Pier’s Pier 36 and will include Jimmy Kimmel’s much-anticipated annual roast of the network.
CBS
CBS ended several series, including its Magnum P.I reboot, which had aired for four seasons, Chuck Lorre’s B Positive, How We Roll, medical drama Good Sam, comedy United States of Al and drama Bull, which ran for six seasons.
Coming back are the long-running Blue Bloods, starring Tom Selleck, Bridget Moynihan and Donnie Wahlberg; Chuck Lorre’s Bob Hearts Abishola; The Neighborhood; SWAT; and CSI: Vegas, albeit without original series star William Petersen. The entire NCIS franchise is returning – NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, and NCIS: Hawai‘i – for seasons 20, 14 and two, respectively. CBS also handed out two-year renewals to several shows, including Queen Latifah’s The Equalizer, Dick Wolf’s FBI and FBI: Most Wanted and The Big Bang Theory-prequel Young Sheldon.
The most-watched network picked up four dramas and no comedies for next season: cop drama East New York, first-responded drama Fire Country, legal dramedy So Help Me Todd and True Lies, based on the Jamie Lee Curtis and Arnold Schwarzenegger movie of the same name.
CBS will hold its upfront at its traditional location of Carnegie Hall on Wednesday afternoon.
Fox
Fox parted ways with Pivoting and Our Kind of People and earlier this year axed musical drama The Big Leap.
Coming back to Fox are veteran animated series Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy and The Simpsons and these are joined by The Great North, which is renewed through its third season. On the bubble are Duncanville, Housebroken and Mayim Bialik’s live-action Call Me Kat. Fox’s duo of first-responder series 911 and 911: Lone Star are both expected back, as is medical drama The Resident. Rookie series that scored renewals are The Cleaning Lady and Fantasy Island, while Welcome to Flatch is on the bubble for season two.
For ordered four new series for next season, with two of them – Grimsbrug and Krapopolis – animated. The debut of country-music melodrama Monarch, starring Susan Sarandon, was pushed off until this fall, and Michael Chiklis-starrer Accused will also join Fox’s roster.
Fox’s upfront presentation is Monday afternoon at Skylight on Vesey, following NBC at Radio City Music Hall, which traditionally opens the week.
NBC
NBC walked away from four series, including Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s Mr. Mayor, starring Ted Danson; Kenan, from Saturday Night Live veteran Kenan Thompson; Ordinary Joe, starring James Wolk; and The Endgame, starring Morena Baccarin.
Ending their runs are massive break-out hit This Is Us after six seasons and medical drama New Amsterdam.
The network renewed all of its Chicago series from Dick Wolf: Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago PD as well as Wolf’s Law & Order: SVU for season 24, Law & Order: Organized Crime for season three and the revival of the original Law & Order, starring Sam Waterston, Anthony Anderson, Hugh Dancy, Jeffrey Donovan, Oldelya Halevi and Camryn Manheim.
NBC also picked up The Blacklist for a tenth season, and that show goes on without James Spader’s former co-star Megan Boone, and series creator and co-showrunner Jon Bokenkamp. Also renewed is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Young Rock.
Among its first-year series, returning are American Auto, Grand Crew and La Brea.
NBC picked up three new series, all of which are comedies and two of which – Night Court and Quantum Leap – are reboots along with Lopez vs. Lopez starring George Lopez and his daughter Mayan.
The CW
The CW – which Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly looking to sell – canceled nine series: Legacies, Charmed, 4400, Naomi, Roswell, New Mexico, In the Dark and Dynasty and DC series Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman. Supergirl, starring Melissa Benoist, concluded its six-season run this season and Roswell, New Mexico ended after its fourth season.
Conversely, the network picked up three new series – DC’s Gotham Knights and two prequels: The Winchesters, a prequel to very long-running Supernatural that’s executive produced and narrated by Supernatural star Jensen Ackles; and Walker prequel Walker: Independence.
The CW also renewed high-school football drama All American and its spinoff All American: Homecoming as well as The Flash, Kung Fu, Nancy Drew, Riverdale, Superman & Lois and Walker
The CW is the last broadcast network to present, sharing its schedule on Thursday at New York City Center.