ABC New Shows: Sort out your watchlist

Familiar faces in familiar procedurals, high concept period dramas and Kiefer

Overall level of excitement for next season: Could be worse

I am not sure I understand ABC’s game plan for next year. The common thread seems to be “silly” [masquerading as ‘quirky’], with a Keifer Sutherland show that does not fit ABC at all. And Shonda… duh. You can always count on Shonda.

So this is what I’m thinking about the new shows:

On the Watchlist

Honestly, all the new ABC shows sound weird. So I am going with the sci-fi one, because at least that is my type of weird.

Pick of the season: Time After Time

Produced by Kevin Williamson (Dawson’s Creek, The Following, The Vampire Diaries), Time After Time follows a fictional version of H.G. Wells (author of The Time Machine) as he time-travels to modern day Manhattan. The “fish out of water” story turns into a murder-mystery when H.G. realises Jack the Reaper followed him into the future.

Sci-fi and literature, I am in. However, a genre show like this in a network like ABC… it is probably doomed to repeat Forever’s fate… [or it could be the next Once Upon a Time… who knows?]

In any case, it doesn’t come until midseason. In the meantime, I’ll have to get excited about the new Kiefer show (Designated Survivor). World under attack, Kiefer saves it… At least it is a tested formula…

I’ll give it a go…

I will watch Conviction, but I am not particularly excited about it. And yes, I’m still bitter about Agent Carter.

Notorious seems interesting enough, but it looks a bit like Cover Affairs 2.0 and the only reason I watched C.A. was Auggie. But I will sample it.

Too Soon to Tell...

The rest of the shows will premiere at some point midseason. We have a show about a woman with an imaginary friend and a female comedy told from the POV of her dog [really I am not making this up]. There is also a Romeo & Juliet  sequel with a terrible title (Still Star-crossed)  that looks a lot like Reign, but has a decent cast, so I am hoping it could be more like a fun Ever After [But even the trailer is a bit painful to watch so...]

So, to summarize:

WATCH

Time After Time

Designated Survivor

MAYBES

Notorious

Conviction

Still Star-crossed

PASS

Speechless

American Housewife

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Alejandra

Alejandra spends her days watching TV, writing for TV, writing about TV. Hopefully, one day, she will get substantially paid for all three. Follow her on twitter @azannier