ABC Renews 13 Shows Inc. ‘The Rookie’ & ‘Stumptown’, Cancels 5 Inc. ‘Emergence’, Picks Up 2 New Series
US network ABC has announced the fate of this seasons shows, and once again, the UK audience for their shows has gotten off relatively lightly, with only three cancellations affecting this side of the Atlantic.
The Disney-owned network renewed 13 of its shows including ‘The Rookie‘, ‘Stumptown‘, ‘Mixed-ish‘, ‘American Housewife‘, ‘Black-ish‘, ‘The Conners‘, ‘The Goldbergs‘, and ‘A Million Little Things‘. They also renewed reality series ‘The Bachelor’, ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and ‘Shark Tank’, along with the US version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ and news series ’20/20′. They all join ‘The Good Doctor‘, ‘Grey’s Anatomy‘, ‘Station 19‘, ‘American Idol‘, and ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ which had already been renewed.
Now for the bad news… Cancelled this season are ‘Bless This Mess‘, ‘Kids Say The Darndest Things’, ‘Schooled‘ which aired on E4 in the UK, ‘Single Parents‘ which aired on Comedy Central, and ‘Emergence‘, which aired on FOX over here. I am rather enjoying ‘Emergence’, and I would like to say the news came as a shock, but we’ve been predicting that would only last one season from the moment it was announced. The network has still to make a decision on two of its freshmen series, ‘For Life‘ and ‘The Baker and the Beauty‘, neither of which aired in the UK.
The two new series ABC have picked up to series are drama ‘Big Sky‘ from David E. Kelley (‘Big Little Lies’, ‘Ally McBeal’) starring Kylie Bunbury (‘Pitch’, ‘Under The Dome’), and comedy ‘Call Your Mother‘ starring Kyra Sedgwick (‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’, ‘The Closer’). Whilst they have only ordered two shows right now, the other pilots, such as Katey Sagal drama ‘Rebel’, ‘Thirtysomething’ sequel ‘Thirtysomething(else)’, and Greg Berlanti’s reimagining of Dracula, ‘The Brides’, are still in contention, and may be picked up at a later date once pilots can be filmed.
‘Big Sky‘ follows private detectives Cassie Dewell and Cody Hoyt who join forces with his estranged wife and ex-cop, Jenny Hoyt, to search for two sisters who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana. But when they discover that these are not the only girls who have disappeared in the area, they must race against the clock to stop the killer before another woman is taken.
The series stars Katheryn Winnick as Jenny Hoyt, Kylie Bunbury as Cassie Dewell, Brian Geraghty as Ronald Pergman, Dedee Pfeiffer as Denise Brisbane, Natalie Alyn Lind as Danielle Sullivan, Jesse James Keitel as Jerrie, with John Carroll Lynch as Rick Legarski and Ryan Phillippe as Cody Hoyt.
Based on the series of books by C.J. Box, the series is executive produced by David E. Kelley, who also serves as showrunner, Ross Fineman, Matthew Gross, Paul McGuigan and C.J. Box and is produced by A+E Studios in association with 20th Century Fox Television. A+E Studios is the studio unit of the global media company A+E Networks. 20th Century Fox Television is a part of Disney Television Studios, alongside ABC Studios and Fox 21 Television Studios.
‘Call Your Mother‘ comes from Kari Lizer (‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’) and is a multicamera comedy which follows an empty-nester mom who wonders how she ended up alone while her children live their best lives thousands of miles away. She decides her place is with her family and as she reinserts herself into their lives, her kids realize they might actually need her more than they thought.
The series stars Kyra Sedgwick as Jean Raines, Rachel Sennott as Jackie Raines, Joey Bragg as Freddie Raines, Patrick Brammall as Danny, Emma Caymares as Celia and Austin Crute as Lane.
‘Call Your Mother’ is produced by Sony Pictures Television & ABC Studios. ABC Studios is a part of Disney Television Studios, alongside 20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21 Television Studios.
