From the Upfronts: ABC Announces Fall Schedule with Only One Genre Show

Updated 11:25 CST

ABC has announced its schedule for the upcoming Fall season and this time around it has far fewer shows in the Science Fiction and Fantasy vein than prior years. The alphabet network has continued to try and replicate the success it had with Lost for the past several years and has had multiple entries in the genre each season since 2004 including shows like Invasion, Pushing Daisies, Life on Mars, and this past season’s FlashForward and V. But none of these has managed to pull numbers anywhere close to what Lost has enjoyed over its six-year run, apparently prompting ABC to back away from the genre going into next season. With no Lost on the schedule, it currently only has the one genre series No Ordinary Family, a superhero drama starring Michael Chicklis (Fantastic Four, The Shield), slated for Fall. V is not currently on the Fall schedule, which means it may wait until a January start but there’s also a possibility it could return as early as November. That series could take over the slot currently held by the Dancing with the Stars results show which would give it No Ordinary Family as its lead-in. ABC wants to give the returning series some extra time before scheduling it because it relies heavily on its special effects and this increases production time.

Tomorrow, CBS will announce its schedule for next season followed by the CW on Thursday. NBC revealed their schedule on Sunday and FOX announced their plans yesterday.