ABC 2000 remake - Less Millionaire, better schedule?

[Jeribear95]

ABC sure knew how to killed a good thing by over expositing their top show in Millionaire and ruining one of the few bright spots in the network schedule at the time ratings wise. Even with that there is some quality shows and some they canceled a year before that I'm bringing back. And yes TGIF will stay dead as the block was taken out of the schedule starting this year.

SUNDAY
7:00 - Wonderful World of Disney
9:00 - Gideon's Crossing (Millionaire)
10:00 - The Practice

MONDAY
8:00 - Sports Night (20/20 Downtown)
8:30 - Norm
9:00 - NFL Monday Showcase
9:30 - Monday Night Football

TUESDAY
8:00 - Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
9:00 - My Wife & Kids (Dharma & Greg)
9:30 - Spin City (The Geena Davis Show)
10:00 - NYPD Blue

WEDNESDAY
8:00 - Sabrina The Teenage Witch (Whos Want to Be A Millionaire)
8:30 - Two Guys & A Girl (Millionaire)
9:00 - Dharma & Greg (Drew Carey)
9:30 - The Geena Davis (Spin City)
10:00 - Once and Again

THURSDAY
8:00 - ABC Thursday Night Movie (Whose Line Is It Anyway)
10:00 - Primetime

FRIDAY
8:00 - Whos Want To Be A Millionaire - Weekend Edition (Two Guys And A Girl)
9:00 - Drew Carey Show (Norm)
9:30 - Whose Line Is It Anyways (Madigan Men)
10:00 - 20/20

SATURDAY
8:00 - The Trouble With Normal (ABC Big Picture Show)
8:30 - Madigan Men
9:00 - The Job
9:30 - Dot Comedy
10:00 - 20/20 Downtown

[James28]

Wow, you sure have offered some perfect insight on an alternate timeline in which ABC Network didn't ovetsaturate Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to the point of eventual boredom with its own audience. I agree that two airings per week will be enough, maybe three airings tops. How many years that will last, though, is unclear. And would WWtBaM still air on first-run syndication like it did in real life?

Two questions that need to be asked:

Sabrina the Teenage Witch is moved to ABC Network's Wednesday lineup instead of moving to The WB Network, even though TGIF is discontinued. Any reasons for this? A big long-term challenge would be trying to keep StTW on ABC Network for its entire seven-year run. As for who would take StTW's place on The WB's schedule, I would choose Jesse (the NBC sitcom starring Christina Applegate that was cancelled after two seasons because it lost too much of the Friends lead-in audience even though it ranked in the Nielsen Top 20 for both of its seasons).

And why is My Wife and Kids airing before Spin City instead of after? It's always customary for broadcast networks to air a freshman comedy after a veteran comedy. Besides, My Wife and Kids didn't premiere until late March of 2001.

Also, it's good that you're keeping Sports Night around (hopefully for a few more years, as it vies for syndication), I guess SN was probably dropped for one of the WWtBaM slots, which is a perfect way to waste a critically-acclaimed broadcast-TV scripted show.

[Jeribear95]

Originally Posted by James28

Wow, you sure have offered some perfect insight on an alternate timeline in which ABC Network didn't ovetsaturate Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to the point of eventual boredom with its own audience. I agree that two airings per week will be enough, maybe three airings tops. How many years that will last, though, is unclear. And would WWtBaM still air on first-run syndication like it did in real life?

Two questions that need to be asked:

Sabrina the Teenage Witch is moved to ABC Network's Wednesday lineup instead of moving to The WB Network, even though TGIF is discontinued. Any reasons for this? A big long-term challenge would be trying to keep StTW on ABC Network for its entire seven-year run. As for who would take StTW's place on The WB's schedule, I would choose Jesse (the NBC sitcom starring Christina Applegate that was cancelled after two seasons because it lost too much of the Friends lead-in audience even though it ranked in the Nielsen Top 20 for both of its seasons).

And why is My Wife and Kids airing before Spin City instead of after? It's always customary for broadcast networks to air a freshman comedy after a veteran comedy. Besides, My Wife and Kids didn't premiere until late March of 2001.

Also, it's good that you're keeping Sports Night around (hopefully for a few more years, as it vies for syndication), I guess SN was probably dropped for one of the WWtBaM slots, which is a perfect way to waste a critically-acclaimed broadcast-TV scripted show.

1. For Sabrina I believe her going to college that year was the perfect timing to softly retool the show with the hopes of bringing in a wider audience outside of the tgif crowd, nothing too crazy but allowing the show to grow with its original audience. Also the 18-34 demo would be more likely be at home on a Wednesday night compared to Friday, TGIF long loss its luster at this point. Think like when NBC put Saved By The Bell college years on primetime but hopefully less cheesy and better results.

2. I always liked the idea of following with a hit show with a new show to bring more eyes. I thought My Wife and Kids was the most promising new show on that schedule and am also a fan. As far as Spin City this was the first season without Michael J Fox so the show was basically on its last legs but still wouldve performed well this season anyways so it was a safe bet to have it at 9:30. Not sure the story behind Wife and Kids being pushed down to midseason but hey who knows.