‘High Potential’ Moves to Midseason, ‘Scrubs’ in Fall

ABC introduced a fall schedule on Tuesday that does not look a lot totally different than final 12 months’s, however with one main exception: “High Potential,” which has became ABC’s signature primetime drama hit, is not there.

In what would be the most stunning transfer of the autumn, ABC has opted to maintain Season 3 of “High Potential” for midseason. (Perhaps they need to name it “Hiatus Potential.”) Instead, “RJ Decker” — which as one of many community’s few bubble reveals, narrowly averted cancellation — will get the primo Tuesday 10 pm slot (which had been crammed by “High Potential” final fall).

Ari Goldman, ABC’s senior vp, content material technique and scheduling, mentioned the choice to transfer “High Potential” to midseason got here out of wanting to air the present’s whole Season 3 run with out a break.

“The ‘High Potential’ move to midseason is one that’s really born out of the success that we’ve come over the last couple of years with ‘Will Trent,’ ‘The Rookie’ and the uninterrupted runs that we’ve enjoyed starting in that January timeframe going through the end of the season,” he mentioned. “We’re thinking about the behavior of our linear audience, but also the streaming viewers, who have really shown the importance of week-over-week steadiness in planning and rolling out these shows. We do not take lightly the move of ‘High Potential’ to midseason, but I think this is a real opportunity to bridge through to the end of the year, to keep an uninterrupted run of episodes.”

Does that imply a smaller episodic depend for “High Potential” subsequent 12 months? It’s nonetheless unclear. “High Potential” produced 18 episodes in Season 2, however premiered in the autumn. As for subsequent 12 months, “We haven’t gone deep into the episode count for our shows, and we’re not going to be ready to comment on that,” Goldman mentioned. “But I think we’re still looking at a really full season for ‘High Potential.’ That’s all I can say.”

Keeping your No. 1 showcase the air in fall is an uncommon transfer, however Goldman mentioned ABC nonetheless plans to promote “High Potential” sufficient to hold it in circulation. “Rest assured, our audience will be well aware of the return of ‘High Potential,’” he mentioned. “We will have that show all over ABC as we get close to the return.”

As for the choice to place “RJ Decker” in that Tuesday 10 pm slot, “we can use a lead in ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ which is so far and away the biggest live audience opportunity on television today, to invest in something new that can be exposed to some more viewers,” Goldman mentioned.

In renewing “RJ Decker,” Goldman famous that “at the end of the day, ‘RJ Decker’ opened phenomenally well on the network and really held up across its season. If you look at the linear ratings, I don’t think we ever dipped below 3 million viewers on ABC. If you look at streaming, we had the biggest week of streaming for the show to date, the week after the finale.”

To promote “RJ Decker,” ABC is closely repeating the present all through the summer season. “I think the signs are there to be able to nurture this one into an even bigger story,” he mentioned.

Overall, ABC is framing subsequent season as its most secure schedule ever — because it brings again each single one of many Alphabet’s scripted reveals. “This is the first time in the history of the network, since 1948, that we have renewed every scripted series at ABC,” Goldman mentioned. “We’ve also grown the scripted count up from the last in each of the last two years. So for us, it’s, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.'”

That’s why, for essentially the most half, ABC’s schedule would not look too totally different from final fall. In maybe its different huge transfer, the community’s hit “scrubs” revival will shortly return in fall, main off Wednesday at 8 pm, adopted by Season 6 of “Abbott Elementary” (which Variety can affirm does proceed to have a now-rare 22-episode order) at 8:30 pm

“We did have the highest-rated comedy telecast on any network all season with that premiere,” Goldman mentioned of “Scrubs.” “It was a big event for us and really brought a lot of attention back to ABC Wednesdays. It also really helps when you have a very-well executed show like this ‘Scrubs’ revival.”

With “Scrubs” on the autumn slate, “Shifting Gears” additionally strikes to midseason.

Meanwhile, there isn’t any model of “The Bachelor” in the autumn, as each the courting present’s unique recipe and “Bachelor in Paradise” spinoff will air in 2027. As for “The Bachelorette,” which was pulled from the spring schedule in gentle of the continuing authorized saga of star Taylor Frankie Paul, Goldman says there isn’t any information but on when — or if — it’ll air.

“’The Bachelorette’ dynamic right now is one that we were just approaching day by day,” he mentioned. “This is real life, and we want to make sure we don’t rush into any determination in either direction. So I have nothing to share in terms of a scheduling announcement, for anything involving ‘The Bachelorette.'”

Among different reveals, ABC retains Thursday night time intact with “9-1-1,” “9-1-1: Nashville” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” The remainder of the week is a mixture of actuality TV, sports activities and “Wonderful World of Disney” Sunday night time films, which is able to kick off this season with the TV premiere of “Inside Out 2.”

Goldman can be bullish about the truth that ABC will air the Super Bowl (simulcast with ESPN) this coming season — the primary time the Alphabet internet will broadcast the massive sport in 21 years. However, ABC is not prepared but to announce its program lead-out plans from the sport simply but. (The return of “High Potential” would appear like an apparent alternative.)

“I don’t think we’re going to be announcing the specific selection at the upfront,” he mentioned. “But I can tell you, we are very excited for the opportunity, and we are very clearly focused on an ABC Entertainment series that will air after Super Bowl.”

Besides “High Potential” and “Shifting Gears,” different scripted collection returning in midseason embody “The Rookie” and “Will Trent.” And then there’s the one new present introduced for ABC subsequent 12 months: “The Rookie: North,” a by-product of “The Rookie” starring Jay Ellis.

As it ready to announce its schedule on the Disney upfront on Tuesday in New York, ABC famous its cross-platform broadcast rankings in adults 18-49 — with 4 of the 5 prime packages, together with “High Potential” (No. 1), “Dancing with the Stars” (No. 3), “The Rookie” (No. 4) and “Abbott Elementary” (No. 5).

“We enter this fall season from a position of undeniable strength,” Disney Television Group prexy Craig Erwich mentioned in an announcement. “Our focus has at all times been easy: Make one of the best reveals on tv and get them to audiences nonetheless they need to watch. That technique continues to drive the success of ABC and Hulu — from legacy hits being embraced by new generations to breakout collection changing into the following cultural touchstones. With a standout slate of comedies, dramas, unscripted and stay programming, alongside marquee occasions just like the Super Bowl, the College Football Playoff, the Grammys and the Oscars in 2027, our content material engine is firing on all. cylinders.”

Here’s ABC’s fall 2026 schedule:

MONDAY

8 pm ESPN’s “Monday Night Football”

TUESDAY

8 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars”

10 pm “RJ Decker”

WEDNESDAY

8 pm “Scrubs”

8:30 pm “Abbott Elementary”

9 pm “Celebrity Jeopardy!”

10 p.m. “Shark Tank”

THURSDAY

8 pm “9-1-1”

9 p.m. “9-1-1: Nashville”

10 pm “Grey’s Anatomy”

FRIDAY

8 pm “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune”

9 pm “20/20” (two hours)

SATURDAY

7:30 p.m. College Football

SUNDAY

7 pm “America’s Funniest Home Videos”

8 pm “The Wonderful World of Disney”

MIDSEASON

“The Bachelor”

“Bachelor in Paradise”

“High Potential”

“The Rookie”

“The Rookie: North”

“Shifting Gears”

“Will Trent”