From ‘The Bachelor’ To The ‘Roseanne’ Revival: Here’s What We Learned About ABC’s Future At TCA 2018

If you love all things related to The Bachelor, this summer probably terrified you. Following the sexual misconduct allegations between Corrine Olympios and DeMario Jackson, the reality show was suspended and ABC launched an investigation into the allegations, causing fans worried how the scandal would affect the future of both the Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelor franchise as a whole. However, during ABC’s executive session, President Channing Dungey addressed how the scandal affected (or more accurately didn’t affect) The Bachelor franchise.

“What happened last summer was, obviously, unfortunate; but what I do feel is that the Bachelor Nation are extremely passionate about what we do with all of these programs,” Dungey said. “The advanced feedback that we’ve gotten about Winter Games, there’s so much enthusiasm for it. And it feels like that franchise has a lot of steam left in it, so we’re very excited.”

Where to stream The Bachelor

Where to stream Bachelor in Paradise

It’s going to be difficult for ABC to host a more attention-grabbing Oscars ceremony than they did last year — a fact that everyone involved is acutely aware of. Both Dungey and host Jimmy Kimmel made it clear that though they will be poking fun at last year’s history-making mistake, they also plan on taking this year’s ceremony very seriously.

“This is a show that’s going to be celebrating legends past and present. We’re really looking at the presenters and trying to do some very interesting things for the audience to celebrate that milestone. So we are absolutely taking it seriously,” Dungey said. “That said, what happened last year was such a big talking point that to not at least have a little bit of fun with it would seem kind of silly.”

The cat is now officially out of the bag. The fictional Roseanne will be a Trump supporter just like her real-life actress and creator. It didn’t take long for the Roseanne panel to transform from a trip down nostalgia lane into a heated argument about Trump, Hillary Clinton, and racism. It was … a lot. You can read about it in more detail here. 

Where to stream Roseanne

At the moment, two of ABC’s most fantastical shows have futures that are up in the air. Both Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Once Upon a Time have been struggling in ratings since their move to Friday nights. Even though that’s the case, ABC is still :catiously optimistic” that they may return for future seasons. “It’s always hard at this point in January to know because some of it is also dependent on your new development and how you feel about those things, so that’s why it’s really hard at the top of the year to know exactly what’s going to happen,” ABC President Channing Dungey said.

If you’re a fan of reality competition shows, this is probably an exciting revelation. For a few weeks, audiences will be able to watch new episodes of both American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. “We have Idol on Sundays throughout the season and we have it on Mondays for seven weeks. So when Dancing comes back, we still have Idol,” Dungey said.

The American Idol reboot premieres Sunday, March 11 at 8 p.m., and a new season of Dancing with the Stars premieres Sunday, April 30 at 8 p.m.

Where to stream American Idol

Where to stream Dancing with the Stars

If you read literally any reviews about Inhumans, this shouldn’t be a surprise. Dungey addressed the uncertain future of the Marvel series at TCA. “It didn’t perform for us at the level that we would’ve wanted. We haven’t made any official decision yet about what we’re going to pick up in May, but I will say that the numbers, unfortunately, were less exciting for us than we hoped they would be,” she said.

However, that doesn’t mean ABC has sworn off all superhero shows. “We continue to be very excited with what they’re doing with S.H.I.E.L.D. We’ve tried a few things that haven’t worked out as well as we would’ve liked,” Dungey also said. “We developed a couple things this season that we don’t think are going to end up going forward, so we’re going to look really carefully about what we do next, because the idea for us is to come up with something that works very well for both Marvel and ABC, so we’re going to continue to try there.”

Where to stream Marvel's Inhumans

One of the most interesting panels of the day was for The Crossing, ABC’s upcoming time-travel sci-fi drama. Starring Steve Zahn in big, star-led push for the network, the series follows a group of refugees from the war-torn future who try to seek asylum 250 years in the past. Both Dungey and the creators for the show were asked whether they could trust the series to stay on the air considering ABC’s history of pulling big dramas in the middle of their run.

When asked about Ten Days in the Valley‘s shortened run, Dungey blamed the meta show’s lack of marketing support. “We didn’t have as much of an opportunity for the audience to find that show,” the president said. “We are coming at The Crossing very strong and very excited about the creative and what the producers have to say.”

The panel for The Crossing was asked a similar question about following through, this time related to another show that was prematurely cancelled — Surface. “I feel like at times you weren’t being pulled, really, into the next episode as strongly as you might want to,” producer Dan Dworkin said about Surface. “I think [The Crossing] is very fertile in a way that I think is going to that really helps the storytelling and is really going to make people eager to explore all of the different facets.

So the bottom line? ABC is confident The Crossing will be a dramatic win for the network, but critics are bracing themselves for this to be another promising show that will be yanked out of existence midseason.

This isn’t really news, but those are such high numbers, it’s worth calling attention to them. It feels safe to say that neither of these series are going to go anywhere anytime soon.

Where to stream General Hospital

Where to stream Modern Family

One of the most surprising flops of this past year was ABC’s The Mayor. The comedy had an excellent cast, which included Yvette Nicole Brown, Lea Michele, and Brandon Michael Hall, it had the same politics can be good vibe as Parks and Recreation, and it received pretty good reviews. But despite all of that, the series failed to take off.

“The Mayor was a little bit of a heartbreak for all of us,” Dungey said. “One of my own personal theories about The Mayor that’s not based on anything, you know, necessarily factual, but I do feel like the show arrived on the scene at a time where people were feeling a little bit fatigued about anything that had to do with politics.”

Where to stream The Mayor

There was a bit of confusion surrounding Rhimes‘ new Netflix deal, but ABC’s session cleared everything up. Rhimes and her production company Shondaland will continue to work on new seasons for Rhimes’ five ABC shows — Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, For the People, and the untitled Grey’s spin-off. However, all new projects will be going to Netflix. It’s certainly a major blow for ABC, but you can read about how this new deal specifically effects the futures of your favorite shows here.