It’s been a huge week in the office at Disney and ABC that began with the demise of ABC’s studio arm ABC Signature which was merged with 20th Television the other day & now they’re set to give more air time to Ryan Murphy, who currently has 9-1-1 & the new Doctor Odyssey drama going on between 8-10pm Thursdays, with the possibility of a new 9-1-1 spin off going into the 25/26 season.
Now it won’t be 9-1-1 Lone Star from Austin, Texas in which Murphy chose to run its course after five seasons on Fox, even though the main franchise did make its move to ABC earlier this year that began with Season 7.
However, he could look at Las Vegas with a script already written as the next 9-1-1 spin-off destination where we could see more emergency responses to places they’ve got on offer. All of this in the early development stages right now but considering how much air time Disney is buying off him that extends to FX, it wouldn’t be a surprise if that new 9-1-1 show would make it on ABC without the need of a pilot. Although they can go make a 9-1-1 episode with a backdoor pilot on it by introducing the cast from that new show; but again, too early to tell unless ABC has given them the all clear.
If that 9-1-1 spin-off did make it to ABC next Fall, it would definitely be on Thursday night to complete a full night of Ryan Murphy shows (9-1-1, 9-1-1 new spin-off and Doctor Odyssey). With Doctor Odyssey, the ratings and feedback may be been up and down as seen during the pilot episode unlike the network’s other new drama High Potential. But then his shows usually have a slow and steady following when it comes to the plot/storyline, so don’t think Doctor Odyssey would be heading out the door that fast unless ABC says so after 9-10 episodes (probably enough to finish Season 1 since a few others will take over at mid-season).
So what does it mean for Grey’s Anatomy? If they stay on for Season 22, they will get a whole new studio production control under 20th Television rather than Touchstone/ABC Studios/ABC Signature after two long decades. Would we see them move to another night if Ryan Murphy took over whole of Thursdays? It depends. Maybe they could go back to Sunday nights where it all began for the first two seasons before being a huge mainstay for Thursdays for many years.
If not, they might as well begin from mid-season like we currently see with Family Guy from FOX who usually begin their seasons right from the start of Fall but this upcoming season though will see them begin around January to February 2025.
So there’s a possibility Grey’s could either get another shortened season or else move back to Sundays or even another earlier weekday time slot (see Dancing With the Stars when they were on Mondays for a long time but now on Tuesdays) unless Doctor Odyssey flops and then gets the axe to keep their Thursday time slot – that’s the bottom line.
Hoping Grey’s can stay on as long as they can possibly can, having been a fan of the long-running medical drama every now and then. For now, looks like Ryan Murphy’s relationship with Disney is growing even further – this time with ABC to build a strong Thursday line-up that their viewers can enjoy and stay up between 8-11pm before 30 mins of local news time.
