Tag:

National Football League

Thoughts on ABC Network making late changes to their Monday prime-time and Wednesday 10pm Fall line-up with more MNF & everything else will be aired mid-season

by Sports Benches October 12, 2024

Looks like ABC has made some immediate changes to their Monday and Wednesday prime-time line up with more Monday Night Football simulcasts alongside ESPN & everything else including its previously announced Monday night game show slate (Celebrity Wheel of Fortune – Pat Sajak’s last season as host & Press Your Luck) will be postponed to early 2025.

So does that docuseries Scamanda (based on last year’s podcast), even though it was originally set to premiere next week (Wednesdays 10pm). Instead, viewers will see another ABC News program called What Would You Do? – which is currently a social experiment program where each scenario is done behind a hidden camera with paid actors/actresses.

And last but not least, still no premiere date for new multi-cam sitcom Shifting Gears led by Tim Allen as well as the revival of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Rest assured though that these shows is still expected to turn up at mid-season, so stay tuned over the next 1-2 months before we say goodbye to 2024.

It’s been a bit of a surprise really when ABC had some trouble fitting in their weekly prime-time schedule as of late, particularly a few weeks into the fall cycle right now. Maybe they would want to play it safe by bringing in a another full season of Monday Night Football like they did last year due to the Hollywood strikes when there wasn’t enough scripted programming to air at the time considering its their domain as it once was a long time ago (1970-2005) while management is still trying to figure out which specific content that could be their best bet going into the 2025-26 season.

I guess Grey’s Anatomy or even one of the other Ryan Murphy shows can move there for sure, but then some weeks though is still attached to MNF as ESPN originally agreed with their latest contract extension a few years ago that will go on until at least 2033. So probably Grey’s would be the best fit as if The Good Doctor or other flagship ABC scripted show needs some room to fill late on a Monday night when a brand new 9-1-1 spin-off (not the Lone Star one) will most likely complete a full Thursday line-up alongside 9-1-1 and Doctor Odyssey if ordered into series.

Also on that Scamanda docuseries, again, same bit of surprises after they had their first trailer lately only days before the originally scheduled premiere date. But I guess ABC News have been pretty busy at the same time as well, especially with the US Presidential Election coming up in a few weeks. This is about Amanda Riley faking cancer before she was later caught by police & is currently serving two years out of five-year prison sentence in Jail.

A lot of ABC News produced content on the main channel usually come out at the mid-season mark anyway, so don’t think Scamanda will suddenly won’t make it into air after all when these true stories deserved to be told to the wider audience.

October 12, 2024 0 comment

Thoughts on Monday Night Football going back to selected free-to-air broadcasts on ABC next season as the scripted world returns to full activity following a strike stricken 2023

by Sports Benches May 4, 2024

Last year, Monday Night Football was unexpectedly on free-to-air via ABC every week for the whole of last season in the NFL due to the Hollywood strikes that halted daily activity amongst all networks in the scripted world. This dispute went on for a couple of months until the agreement was finally reached to turn the switch back on around October-November last year where most shows including existing ones were able to get back to work right away on what has been an unusual and shortened prime-time TV season, which has been currently running from February-early March to until at least the end of this month. Now MNF will be back to its part-time slate next season as it originally was with 5-6 simulcast games with ESPN and three exclusive ABC games. They will also continue to air two post-season Playoff games together with the Wild Card that has been going on for nearly a decade while having the Divisional game once again following their first time out back in January.

When they will air a Super Bowl game again? It will be the 61st edition in February 2027 at Sofi Stadium in California for the first time over 20 years that goes back to 2006 when ABC Sports was around for one last ride before it became ESPN on ABC.

I guess they won’t be paying a bit more extra money to make the weekly free-to-air simulcasts happen at least until at least the next NFL TV contact comes in from 2034 while they can air a bit more Super Bowls when the scripted world is back in full activity as expect to see reality TV content again in its place like Dancing With the Stars or 1-2 from the Bachelor franchise.

I think it will be the latter with the Bachelor in Paradise like it was back in late 2022 followed by an hour of the older-skewing show like The Golden Bachelorette or Golden Bachelor since DWTS wouldn’t wanna leave free-to-air again anytime soon on Tuesdays, which could see for a full season of Will Trent in place of the soon-to-be-outgoing The Good Doctor at 10pm.

May 4, 2024 0 comment

Entertainment Other Sports

2024 Super Bowl 58 review, Kansas City Chiefs win once again by 3 points v 49ers before CBS’s new drama Tracker accidentally made its quick cameo on Australian TV

by Sports Benches February 13, 2024

Yesterday’s Super Bowl 58 was so unreal to watch where the Sam Francisco 49ers & Kansas City Chiefs have gone side-by-side right from the start to the very end through overtime at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. It was quiet for a bit over the first quarter by both teams before the 49ers got away with their first scoring touches off the boot & the big score while the Chiefs took a little longer to finally get themselves going before they earned a lifeline with not long left on the clock in the fourth quarter. So that leaves one last round to fight on the run home in extra time but still one team will have to take home the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the World Championship. At the end of the day, the winning belongs to the Chiefs once again thanks to a championship-winning setup by Patrick Mahomes to Mecole Hardman, who caught that golden pass in the end for the touchdown by just 3 points with 3 secs to go on the overtime clock. The final score was 22-25.

As said, great start by the 49ers but a few hit and misses later on gave a great opportunity for the Chiefs to catch up whilst leading. Unfortunately, that became their tipping point at overtime where the game was eventually won by the Chiefs & it’s a bitter pill to swallow when being second best. Not a bad season though where they made all the way to the main event which is never easy as it will be exactly three decades now since the 49ers last won a World Championship. Meanwhile, congratulations to the Chiefs on what has been an incredible performance from behind after they came back to haunt the 49ers so late it was enough to take home the trophy. It was a final that was never going to be so easy as it was up to them to stop the 49ers in their tracks and they did so to bring back another huge of silverware in front of their fans and hometown too. Looks like the Chiefs are setting the benchmark now, having won three World Championships in the last five years after a long drought & shortcomings that goes way back to Super Bowl IV (1969). Speaking of the Chiefs, let’s see if a Super Rugby in Waikato, New Zealand, will win at last this season that will begin next Friday. They dominated the round robin part almost undefeated until they fell short in the Final at home (FMG Stadium) by the still unbeatable Crusaders team yet again.

And finally straight after the Super Bowl coverage on TV here, Seven have accidentally showed a bit of CBS’s new drama show called Tracker (based on The Never Game novel by Jeffrey Deaver) for 10 seconds before they quickly moved on to their normal programming for the rest of the day. Not sure if they have the rights to that show since 20th Television handles the International Distribution as would love to see a simulcast or even same day airing of first-run US shows here. It won’t be possible unfortunately due to the time difference worldwide where we all work during the day while some sleep at the same, so don’t think it will make a difference. Not even in a million years that we will get to watch a live simulcast TV drama or comedy ever that can shared by everyone worldwide from its original country of origin other than just the US and Canada legally unlike news, special events and sports coverage. Plus, reality TV shows lead the way these days which isn’t expensive to produce and have it on the air. For now, bring on Super Rugby again soon starting next Friday while a few more scripted shows have returned with more on the way in the next few weeks to resume & finish off this unusual prime-time TV season.

February 13, 2024 0 comment