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Entertainment

Update on ABC Network’s two sitcom pilots of 2024 with a good chance of having both Shifting Gears & Forgive and Forget on the air for mid-season in January/February 2025

by Sports Benches

So two of the ABC half-hour comedy pilots of 2024 is now up to the pilot filming stage recently with Shifting Gears already had their presentation over the past week which will be seen by management while Forgive and Forget has just begun doing it on their own before following the same process. As we all know, Shifting Gears is all about a father (Tim Allen) who run a successful classic car restoration business but needs time to try and re-connect with his long lost daughter who just moved into his house alongside her teenage kids. Forgive and Forget, on the other hand, has something to do with Hank (Ty Burrell) wanting to re-connect these memories with his son Ben while he can after he was unexpectedly diagnosed with dementia.

Yes, the decisions is still not yet been finalised but they’re getting there with first-look trailers and official photos expected to come out in 1-2 months ahead of an expected airdate going into the mid-season cycle in either January or February 2025. That’s where ABC will be able to bring it home with their Wednesday sitcom line-up where another top season of Abbott Elementary goes on as well as the last six episodes of Season 7 in The Conners before their end of era and maybe 1-2 new sitcoms coming in with both Shifting Gears and Forgive and Forget – should the executives be happy to give the green light.

According to today’s update from Deadline by Nellie Andreeva, it looks like both new sitcoms will certainly be going ahead into a series order this time around. Here are the reasons why:

  • Both sitcoms are in a multi-camera format that is cheaper for the network to produce as part of their plans going forward;
  • Both sitcoms have star names in their respective pilots such as Tim Allen (Home Improvement, Last Man Standing, Toy Story and The Santa Clause) and Kat Dennings (2 Broke Girls) for Shifting Gears as well as Ty Burrell (Modern Family) in Forgive and Forget;
  • Both sitcoms’ plots/scripts for the next prime-time cycle went well that is so fitting for ABC to roll both of them out going into the new year in place of Home Economics and Not Dead Yet whose shows have already been axed.

Yes, having both sitcoms going forward almost feels like a straight-to-series order but at least the network is taking their time that bests fit their audience on the the big ABC on TV and Hulu across on-demand/online thanks to their year-round development process when the traditional “Pilot Season” may be a thing of the past. So no more quick decisions as if it’s an elimination contest where they typically pick a couple for pilot, send back for the executives upstairs for an assessment and then some will get the chance while others be thrown out and have their copy being archived in a top-secret vault storage.

I also had a look of Shifting Gears’ IMDB profile page today and they too now got their intro title card off the back of their recent pilot taping as this might not be the show’s official logo if they were given a series order but you never know. Watch this space as ABC is very certain to welcome two new sitcoms onboard (and both also under the subsidiary 20th Television umbrella) featuring two veterans of Tim Allen and Ty Burrell any minute from now over the next few weeks to months.

UPDATE 29/6/24: I also just saw the logo now of Forgive and Forget via Diana Maria Riva’s instagram page from a few days ago who plays one of the characters there (Hank’s ex-wife and shares an adult son together with Ben) on the other ABC comedy pilot. Likewise with Shifting Gears, they both come in a multi-camera format that has a studio audience/laughing track in it as part of the network’s plans to make these scripted sitcoms more affordable going forward. With that being said and as long as the pilot presentation goes well based on the script plot and its acting performance, this one will most certainly join Shifting Gears as one of ABC’s two brand new comedy shows during the mid-season mark in around January/February 2025.

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Entertainment

Thoughts on The Conners being renewed for the 7th & final season with six episodes & Not Dead Yet just being axed after 2 seasons

by Sports Benches

The last two of the ABC existing sitcom slate has been decided earlier today with The Conners (multi-camera) getting a proper farewell of six episodes for Season 7 later this year in the Fall while Not Dead Yet is no more after 2 seasons and 23 episodes.

With the 2024-25 prime-time schedule set to be released sometime next week, it’s possible that the Extreme Makeover revival will begin at 8pm Wednesdays followed by a Abbott Elementary-The Conners sitcom double after that and then a new show comes in place of A Million Little Things called High Potential (a comedy-crime drama adapted from France about a divorced mother of three who has an outstanding IQ of solving crimes even though she was a cleaner at a local police station).

People can say whatever they want as to why Not Dead Yet doesn’t deserve to be cancelled when they got a good/popular following but then the same goes with every other show and at the end of the day, there’s no point keeping it when the ratings keep on getting low over time. Not Dead Yet would’ve been a perfect lineline for Hulu or any other streaming services but again don’t see that happening unfortunately. It’s been a good run though as wish them all the best and surely we won’t see the last of Gina Rodriguez who will be hosting a brand new game show Lucky 13 in July on ABC with Shaquille O’Neal.

Meanwhile, great to hear that The Conners will get a proper ending at the request of star actress Sara Gilbert whose relationship with ABC has been great after the show recovered really well from the Roseanne Barr controversy regarding her political views that saw the second coming of Roseanne being unexpectedly short-lived. Yes, six episodes might be short but then it’s only going to last for this Fall likewise with Sara’s other show The Talk on CBS which will also end at the same time to make way for another new soap The Gates on Daytime TV from January 2025. We wish them all the best to bring this show home on a brilliant note ahead of the cast and creators next chapters after this.

What does it mean now for the network’s next slate of sitcoms going into the 2nd half of the prime-time TV season?

With Abbott Elementary always getting a full season order since it’s the network’s best sitcom in years, we could see at least one new sitcom coming through the door if not two at the mid-season mark depending on how things go at the pilot presentations next month. Shifting Gears would definitely be given an advantage considering Tim Allen is back onboard alongside 2 Broke Girls star Kat Dennings – no doubt about that. On Forgive & Forget, yes, you got Modern Family alumni Ty Burrell also fronting this project at the same time which is also excellent to hear. But then it’s 50/50 chance where his pilot might not make it when ABC might prefer one new sitcom in Allen to join Abbott and another one would be as to how they are going to fit another half-hour sitcom with no other new 30 minute show to complement on Wednesdays unless they want to throw in a repeat, another new sitcom pilot or a show from Hulu to finish off the prime-time season. These are the only pitfalls that could see Forgive & Forget being denied a series order but again, it’s going to depend on the pilot presentation next month. If that show comes out strong, then I’m sure that will give ABC a headache and not harshly dismiss them alongside Allen’s pilot considering they want to have more cheap multi-camera sitcoms alongside a studio audience.

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