In an unexpected twist just for this NFL season, ESPN has decided to share their free-to-air coverage more often each Monday night with ABC due to the ongoing writer and actor strikes. We also thought that the return of Dancing With The Stars on ABC for Season 32 would also go back on Monday nights like it always been before, but they will take up Tuesday nights instead between 8-10pm.
It’s going to be like the good ol’ times again when Monday Night Football was such a huge staple on ABC between the 70s until 2005 before they went separate ways for the next 15 or so years until they came back on a occasional basis under the ESPN umbrella. Although ABC did air the Wild Card Playoff game as well as the Pro Bowl a few years beforehand & will continue to do so again that will include the Divisional Playoff Game in January.
Other than that, if the strike didn’t happen, then we would’ve seen The Good Lawyer be a great lead-in to The Good Doctor at 9pm. Now it’s going to be close to impossible now that the strike won’t end anytime soon which means there won’t be The Good Lawyer as a series while Home Economics & The Rookie: Feds would be on the chopping block as well, having seen The Wonder Years (revival) being axed a few days ago after 2 seasons.
Nothing much to look forward unfortunately when it comes to scripted programming other than rescuing 9-1-1 from FOX as well as giving an American version of High Intellectual Potential a chance that was a huge hit over in France involving a mother of three who can solve cases really well thanks to her high IQ.
Then once the strike really ends at some stage, we’re going to see a bunch of new comedy ideas looking to get past the first round while it may be possible to revisit the idea of having a reboot on the 90s hit comedy legal drama Ally McBeal.
For now, enjoy MNF while you can each Monday during the 2nd half of this year on ABC. Yes, they got the Super Bowl back for the first time in a long time but that will arrive in 2027. Plus, we never know for sure if ABC will be separated off ESPN at some point since the boss (Bob Iger) wants it to be a cable-free business. But I guess just keep ABC and sell off the rest like FX & Freeform. And once the next NFL contract comes around in 2033, we may see MNF be a weekly thing once again.
