Spring is here! Time to put away the snow shovels, bring out the lawn mowers, and enjoy the warmer weather. It's also the time of year when linear television networks set out to crush the hopes and dreams of millions of TV show fans. This year was no different, with two networks holding bloodbaths as they cancelled swaths of their current content.
Over the last few days, networks have presented their fall schedules to the media. Here we take a look at what survived, what was axed, and how the fall season will shake out for the networks and the fans.
CBS
CBS bowed out of the traditional upfront frenzy again this year. Instead, it opted to announce its fall lineup through regular press channels. The best word to describe the CBS fall lineup is 'franchise'. More than half of the network's shows set for fall are spinoffs. CBS execs cancelled FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted, but have no fear, the FBI franchise is alive and well. FBI and its latest spinoff, CIA, led by Tom Ellis, will follow the final season of The Neighborhood and new comedy series DMV on Monday nights.
NCIS will move back to its long-time home of Tuesday night and will lead off an evening of naval criminal investigation with NCIS: Origins and Paramount+ import, NCIS: Sydney following the parent show. Another NCIS spinoff, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, will have its premiere on both the linear network and Paramount+ before moving to the streamer for the rest of its season.
Fire Country is also jumping on the franchise bandwagon next season. Its spinoff, Sheriff's Country, will lead off Friday nights, with Fire Country following it. Blue Bloods spinoff, Boston Blue, headed by Donnie Wahlberg, rounds out the evening.
NBC
The Peacock Network is taking a huge gamble with NBA basketball. The network is spending billions in the hope that more live sports will draw viewers to the network. As a result, there are no new scripted dramas planned for the fall, and the network cancelled The Irrational, Found, Grosse Pointe Garden Society, and Suits LA, along with half-hour comedies Lopez vs Lopez and Night Court, to make schedule space. Between Sunday Night Football and Tuesday Night Basketball, not to mention a full slate of unscripted competition shows, the network has one of the smallest scripted drama footprints in recent memory. Time will tell if the shift to more sports is a ratings winner, or if that NBA contract is an albatross around the network's neck for the next decade.
Brilliant Minds and The Hunting Party were the only non-Dick Wolfe dramas to make the cut for the fall lineup. Brilliant Minds held onto its timeslot following The Voice on Monday. The Hunting Party shifts to Thursday night, following the Law & Order block. OneChicago will remain on Wednesday night. But even Dick Wolfe wasn't immune to the network's schedule and budget crunch. Fans of the Chicago and Law & Order shows can expect cast changes and episode count reductions for next season.
As mentioned, there are no new scripted dramas on the network's slate for next season. There will be one new comedy, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins. And the network was paying attention to those big ratings numbers for The Americas. A second nature documentary, Surviving Earth, will air next spring.
FOX
At one time, FOX was home to such iconic dramas as The X Files, House, and Prison Break, along with more quirky shows like The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr and Firefly. Over the last several years, however, the network has shrunk its drama slate to the point that next season there are only two dramas on the fall schedule: Doc and Murder in a Small Town. The network was rather non-committal about the rest of its current dramas, only stating that, as an anthology series, Accused might return in some capacity someday. When asked about Alert: Missing Persons Unit, The Cleaning Lady, and its remaining animated show, The Great North, network executives waffled, stating the network would revisit the future of those shows at a later date. Fans should prepare for quiet cancellations of all three shows.
The network is doubling down on its animated programming. Stalwart The Simpsons will be around until at least 2029, and the network extended multi-season deals to Family Guy, Bob's Burgers, and Krapopolis. American Dad will return to FOX next season after spending ten years on TBS, and Grimsburg will be back next year, though it did not receive a multi-year deal like its animated brethren.
As for pilots, the network picked up Best Medicine, a Doc Martin retread, and Memory of a Killer, a spin on the Belgian movie De Zaak Alzheimer (La Memoire Du Tueur) from 2003. The rest of the network's lineup is unscripted competition shows and college sports.
ABC
Of all the networks, ABC's upfront was the one with the least surprises. Their schedule is largely unchanged from the current season, though there was one big move. Shark Tank is leaving its long-held Friday night slot and moving to midweek anchoring a Wednesday night lineup of comedies, Shifting Gears and Abbott Elementary, along with the latest season of The Golden Bachelor. The network announced only one new show for the fall season, 9-1-1: Nashville, the latest spinoff of the hit 9-1-1 franchise.
Fans of Doctor Odyssey found out their show was cancelled when the network made no mention of the series during their presentation.
What new and returning shows will you be watching this fall?
Written by LadyShelley on May 13, 2025
All of the linear networks see live sports as a panacea for the shift to streaming. Unfortunately, nothing pulls in people like the NFL games. Basketball, hockey, baseball, car racing, none of that draws the way football does, but all of the networks are doing some kind of prime-time live sports. FOX has college games. The CW has auto racing and WWE. ABC and NBC have the football. CBS is the only network that still has mostly scripted shows.
I agree with you, though. I think NBC is spending a lot of money on a product that will not have the ROI they want.
NBC is shooting themselves in the foot. Perhaps Fox could pick up Good Cop/Bad Cop from the CW when it implodes.