ABC unveils Fall 2016 schedule - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

How do we feel about this?

Hayley Atwell's Conviction takes the Monday at 10 slot left by Castle's cancellation. J. August Richards' Notorious is on at 9 on Thursdays following Grey's and keeps the spot warm for Scandal post Kerry Washington's pregnancy.

IrrationaliTV | May 17, 08:30 CET

Dislike.

Sunfire | May 17, 08:39 CET

I'll say this: TV Line described ABC's problems at getting a show at 10 PM Tuesday as the "some unlucky show" time slot. Next year, all Marvel TV will be on Netflix

impalergeneral | May 17, 08:59 CET

It's been the death slot for a while now. This could be good news, because if the show can remain steady in the ratings from this year, then it will be seen as a success.

I choose to remain optimistic.

C.S.Strowbridge | May 17, 09:08 CET

Dungey says it can go edgier and darker at 10. I'm thrilled. The person in charge of the network has been in charge of Agents of SHIELD for years. This only bodes well. She is invested. Pretty sure if they moved it to 8 or to Sundays at 9 there would be complaints. I know there would be complaints no matter what change or no change. :)

IrrationaliTV | May 17, 09:17 CET

Dungey hasn't been in charge of AOS - I believe that was Paul Lee, who was the previous President of ABC. And I'm not sure how invested Dungey is, since she cancelled Agent Carter and didn't greenlight Marvel's Most Wanted.

Plus, you know, Tuesday 10PM is kind of a deathslot.

alliterator | May 17, 09:37 CET

Moving to 9pm was an improvement for the show. I think moving to 10 won't hurt, especially since it is mostly an adult viewership, and there's less competition at that time.

Leading in with two hours of comedy, though...that doesn't strike me as an ideal slot.

RoguePirateBunny | May 17, 09:38 CET

Kinda messes up my Flash/SHIELD combo and I might have to record it a few weeks since I might not be able to stay up every week but I'm OK with it.

Going to try and come in for the comments tonight, might be a bit late.

Dusk | May 17, 09:47 CET

Eh. At least its not Fridays on Fox.

Grack21 | May 17, 09:53 CET

Also its been the death slot for the last few shows, cause the last few shows in that slot were DIRE.

Grack21 | May 17, 09:53 CET

The ratings will plummet. I won't be surprised if they pull the show half way through the season and then burn off the remaining episodes in one go.

eddy | May 17, 09:54 CET

Bummer. Move it online world wide. C'mon Marvel - you know we'll pay. Get out from under the networks.

Mirage | May 17, 09:57 CET

Dungey worked for Paul Lee until he was fired and she took his place. She was in charge of drama development for the network so yes, she was in charge of developing Agents of SHIELD. It's a drama. On the network.

And more good news from THR, "Dungey said she was engaged in extensive conversations with the folks at Marvel, and that together they have a handful of projects in development. She remained coy on specifics, noting only that the corporate cousins would look at series that would be beneficial to both brands." More Marvel on the way then. She is committed. AOS isn't going anywhere.

[ edited by IrrationaliTV on 2016-05-17 20:19 ]

IrrationaliTV | May 17, 09:57 CET

I think ABC/Disney have to save some face here. Even if the show only gets one more season, they want to make it look like it's going out on it's own terms. They don't want to admit failure for one of their biggest brands, especially after halting production on Most Wanted and cancelling Agent Carter. They have to at least PRETEND that SHIELD is a success, haha. For that reason alone I could see them putting out 2 more seasons.

SuperScuba | May 17, 12:01 CET

Wait, Shield is a failure? I don't think so. It's not a run away grand slam but it's evolved into a solid show, with great characters, and what I thought was fairly stable ratings.

Did I miss something?

10 o'clock is tough for me as an old lady but I think the show could explore more themes at this hour. I'm optimistic as well that it will maintain viewership and that will be seen by ABC as just fine.

hann23 | May 17, 12:43 CET

It's not a failure, hann23. At all. It is measurably a success and will continue to be one. Anyone who says anything differently is basing their feelings on subjective nonsense.

IrrationaliTV | May 17, 13:06 CET

I'm not going to complain about the time change; I usually record AoS and watch it the next day. And if not, I live in the central time zone, so it'll be on at 9 here. I can stay awake till 10.

ActualSize | May 17, 13:13 CET

AoS is down around 22-25% in terms of live viewers this season, depending on which numbers you look at. The drop off started when it returned from the extended break in the middle.

Still, ABC will be earning millions off the adverts - there was a public record from the adbuyers for AoS on how much they paid for adverts on ABC and... ABC are making a lot of money from the show. Plus Marvel will make a lot more money from selling the show abroad.

My view is if the shows moves to 10pm and is allowed to get a little weird, experimental and fresh, season four feels like the right time to do it.

gossi | May 17, 14:46 CET

We really couldn't expect SHIELD to stay in the same slot with the ratings it's been getting. A 10pm slot brings lower expectations, but it seriously needs to stop hemorrhaging viewers.

Ricardo L. | May 17, 15:33 CET

It'll stop when the election stops, since East Coast viewers keep having the show interrupted by goddamn election coverage.

And Dungey is also the person who greenlit a bunch of Shondaland shows (including the upcoming "Still Star-Crossed"), so I have pretty much no faith.

alliterator | May 17, 15:59 CET

"You know nothing, Jon Snow." Pretty much sums it up. During early S2 when everyone panicked over ratings, I predicted a S3 and S4 of AOS. I was right. Now I'll predict it easily gets a S5 and that S6 is likely.

It performs right on the ABC average for live ratings, demands higher than average CPMs for it's richer and more educated than average viewers, performs in the top 20 of all network shows for post live viewing and gets better overseas sales than most dramas on the market today.

I have no idea what some of you are talking about.

IrrationaliTV | May 17, 16:32 CET

So, no need to picnic?

Grack21 | May 17, 16:36 CET

Because @IrrationaliTV we are irrational !

JDL | May 17, 16:40 CET

I'd like to picnic. Sounds lovely.

hann23 | May 17, 16:48 CET

She was in charge of drama development
for the network so yes, she was in charge of
developing Agents of SHIELD.
It's a drama. On the network.

Ah yes, I understand. I only have one question.
Do we think that network drama may be involved?

RobynH | May 17, 16:51 CET

@IrrationaliTV That's actually incorrect. Since returning from it's winter hiatus, AoS is one of ABC's lowest rated series, performing far below the network's average. In fact, it's one of ABC's lowest-rated dramas to ever get a renewal with less than 3 million same-day broadcast viewers in 6 of out its last 9 airings. That being said, there is still a strong likelihood of a fifth season, pending similar performance next year.

marvelknight616 | May 17, 17:21 CET

To clarify, I didn't mean the show itself is "HORRIBLE" when I said "failure." I very much enjoy the show. However, I have to believe ABC/Marvel were hoping for a TV smash even a fraction of the impact the films make, and to expand the brand with spinoffs. So far that hasn't happened. There are clearly different opinions on this site about whether it truly is a success or not, but the show is hardly a lock for renewal each year, and I would assume it's an expensive show to produce. So my opinion is, SHIELD won't lose the network money, but at some point soon they'll pull the plug because the returns aren't big enough and the movie-side of Marvel doesn't want to play ball with the TV-side. I could certainly be wrong though, I don't work in Hollywood :)

SuperScuba | May 17, 17:25 CET

marvelknight616, almost every show on every network will be searching out and destroying new lows in live/same day ratings from now on. They have been for several years now. That is why no sane business person uses L/SD ratings for anything except lining the bottom of a birdcage. They are less than meaningless. They are noise but they are noise released to the public by clickbaity sites so the general public ascribes meaning where there is none. I was looking at full season averages but I shouldn't have even mentioned L/SD ratings. They only matter for live events. Mea culpa.

IrrationaliTV | May 17, 17:32 CET

They should've just cancelled it. It's easily Marvel's least popular series by a considerable margin and, frankly, it's just a really bad television show.

vampmogs | May 17, 22:37 CET

So, no need to picnic?

What's wrong with having a picnic?

Nebula1400 | May 17, 22:51 CET

Alliterator, what do you know about "Still Star Crossed" that I don't? The premise sounds weird to me, as someone who thinks "R&J" possibly has the most beautiful writing in the English language, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be bad. Plus it has Tony Head. I was going to give it a go based on TH's presence. Plus it looks like the cast is nicely diverse.

Jocelyn | May 18, 06:02 CET

vampmogs, it isn't Marvel's least popular series by any metric I can see.

Shonda prints money at ABC.

gossi | May 18, 06:36 CET

It's pretty much universally mocked as being terrible and Marvel's ugly forgotten stepchild. It has never received the praise shows like Daredevil or Jessica Jones got and even Agent Carter, which isn't great, seems to have fans on here wishing AoS was cancelled instead. Obviously it'll have some fans (all shows do matter what) but in general this is not a well-liked or highly regarded show by any stretch of the imagination.

Which I can understand... because it's not a good show.

[ edited by vampmogs on 2016-05-18 22:32 ]

vampmogs | May 18, 13:27 CET

I'll just be over here in a corner by myself, being an idiot and thoroughly enjoying it.

Also loving Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and all the DC shows on The CW. Gotham and Lucifer are pretty fun on FOX too. Don't forget about the kickass Wynonna Earp on syfy and I can't wait for Preacher on AMC.

I'm a fan (person who enjoys things) of fun comic book TV!

[ edited by IrrationaliTV on 2016-05-19 01:03 ]

IrrationaliTV | May 18, 16:03 CET

AoS is 93% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Its haters are certainly loud, but I don't think they are quite as legion as their volume might lead one to believe.

QingTing | May 18, 22:43 CET

IrrationaliTV, may I join you in your corner? I'll bring popcorn.

QingTing | May 18, 22:44 CET

May 17 2016