ABC’s Craig Erwich on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Future, ‘Abbott Elementary’ Move

Rick Porter
·6 min read
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ABC canceled its fewest number of shows in years at the tail end of the 2021-22 season, and it’s not tinkering with its schedule too much going into 2022-23. That stability, Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment president Craig Erwich says, is key to keeping the network healthy in the current, streaming-heavy TV landscape.

With just two new scripted series to launch in the fall — dramas Alaska and The Rookie: Feds — Erwich says having a fairly stable primetime slate “allows us to really focus on launching the new shows.”

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“We have some incredible opportunities and high priority programs in Alaska and The Rookie: Feds,” Erwich told The Hollywood Reporter Tuesday morning, hours before ABC takes part in Disney’s upfront presentation. “With fewer moves, it really allows us to focus in on creatively bringing those shows to market.”

Erwich also discussed the future of Grey’s Anatomy, the move of Abbott Elementary to a prime spot in ABC’s Wednesday comedy block and the addition of Celebrity Jeopardy! to the slate.

Does the fact that a sizable portion of the audience now watches network programming on other platforms play into the need for a stable on-air schedule?

All our shows are on Hulu three hours later, so there are certainly more opportunities for viewers to access the shows in the way they prefer. We have a customer-focus mentality. But there are still a lot of people watching [on-air], and for those viewers, having their show on that night is important. We want to make sure they know it’s there.

Grey’s Anatomy is still one of ABC’s biggest shows going into season 19, but have you started talking at all with Krista Vernoff and Ellen Pompeo and the Shondaland folks about how and when might the right time to end it?

Not at all. We’re still kind of on the high of celebrating our 400th episode, which is a landmark achievement in the entire history of television. The show with Shonda and Krista at the helm continues to be incredibly relevant, incredibly entertaining. There’s still a massive, loyal fan base that comes to Thursday nights for both Station 19 and Grey’s, and we’re just thrilled to have the show on our air.

How did Celebrity Jeopardy! come together?

We’ve had a pretty great run with Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, and Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are paired in [syndication] all over the country. So having a celebrity primetime version just felt like an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. We’re really excited to have it on our schedule.

And are you ready for the inevitable comparison to the Saturday Night Live sketches?

(Laughs.) I don’t know that we’ll be able to measure up to that. The show will be funny in its own way.

What’s the upside of holding The Wonder Years and A Million Little Things for midseason?

I think there are upsides for both shows. The Wonder Years was one of our strongest comedy premieres of the last two years, and the show has gotten such an incredible reaction, not just from fans but also from critics. Having a little extra time to both produce and market it will be to the benefit of the show. It was nominated for a Peabody — that doesn’t happen to a lot of broadcast comedies. We want to have a very bespoke plan for that very special series.

On A Million Little Things, it was actually a function of stability. We didn’t have to bring it back in the fall. Having that extra time for [creator] DJ [Nash] and the showrunners to carefully craft the next installment is better for the show, and it gives us more lead time to figure out the best way to launch it.

Abbott Elementary moving to 9 p.m. on Wednesday seems like a signal of how confident you are in it continuing to deliver.

We’re extremely confident and extremely thrilled with the performance of Abbott, and we’re really confident with our overall strategy on Wednesday night. It’s a singular night of family comedy across all of television. We’ll get out of the gate really strong with The Conners, which is our broadest comedy, then go into The Goldbergs, which has had great success the last nine seasons. That flows right into Abbott, and then we go on to Home Economics. It’s a night where we see a lot of co-viewing, and I think we’re the only people telling those kinds of stories right now. At ABC we’re very much about bringing people together, and the family comedy genre — each of which is distinct in its own way — is something we’re extremely proud of.

You have Bachelor in Paradise over two nights, including in the Monday spot where Dancing With the Stars was. Was that a conscious decision to go a little more adult in that time period?

The Bachelor franchise has always had expressions on both Monday and Tuesday nights, so we know the audience expects to find [those shows] across those nights. Bachelor in Paradise, in terms of live plus same-day numbers, matched or exceeded Dancing With the Stars. So in terms of bringing a powerhouse show to fill that spot, it was a natural candidate. And Bachelor in Paradise is such a unique installment of the Bachelor franchise. It has so many storylines and so many characters that it’s able to successfully expand over the course of the two nights. It’s one of the shows I always get the most conversation around — people love to watch it, and they really love to talk about it. So it’s a great way to kick off the week.

You gave a straight-to-series order to Avalon a few months ago, but it’s not mentioned in your schedule release. Is it still in the mix for next season?

Absolutely. It was never planned to premiere before midseason, and we’re actually just getting ready to shoot the pilot. We’re going to make more announcements about our midseason slate over the summer.

And do you anticipate making some off-cycle orders of pilots that are still alive?

We have a very healthy slate of off-cycle development. [Four dramas and one comedy are still in play.] The advantage of that is it really allows us to produce these shows when the talent and the material are ready. It gives us better quality. And since we’re focused on a very stable fall schedule, we have time at midseason to — like we did with Abbott — have a really custom, crafted campaign to bring these shows out as opportunities arise over the course of the season.

Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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