Latest news with #Erwich
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Yep, Doctor Odyssey's Fate Is Still TBD — ABC Boss Explains Hold-Up
When it comes to whether Doctor Odyssey will set sail for a second season, it sounds like all interested parties are waiting on the ABC series' captain. Season 1 of the seafaring sudser has been averaging 4.8 million total viewers (with delayed playback), right on par with what Grey's Anatomy did in the Thursday hammock spot last year, and ranking No. 5 out of the 7 dramas ABC has aired this TV season. More from TVLine 9-1-1's Oliver Stark Previews Buck's 'Dirty' Finale Crisis, More 'Clashes' With New Roommate Eddie The Rookie Boss Talks Bright Side of Finale's Big #Chenford Tease, Ramifications of (Spoiled) Cameo Will Trent and The Rookie to Return in 2026 With 'Non-Stop' Seasons, After 'Gangbusters' Performance This Year In the coveted 18-49 demo, Doctor Odyssey does not rank amongst broadcast TV's Top 20 shows. Ahead of the series' freshman finale (airing this Thursday at 9/8c), TVLine asked Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich where things stand with the network's renewal/cancellation decision, and when fans might expect one. As seen with the unveiling of ABC's game plan for the 2025-26 TV season, 'Doctor Odyssey is not on our schedule currently,' Erwich said. With an eye on the future, 'We're in talks with [series crearor] Ryan [Murphy], and we really look to him about what the next chapter might be.' Thing is, the Odyssey is not the only ship in the super-prolific Murphy's fleet. 'Ryan's extremely busy,' Erwich noted, with '9-1-1, [the upcoming spinoff] 9-1-1: Nashville… he's doing All's Fair [for Hulu], I know he's working on a bunch of shows for FX that they're really excited about, too….' Cancellation Anxiety! The 9 Broadcast Shows Still on the Bubble View List Disney TV Studios Chief Eric Schrier, in a recent interview with our sister site Deadline, similarly indicated that Murphy himself is the best person to offer a prognosis for Doctor Odyssey. 'That decision ultimately lies with Ryan Murphy,' Schrier said, 'whether Ryan wants to continue to do it, and he feels like there's stories to tell that he feels confident in.'Will this Thursday's finale leave viewers satisfied, should it wind up serving as a series finale? That is the buzz, though Erwich would not confirm as much when asked by TVLine. 'The [Season 1] stories we're really satisfying the way that Ryan drew them out,' Erwich said, 'but again, it's not on our schedule right now and we're continuing conversations [with Murphy].' Best of TVLine Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More 'Missing' Shows, Found! The Latest on Severance, Holey Moley, Poker Face, YOU, Primo, Transplant and 25+ Others
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Disney's Craig Erwich on ABC's Streaming Success, ‘Bachelor' Turmoil
ABC's fairly stable schedule for the start of the 2025-26 season is the product of not just a successful preceding season, but several years of work, Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich says. The network hasn't ordered a lot of new scripted series in recent seasons — the highest single total was five in 2022-23 — but it has gone all in on marketing the handful of shows it has picked up. That has helped build a roster of newer shows to run alongside long-time staples like Grey's Anatomy and The Rookie, Erwich told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview Tuesday ahead of Disney's upfront. More from The Hollywood Reporter ABC Holds Steady With Fall 2025 Schedule Led by 'High Potential,' '911' Doubleheader 'Doctor Odyssey' Remains at Sea: No Season 2 Decision Yet at ABC TelevisaUnivision Bets on Microdramas and Music in Upfront Push 'Three years ago, we launched Abbott Elementary. The year after that, it was Will Trent. This past year, High Potential, which is the most successful streaming show this calendar year,' Erwich said. 'It really validates that strategy.' ABC has renewed all but two of its scripted series from this season for 2025-26 (The Conners aired its final season in the spring, and Doctor Odyssey is still on the bubble). Erwich talked with THR about the cross-platform strategy that helped ensure those renewals, the backstage upheaval at The Bachelor and ABC's development pipeline. The interview below has been edited and condensed. ABC released some ratings data today showing it has the top five shows [ and ] among adults 18-49 this season in Nielsen's cross-platform ratings. As you talk with advertisers, are they understanding that a lot of that total audience is coming from streaming, which might not have the same kind of ad load as an on-air broadcast? This year was the first time that we were able to see competitive streaming ratings, which gives you some transparency and a level to set on our competitors. When we looked at that, we had the top five shows in 18-49 [not including sports]. What I think about is first of all, that's the way that people watch television, so it should be measured in a modern way. Why are we so successful at it? We have multiple platforms in the Disney ecosystem, but we're expert at creating singular events out of those multiple platforms. We've gotten really, really, really good at this. The handoff between ABC and Hulu, just to name two of the platforms, works seamlessly. We're capturing our viewers where they are. It benefits the shows as well. Will Trent, for instance — for that show to grow year over year [in the 18-49 demographic], the only broadcast show to do so, kind of is remarkable. It's a testament to not just how great the show is, but to the structure and the ecosystem that we've mastered here. Would you say marketers are knowledgable about the way that that viewing breaks down now, and that they're going to capture most of those viewers not necessarily at 8 o'clock on a Tuesday, but in the days after? We're all in New York for a Disney upfront, which is really where we get to talk about our entire portfolio, our entire ecosystem, and the massive reach that the Walt Disney Company has. and have gone through a lot of backstage upheaval and changes in the past few months. Where do things stand with that in terms of finding a new showrunner and starting the machinery back up to have those on the air again? The uber Bachelor machinery is going 100 miles an hour at ABC. We're getting ready to launch Bachelor in Paradise, which for the first time will have the Goldens as well as the young people. I was just in a meeting with [Walt Disney Television unscripted head] Rob Mills, and he was telling me that the Golden Bachelor people are staying up much later and partying even more than the younger people. I haven't seen anything, but I anticipate a very, very good installment of Bachelor in Paradise. And then after that, we have The Golden Bachelor, and we've got a really special guy with Mel Owens. The Bachelor is no different than any other show. You have to have the exact right casting. You have to have the exact right people. We're taking tremendous care with a very singular and beloved franchise, and we'll continue to roll those out as they're ready. Can you say whether you have a new showrunner for those series yet? Not yet. I wanted to ask about development as well. As ABC, like all other broadcasters, have moved into a year-round cycle and are ordering fewer pilots and script to series projects, does that impact your ability at all to say 'We might need something at midseason' and have a project ready to go? We launch shows year-round, which means we have the opportunity to develop year-round, which [in turn] means that we have ability to make pilots when the pilots are ready. We're not forced to have them all done at the same time. Each one can get the care and nurturing to be as excellent as it needs to be, to be worthy of being ordered to the schedule. We're focused on a very set slate of shows, which is why I think we've been successful at returning so many shows to the schedule year over year the last few seasons. What's great is the creative needs of the shows and the high bar [for a series pickup] really fits in with our scheduling strategy, and that just helps our success become exponential at some point. Are there any projects you're potentially looking to add in the near future? We just announced a pilot that I'm really excited about, RJ Decker [from Elementary creator Rob Doherty and based on Carl Hiaasen's novel Double Whammy]. It's an extraordinarily funny procedural that is highly original, a very singular character. I think it's very much in the vein of the success we've had on Tuesday nights with shows like The Rookie and Will Trent and High Potential, which has really become a destination night of television for us. Not just at ABC but at other broadcast networks too, there are more very long-running shows than ever still on the air. You have — which hasn't been on ABC for as long but is closing in on a decade total — and they're obviously all still drawing viewers. What's the balance you need to strike between dependable, long-running shows like that and keeping things fresh? I would say that The Rookie and Grey's Anatomy are not just reliable. I think they're thriving, in that new generations of fans are continuing to discover those shows on Disney platforms. So the audience is being is being refreshed. The creative is as vibrant as ever, and we're seeing those shows stand up with the performance of new shows as well. Grey's was the No. 2 most streamed show in all of television last year. Do you think people having those big libraries at their fingertips, on Hulu or also on Netflix in the case of , helps fuel viewing for new episodes? Absolutely. We're there to serve the audience however they want to watch, whenever they want to. There are people who want to come home on a Tuesday night and watch Will Trent, The Rookie and High Potential live. There are some people who want to wait for the season to be over, and then they close their doors on a weekend and watch all of them. There are people who decide, 'You know what, I just want a good show to binge,' and the fact that there are 450 episodes of Grey's Anatomy, they can get into that like you would a really long book. We hear a lot about people rewatching shows with their kids. We can serve all of it. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise 'Yellowstone' and the Sprawling Dutton Family Tree, Explained
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Doctor Odyssey' Not Canceled Yet, Disney TV Boss Says: ‘It's an Ongoing Conversation'
Not all hope is lost for 'Doctor Odyssey,' Ryan Murphy's whimsical cruise ship-set medical drama, whose renewal status at ABC continues to remain in limbo. 'Doctor Odyssey,' which has been the subject of ongoing creative conversations ahead of a potential renewal or cancellation, is not included on ABC's upcoming 2025-26 schedule, but the show is not yet canceled, according to Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich. ''Doctor Odyssey' is not currently on our schedule. We're continuing to have creative conversations with Ryan about what a next chapter would look like,' Erwich told TheWrap, adding that Murphy is quite busy as he prepares to launch a new season of '9-1-1' and new series '9-1-1: Nashville' on ABC as well as the legal drama series 'All's Fair' on Hulu this fall. 'It's an ongoing conversation.' Erwich refrained from discussing whether 'Doctor Odyssey' could potentially move over to become a Hulu original series, where 'All's Fair' will launch this fall. The upcoming series stars Kim Kardashian, Glenn Close, Niecy Nash, Naomi Watts, Teyana Taylor and Sarah Paulson. 'We talk to Ryan all the time,' Erwich said. 'He has a lot of shows across the Disney platform, so these conversations take on a variety of subjects.' This fall, Murphy's '9-1-1' will launch its ninth season Thursdays at 8 p.m. before the series launch of '9-1-1: Nashville,' which will debut Thursdays at 9 p.m. — taking over the timeslot 'Doctor Odyssey' aired in during the 2024-25 broadcast season. In 'Doctor Odyssey,' Joshua Jackson stars as Max, who took a job as a shipboard physician after a brush with death, joining the medical team alongside Phillipa Soo's nurse practitioner Avery Morgan and Sean Teale's nurse Tristan Silva. Don Johnson stars as the ship's captain. As the broadcast networks debut their upcoming lineups for the 2025-26 schedule to advertisers during upfronts, NBC's 'Grosse Pointe Garden Society' has been left in a similar position of not yet being renewed nor canceled, with NBC progamming exec telling press a potential move to Peacock is 'still being discussed.' The post 'Doctor Odyssey' Not Canceled Yet, Disney TV Boss Says: 'It's an Ongoing Conversation' appeared first on TheWrap.
