Shocker: Grey’s Anatomy on the Move as ABC Unveils Midseason Schedule
Grey’s Anatomy is getting a new Thursday-night shift.
ABC has unveiled its midseason schedule and the big news is that Shonda Rhimes’ enduring medical drama is moving from 8 pm back to its signature 9 pm perch beginning in late January to make way for the return of spinoff series Station 19, which will now lead off the night. To christen the rejiggered lineup, which kicks off Thursday, Jan. 23, ABC will stage a “dramatic two-hour crossover event” between the two shows.
Grey’s spent eight of its 16 seasons airing Thursdays at 9 pm before turning the time slot over to Scandal beginning in Season 11.
A Million Little Things, meanwhile, will shift to 10 pm, where it will remain until it finishes out Season 2 in late March. And then on April 2, How to Get Away With Murder will reclaim its 10 pm spot for the remainder of its final season.
ABC’s early 2020 game plan also finds the new 50 Cent-produced drama For Life (watch trailer here) taking over Emergence‘s Tuesday-at-10 pm slot beginning Feb. 11 when the latter series wraps its 13-episode rookie run. The network will decide Emergence‘s fate in the spring.
Additionally, American Idol will return Sunday, Feb. 16.
Scroll down for a snapshot of Fox’s midseason game plan (new series in CAPS):
Sunday, Jan. 5
7 pm America’s Funniest Home Videos
Monday, Jan. 6
8 pm The Bachelor (season premiere)
Tuesday, Jan. 7
8 pm JEOPARDY: THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
9 pm mixed-ish
9: 30 black-ish
10 pm Emergence
Wednesday, Jan. 8
9 pm Modern Family
9:31 pm Single Parents
10 pm Stumptown
Monday, Jan. 13
10 pm The Good Doctor
Wednesday, Jan. 15
8 pm The Goldbergs
8:30 pm Schooled
Friday, Jan. 17
8 pm American Housewife
9 pm Fresh Off the Boat
Tuesday, Jan. 21
8 pm The Conners
8:30 pm Bless this Mess
Thursday, Jan. 23
8 pm Station 19 (new time)
9 pm Grey’s Anatomy (new time)
10 pm A Million Little Things (new time)
Sunday, Feb. 9
8 pm The Oscars
Tuesday, Feb. 11
10 pm FOR LIFE
Sunday, Feb. 16
8 pm American Idol
Sunday, Feb. 23
10 pm The Rookie
Thursday, April 2
10 pm How to Get Away With Murder
That’s a long wait for Murder. Every other season has been finished by mid March.
Agreed. By the time it comes back ratings will truly be down. I’d prefer ABC do their best to send it off at the .5 level it’s maintaining currently
It’s not like ratings matter since it’s the end. This way you have time to digest all that has happened.
I hate when networks do this. No momentum. And this is the last season (which is probably a good thing) so just give the audience the whole thing.
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By the way, Ausiello, it’s ABC not Fox….
Great! They have more freedom at 9 pm.
Once again ABC is bringing Greys down trying to lift Station19 up.
Quite the opposite. Opening the night is always harder.
I would think if that were the case, they’d leave it alone – Station 19 probably would get a bigger bump following Grey’s rather than preceding it. Now i don’t have to worry about getting to ABC until 9.
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Unless you meant the crossover, in which case I will not be watching Grey’s anymore – especially if they do all the crossovers that they mentioned. I really don’t like Station 19.
I would imagine since they want to do a lot of crossovers, the emergency needs to happen before the medical treatment, so placing them in this order assists with that. The last One Chicago crossover shows the problem when Med comes before Fire. They had to reverse the order of the shows that night.
Actually it sounds like ABC is using my idea/suggestion from two/three years ago when Station 19 first started – it makes perfect sense for the people to be injured in the fire and then for the firefighters to bring them into the hospital.
Grey’s ratings will probably get stronger for “time of” watching since the time is better for having returned from work, eaten dinner, etc. Also the latter time slot gives the director more leeway when it comes to producing love scenes and surgeries – lots of stuff that cannot be shown in the “family” hour can be shown in the next block (look at Scandal).
Pretty sure tonight’s Fall Finale of Grey’s will involve a disaster which will open up in January with Station 19 characters battling and then the Grey’s characters will take centre stage in the second hour – kind of like a two-hour Grey’s event.
Don’t care for medical shows. I’m a nurse, and they’re not very realistic
Agreed Linda! I’m a nurse and can’t believe how they portray hospitals, Drs and nurses. I never watch Medical show because they drive me nuts.
not a nurse or doctor! but i still watch because i’m able to separate fact from fiction!
Linda and Jane, thanks for being nurses but that logic is silly. I volunteered at a hospital for five years during my high school and college chapter of my life, I can also tell that my experience was hardly a Shonda Rhimes soap opera, but I did appreciate the things I saw and lived through. I’m with Derek. People need to realize that all shows aren’t real portrayals of life, they’re just imitations or exaggerations our our reality created by artists. You gotta separate tv programs for what they are, entertainment!
Well, then you don’t try to take care of patients and they ask you “Do they have a room like on Grey’s Anatomy where you have sex with Drs”? I DEFINITELY know it is fiction, but some patients don’t. And in some cases it affects their health. So you all can get angry but until you’ve walked in our shoes…..
It’s not your fault Jane. Medicine has been oversimplified by the overstimulation of where people get their information on the signs and symptoms on how their body is performing. Too many people just use WebMD and Google things up, but then again I have heard of countless of times where people have saved their own lives by being able to diagnose things themselves when experienced medical professionals would have simply dusted off a cough or a lingering symptom as nothing and normal. An error in diagnosis happens so many times that people need to know it’s a problem, Grey’s has educated the public that you have to be your own advocate, I give the credit for that. Like with anything else, there are your pros and cons regarding the state of the healthcare system. As for the comment on a sex room, it really depends on the situation, it could have just been innocent small talk from the patient; it really delves into your inner peace on how you would want to respond it.
I’m a lawyer and still enjoy HTGAWM, Suits and other shows… It has nothing to do with what is happening IRL.
I totally agree
I come from a family of farmers. Don’t care for The Wizard of Oz. I’ve never had any of my farm hands and neighbors turn into scarecrows, tin men, lions and wicked witches, so TWOO is not realistic. It drives me nuts. :)
We have to wait til April for the rest of HTGAWM??? Seems like an odd thing to do for its last season… If I had known I wouldn’t have watched any yet and just saved it haha
The more pressing question is, what happens to TGIT branding when ABC is down to two Shondaland shows? Will TGIT be retired for good?
Well, it has two Shonda shows on air (GA and HTGAWM), but is still technically considered TGIT… So why wouldn’t it afterwards?
It’s going to take Alex Trebek to pull me away from Leroy Jethro Gibbs.Comfort food for comfort food.
Those crossover made no sense.
WTH? Why does HTGAWM return so late? April? Seriously? Oh, by the way, they’ve basically put A million little things on a death slot. No one’s gonna watch it when it airs that late. I hope the ratings won’t go down. I really want a season 3!
This! A million little things is the best new TGIF show. 10pm is too late for favorable ratings.
We saw what happened when it was on Wednesdays at 10pm last season. Yes, keeping AMLT behind Grey’s might help boost the ratings, but AMLT is NOT a 10pm show. The ratings are going to fall again because it’s on too late.
Actually 8:00 was a death slot for years on ABC until they moved Grey’s there. So who knows about Station 19’s fate. Maybe Grey’s broke the curse of 8:00 on Thursdays. But for me, Station 19 doesn’t hold my interest. So see you at 9 ABC!
It feels like a sing or swim situation. Station 19 has gotten a very cushy timeslot for the past couple seasons and I personally feel that retention from Grey’s has been weak with or without crossover episodes. ABC is hoping for the best with Station 19 but I’m pretty sure that the new regime has many things in development for pilot season if Station 19 sinks, the network needs to find a couple breakout hits to replace Grey’s eventually.
Looks like some pretty incompetent people have taken over ABC’s primetime scheduling. I fear that A Million Little Things will suffer in the new later slot.
It’s going to hurt Milion little things in that time slot
HTGAWM always have a short season. They are in their final season. Let the show end. Returning it in April is just a mistake. They could’ve waited to release Station 19 or sent million little things to a big break. If none was possible, they should’ve just started this last season in April. Nov to April is a big midseason break.
It’s ending. So they don’t care about the ratings. So they are using it as filler at the end of the season.
They really couldn’t let HTGAWM finish it’s final six episodes? I’ll probably forget by April.
Oops. Not meant to be a reply to you. Sorry!
I like Grey’s later. I don’t watch Station 19.
Seems odd since it seems that Station 19 needs the prop of GA. Going first is going to hurt. Not everyone watches Station 19 so people are going to come into GA at a disadvantage if characters are introduced to the hospital in the first hour. We’ll see how this experiment helps or hurts. Seems Station 19 is still pretty weak if they are playing games with it’s timeslot.
It was also a disadvantage when it came on AFTER Grey’s. I know a lot of people didn’t get the conclusion to what happened on Grey’s because they didn’t bother watching S19, and rightfully so.
Which is a message that Station 19 is not a popular enough show to have crossover events with. It doesn’t work, no matter which show airs first.
I thought 20/20 was at 9pm on Friday and fresh off the boat at 8.30. Sis u make a mistake
Yep – unless they’re doing back to back episodes for both shows, it doesn’t make sense.
Thoughts:
1. Hopefully AMLT doesn’t suffer too much in the later spot.
2. For Life will likely do better for ABC on Tuesday. It sounds like a 10 pm show.
3. I hope Emergence gets a season 2 and a better, earlier time slot. It and Mixed ish are two if the best new shows.
Hey! 50 cents is about 10 years past relevant.
Irrelevant in music.
He is far from irrelevant in tv.
The show Power would disagree with you
April for murder??? not a gift to the fans for the final episodes…
ABC Shows I watch:
The Good Doctor
Single Parents
The Rookie
I can’t believe they’re holding off on HTGAWM until April. ABC must really not give an eff about ratings now that it’s the final season. Now I’m dreading the fall finale cliffhangers even more!
Boo to HTGAWM coming back in April. They should have shafted AMLT to later and let HTGAWM air its remaining six episode right in January/February. AMLT could come back in March, in that case, rather than us waiting extra time for HTGAWM.
“Scroll down for a snapshot of Fox’s midseason game plan (new series in CAPS):”
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Is the network in discussion not ABC..
I feel like a “shocker” is telling me that Grey’s was cancelled or is moving to Disney+. Telling me it’s moved back to its original time slot is barely even a point of interest.
I also felt it was going to Hulu, Netflix or whatever. It will air an hour later wasn’t a shock.
I can’t remember what was previously announced for it, but I take it from not being named on this list that Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be a summer series, debuting around May or June for the final season? That is the #1 show I’m looking forward to!
I’m a little concerned about A Million Little Things moving to 10 PM – it’s one of my current favorite ABC series, and I really hope the audience follows it to its later time slot and maintains or grows its ratings. (The move will actually work well for me, as now I’ll be able to watch Legacies near real-time and watch AMLT right after!)
Really! They are going to make us wait over 4 months to finish off HTGAWM! Here is an idea, finish off HTGAWM then bring Station 19 back. (yes they are not in the same time slot but it is so silly)
Another reason that it is silly to hold off airing HTGAWM until April. May Sweeps! Wouldn’t they want AMLT (as it is moving to that slot in HTGAWM hiatus) to air during May Sweep as that is when the networks decide a lot of shows fates? It hasn’t been renewed for Season 3.
I think A Million Little Things is safe for Season 3. ABC clearly likes the show or they wouldn’t have moved it to Thurs last season to help it when they could’ve let it die like so many shows before it. And even now, you’d think ABC would want to boost Station 19 with Grey’s but still plan to use it to lead into AMLT and there’s no way it does worse than HTGAWM at 10.
I’m assuming whatever happens on Grey’s tonight leads into Station 19 next year. It did sound like a car crash at the end of Grey’s promo.
Is there something going on Sundays that’s causing The Rookie to be delayed until late Feb?
Football, Award Season,
I think the weirdest thing is that The Rookie does not return after American Idol’s season premiere…
Love ❤️ watch
Grey, the Good Doctor, and Days . Days is fun watching with the Jump. It’s the best I have seen.