ABC finally announced its spring schedule, and the big news is that Lost is moving to Thursdays. The long-awaited fourth season will premiere at 9pm on Thursday, January 31. Due to the writers’ strike, ABC has also added a slew of returning reality shows to its line-up, as nearly all of its new scripted shows from the year are being taken off.
The Lost move comes after lots of speculation that it could move time slots. ABC’s decision to give it the Grey’s Anatomy time slot shows how confident they are in this fourth season. Of course, helping matters will be the fact that it’s competition will be repeats of Supernatural and CSI, and new episodes of reality shows Don’t Forget the Lyrics and Celebrity Apprentice.
An even bigger vote of confidence goes to the new drama Eli Stone, which is being given the post-Lost time slot. Eli Stone comes from executive producers Ken Olin (Alias) and Greg Berlanti (Everwood) and is a mixture of fantasy and drama as it follows the young titular lawyer who has hallucinations that may be spiritual in nature. The mixed tones and religious sensibility may be a good pair for Lost, especially since Olin and one of the show’s co-stars, Victor Garber, were both involved in J,J, Abrams’ previous series, Alias.
Also in the world of new scripted programming for ABC, the fashion series Cashmere Mafia will premiere Wednesday, January 9 at 10pm, after a special preview the week before on Thursday, January 3 at 10pm. That will run through February 27, at which point Men in Trees will occupy the time slot.
The remainder of ABC’s schedule will be filled in with repeats, generic reality shows like the prank show Just for Laughs, as well as makeover shows like Wife Swap, Supernanny and Oprah’s Big Give.
There will also be plenty of dancing and drama. Dance War takes over Mondays for January and February, then on March 17, the newest seasons of The Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars premiere.
-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: ABC
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
