No 'Bachelor' Show, 'High Potential' Midseason

Key Points:

• ABC is maintaining a stable fall 2026 schedule with minimal changes, but notably has left its top-rated crime drama, High Potential, off the fall lineup to debut midseason instead, following a strategy to minimize viewer interruptions.
• For the first time since 2019-20, ABC's fall schedule will not feature any Bachelor franchise series due to recent controversies; however, The Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise are planned for midseason and summer 2027, respectively.
• ABC has renewed every scripted series for the 2026-27 season, marking a historic first for the network, and is expanding its scripted content, including bringing back the Scrubs reboot and introducing a new drama, The Rookie: North, as a midseason spinoff.
• The new drama The Rookie: North follows a rookie police officer in Pierce County and is a spinoff of the long-running series The Rookie; it stars Jay Ellis and will debut midseason alongside its parent show.
• ABC continues to leverage strong lead-ins like Dancing with the Stars to support new series such as R.J. Decker and plans to strategically pair shows from the same universe to maximize audience flow, as seen with The Rookie and its spinoffs.