Ryan Murphy will keep his hold on ABC‘s Thursday 8 PM – 10 PM stretch next season with the first 9-1-1 franchise block in three and a half years, while reality veteran Shark Tank is moving to a new night after 15 seasons on Friday and Sunday. The Golden Bachelor also is back in a new time slot on the network’s fall 2025 schedule, which features one new series, spinoff 9-1-1: Nashville starring Chris O’Donnell.
Here is the schedule, which Craig Erwich, president, Disney Television Group, said is “about maintaining stability.” It does not include two of ABC’s top dramas, The Rookie and Will Trent, slated again for a midseason return alongside High Potential on Tuesday. The fall lineup is followed by analysis — with input from Erwich on benching of The Rookie and Will Trent and moving Shark Tank — and more details about the latest 9-1-1 offshoot.
The network has been able to increase High Potential’s episode count by a couple of hours from last season’s 13-episode order, which will stretch its sophomore run into midseason.
“We have so much momentum going with that show, and I actually think it will perform even better next year,” Erwich said, noting the additional exposure High Potential‘s first season has been getting on Hulu as well as ABC though reruns, a strategy the network previously employed with Will Trent to strong ratings results.
Tuesday is one of four consecutive nights (Saturday-Tuesday) left unchanged from last fall, with college/NFL football on Saturday and Monday and America’s Funniest Home Videos and The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday, the latter featuring the world television premieres of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3, Elemental, and Avatar: The Way of Water and the broadcast premiere of Wakanda Forever. Also staying put are Thursday’s bookmarks, Ryan Murphy’s 9-1-1 at 8 PM and Shonda Rhimes’ Grey’s Anatomy at 10 PM, with 9-1-1: Nashville taking over Murphy’s Doctor Odyssey in the hammock 9 PM slot. While off the schedule, the cruise ship medical drama has not been officially canceled, and creative conversations with Murphy about its future are continuing, Erwich said.
The two-hour 9-1-1 block sets up likely crossovers between the mothership and the Nashville-set spinoff. The last time two series in the first responder franchise aired back-to-back was a brief tandem run of 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star on Fox in spring 2022.
The biggest scheduling changes are coming on Wednesday. Back is the 8 PM – 9 PM comedy block ABC introduced this winter with the new Tim Allen sitcom Shifting Gears and Quinta Brunson’s hit Abbott Elementary, the #5 and #2 broadcast series of the season in multi-platform adults 18-49, at 8 PM and 8:30 PM, respectively. They will be followed by the second installment of The Golden Bachelor, starring former NFL player Mel Owens, which is trying out a new slot after the inaugural season aired hourlong episodes on Thursday at 8 PM during the strike impacted fall 2023, while offshoot The Golden Bachelorette ran 90-episode episodes Wednesday at 8 PM last fall.
Anchoring the night at 10 PM will be veteran reality utility player Shark Tank, moving to Wednesdays for its upcoming 17th season. Except for four episodes in its first season, which aired on Tuesday, Shark Tank‘s original run to date had been confined to two nights, Sunday as well as Friday where the entrepreneurship series has been an 8 PM opener for the past five seasons. (Shark Tank repeats have aired in the Wednesday 10 PM slot off-season.)
Succeeding Shark Tank in the Friday 8 PM hour will be another ABC unscripted utility player, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, with its first installment emceed by new Wheel of Fortune host Ryan Seacrest. ABC’s Fall 2025 schedule isn’t just a shuffle – it’s a rebranding of strategy. From giving ‘9-1-1’ the main spotlight to delaying high-performing shows like ‘The Rookie’ and ‘Will Trent’, the network is either playing chess or asking for chaos.
