DIS Walt Disney Co

By Joe Flint 

Walt Disney Co.'s ABC is betting heavily on comedy for the 2016-17 television season with 12 sitcoms planned for the fall and spring, as the network tries to rebound from a disappointing finish in the ratings race.

Besides returning eight comedies including "Modern Family," "Blackish" and "Fresh Off the Boat," ABC is premiering four new ones. The network relies far more on sitcoms than its rivals.

Among the sitcoms ABC will debut next season are "American Housewife," about a woman trying to raise her less-than-perfect family in a wealthy suburb and "Downward Dog," which is based on a quirky Web series about a young woman and her wise dog from whose perspective the show is told.

Comedies were once considered safe bets for television networks. A successful comedy such as CBS's "Big Bang Theory" or Fox's "The Simpsons" could play for many years without running out of steam and typically performed well in reruns. Conversely, many dramas fizzled out or didn't perform well in syndication, especially those with serialized plots.

The emergence of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu as buyers of drama repeats, however, has increased the appetite for soapy dramas. In addition, dramas tend to sell well overseas while U.S. comedies aren't as relatable to international audiences. Last season 10 new sitcoms were cancelled and only four made it to year two.

ABC is also moving slightly away from its reliance on serialized dramas in favor of so-called procedural shows in which each episode has a self-contained story. Among the new hour-long shows is "Conviction," about the daughter of a former first lady-turned-New York-senate-candidate who becomes a prosecutor to make a drug bust go away. New ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungy joked that it's "Chelsea Clinton meets the Bush twins" and is "the procedural we've been looking for."

Coming off a season in which its average prime-time audience fell 14% to about 7 million, ABC finished third behind CBS and NBC. The network finished in fourth place among adults 18 to 49, with viewership in that group dropping 15%, according to Nielsen. ABC doesn't have the benefit of some major sporting events that its rivals do. Among the disappointments for ABC on the entertainment side this season were the new dramas "The Family" and "Wicked City."

Ms. Dungy took over for Paul Lee earlier this year so the schedule ABC is unveiling Tuesday to advertisers still has her predecessor's fingerprints on it. She called the last three months "a whirlwind" and added, "I'm just glad we have a schedule."

Besides "Conviction," ABC's other new dramas include "Notorious," a hybrid serial and procedural show about a slick criminal defense attorney who is expert at using the media to advance his causes and "Designated Survivor," starring Kiefer Sutherland as a low level cabinet member who becomes president after a massive attack on the nation's capital wipes out everyone else ahead of him.

ABC also has a new show from producer Shonda Rhimes -- the force behind "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal" and "How to Get Away with Murder" -- called "Still Star-Crossed," a period drama about the Montagues and Capulets of Romeo and Juliet fame after the young lovers killed themselves.

Among the shows ABC canceled were the detective program "Castle" and the musical drama "Nashville." Both had loyal followings but "Castle" was aging and the audience for "Nashville" was not big enough to justify another season. "The future for us did not necessarily lie in those shows," Ms. Channing said.

Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 17, 2016 14:45 ET (18:45 GMT)

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