ABC Undertakes Major Overhaul of Schedule

Plagued by continuing low ratings, ABC undertook a major overhaul of its prime-time TV schedule Wednesday, handing departure papers to three series, moving seven others to new time slots and returning the “ABC Sunday Night Movie” to the lineup.

The changes, which affect Thursdays through Sundays, will take effect in mid-January. The addition of the movie block on Sundays, beginning Jan. 17, means all three networks will be airing movies from 9 to 11 p.m., as they did for much of last season.

Under the plan announced by ABC Entertainment President Brandon Stoddard, “Hotel,” “Buck James” and “I Married Dora” will leave the schedule early next month. Of the 80 prime-time programs that have aired on the three networks this season, those programs rank, respectively, 68th, 56th and 63rd.

ABC said that all three shows will return later in the season, but a network spokesman acknowledged that “I Married Dora,” a first-year comedy, would not continue in production--meaning it is canceled. The fate of the “Hotel” and “Buck James” was uncertain, but the ABC spokesman said a full season of “Hotel” episodes had been ordered, so new episodes remain to be shown.

Meanwhile, “Dolly,” “The Charmings,” “Sledge Hammer!” “Ohara” and “Spenser: For Hire,” all consistently low-rated, will move to new time periods, as will “Mr. Belvedere,” which recently returned to the Friday schedule.

The schedule changes came a day after the release of ratings for last week, which showed ABC (with an average Nielsen rating of 12.4) well behind NBC (15.6) and CBS (13.6). ABC has finished third in the prime-time ratings for the past three years and resides there again this season, averaging a 13.6 rating to NBC’s 16.3 and CBS’ 13.7. Each rating point represents 886,000 homes.

Also affected by what the network called its “substantial restructuring” were two mid-season replacement shows that previously had been announced for January premieres. “The Thorns,” a comedy, still will debut Jan. 15 but at 9 p.m. instead of 9:30 p.m., and “Juarez,” which had been slated to debut Jan. 16, has been postponed “to allow more time for production.” No new premiere date was announced.

Of the revamping of the Sunday night schedule, Stoddard said in a news release: “Our Sunday night series (“Spenser,” “Dolly” and “Buck James”) faced unusually heavy competition from both movies and mini-series, and we were disappointed in the results. In particular we remain convinced that Dolly Parton is a major television star and that ‘Dolly’ is now beginning to hit its stride, deserving of a move to a new time period with less intense competition.”

“Dolly,” the network’s high-budget attempt to revive the variety format, ranks 35th for the season as a whole but has fallen as low as 49th in recent weeks. It will move to Saturdays at 8 p.m. beginning Jan. 16.

“The other moves,” Stoddard said, “are largely fine-tuning for a series of shows we are basically happy with. Further rescheduling, with additional new shows, is planned following ABC’s airing of the Winter Olympic Games in February.”

The new Thursday-through-Sunday schedule on ABC, beginning Jan. 14, will look like this:

Thursday: “The Charmings” at 8 p.m. (moving from Fridays), followed at 8:30 by “The ABC Thursday Night Movie” (a temporary early start, ABC said).

Friday: “Full House” at 8 p.m., “Mr. Belvedere” at 8:30 (earlier time period), “The Thorns” at 9, “Sledge Hammer!” at 9:30 (moving from Thursdays), “20/20” at 10.