New ABC Lineup Is End of a ‘Dynasty’ : Aaron Spelling Shut Out of 3 Networks’ Prime-Time Schedules

Six new comedies, two new dramas and an hourlong news magazine hosted by Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer will join ABC’s prime-time schedule in the fall, the network said Monday.

Among the long-running shows that were canceled to make room for the rookies was “Dynasty,” the 8-year-old soap opera about the wealthy Carrington family of Denver that once was the nation’s most popular TV series. Its ratings had been declining for the past several years.

The demise of “Dynasty” also marked the fall of its executive producer, Aaron Spelling, once Hollywood’s most successful television producer. With ABC’s cancellation of “Dynasty” and another drama, “HeartBeat,” plus NBC’s decision last week to drop his series “Nightingales,” Spelling will be unrepresented on the three major networks’ prime-time schedules next fall for the first time in 21 years--a span that saw him turn out such hits as “The Mod Squad,” “The Rookies,” “The Love Boat,” “Family” and “Fantasy Island.”

Other shows canceled by ABC Monday included “Hooperman,” “A Man Called Hawk,” “The Robert Guillaume Show,” “Coach” and “Have Faith.”

Several New Comedies

First-year shows that were renewed by ABC were its top-rated comedy “Roseanne,” the revival of “Mission: Impossible,” the comedy “Anything But Love” and the “Mystery Movie” that included “Columbo,” “B. L. Stryker” and “Gideon Oliver.”

The six comedies that ABC is adding are “From This Moment On,” with Jackie Mason as a former pajama salesman who takes up work at a New York community center; “Family Matters,” a spinoff from ABC’s “Perfect Strangers” starring Jo Marie Payton-France; “Homeroom,” about an inner-city school teacher; “Living Dolls,” about four teen-age models; “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” about a teen-age genius who is a doctor, and “Free Spirit,” about a witch who lives with a suburban family.

ABC’s two dramas are “The Kid,” a Western about the young men who rode for the Pony Express, and “Life Goes On,” about a working-class family whose members include a child with Downs Syndrome.

The new magazine series, “Prime Time,” will be ABC’s second, joining the long-running “20/20.” The network said it is tentatively scheduled to debut in August and will be slotted come fall on Thursdays at 10 p.m. opposite NBC’s “L.A. Law” and CBS’s “Knots Landing.”