The fall TV season is nearly upon us! In just a few weeks, the summer hiatus will come to an end, and some of our favorite shows will begin making their way back to the airwaves with their first new episodes in months.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my summer reality TV staples, including Big Brother and America’s Got Talent, and Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro has been an amazing new addition to the summer slate. As much fun as these reality series are, though, there's nothing like having a full slate of programming to enjoy every single night of the week, giving you plenty of options on both the scripted and unscripted front!
Of course, while most of our favorite shows will be back this fall, there are a few hit series that will be missing from the fall calendar for the first time in their respective runs. This includes some of the biggest shows on the air at the moment, which sadly won’t be back until 2027 due to decisions from the networks to push them to midseason.
1. High Potential
One of the most shocking scheduling decisions came from ABC, which has opted not to bring High Potential back as part of its fall lineup. Instead, ABC has decided to save the third season of its most-watched primetime drama for midseason.
Given the success High Potential has enjoyed as part of ABC’s fall lineup, it’s honestly wild that the network chose to make fans wait for season 3 and bumped it from the fall lineup. Not that we’re concerned about the show’s ratings. In fact, that’s likely why ABC felt confident in the decision to delay the show’s return.
The Kaitlin Olson-led crime drama has quickly become a fan-favorite and a top performer for ABC, and we fully expect that it will continue to pull in strong viewership when it finally returns in the new year. If there was ever a time to make the jump to midseason, it’s now as season 2 ended with a major cliffhanger that will continue to keep fans talking up until the season 3 premiere in 2027. We just hate that ABC is making us wait until next year for new episodes, and we’ll be missing High Potential from the fall lineup.
2. Ghosts
In a move that still puzzles me, CBS decided to delay the return of Ghosts to 2027 and will not debut the new season of its hit supernatural comedy this fall. This decision is one that is even more puzzling when you consider CBS could have brought fans a supernatural comedy block by pairing Ghosts with its new vampire comedy, Eternally Yours. Instead, CBS is pushing Ghosts to midseason, but there is at least some good news for fans!
While season 6 won’t officially begin until 2027, CBS will be bringing fans two holiday specials this fall in the form of Halloween and Christmas specials. These two specials will be part of season 6 and will help bridge the gap until the show returns officially in the new year. Not only will CBS bring fans a Halloween and Christmas special, but Ghosts’ episode count will not be reduced with the move to midseason, with a 22-episode season still planned for season 6.
It won’t be the same without Sam, Jay, and all of our favorite ghosts back for new adventures in the fall, but we’re looking forward to seeing what the Halloween and Christmas episodes will bring. Plus, we’ve been assured the Halloween episode will help to give fans answers about Pete’s fate, which is a relief as waiting until 2027 for answers would have been the worst.
3. Matlock
Ghosts isn’t the only hit CBS Thursday night program moving from fall to midseason. Matlock is also on the move, with season 3 of the Kathy Bates legal drama shifting from the fall lineup to midseason for the first time in its run.
The move is one that surprised fans, as Matlock has been a strong performer and paired well with Elsbeth on Thursday nights in the fall. Unfortunately for fans, CBS has decided to move Matlock to 2027 to make room for its new series Cupertino, and that’s not the only bad news. Not only will Matlock not return this fall, but CBS has also reduced the show’s episode order, with season 3 set to consist of only 13 episodes.
While Matlock has never produced an extended 20-22 episode season, this marks the third consecutive episode reduction for the show, which produced 19 episodes in season 1, 16 episodes in season 2, and will now produce 13 episodes in season 3. Hopefully, if Matlock continues with a fourth season we won’t see this trend continuing, but only time will tell what CBS might have planned for the show.
4. NCIS: Sydney
When CBS announced the addition of NCIS: New York to its lineup, we immediately had questions about what the new series would mean for the network’s NCIS programming slate. Rather than having four NCIS shows on in the fall, CBS decided to hold one series for the midseason slate and ultimately chose to push NCIS: Sydney’s return to 2027.
The plan is for NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney both to have shortened seasons this year, with each show producing just 10 episodes. Once NCIS: Origins wraps in the fall, NCIS: Sydney will take its place at midseason. It’s a decision that does make sense for the network, as having four NCIS shows airing during the week would be a bit much, and we’d much rather get shortened seasons than see CBS kick one of the shows to the curb.
Hopefully, this scheduling play will work out, and both NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney will remain fixtures on CBS’s network. However, NCIS: Sydney fans will definitely want to make sure to show up for the series when it returns, as ratings will likely play a factor in determining what the 2027 slate might look like for CBS’s most successful franchise.
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