ABC’s fall schedule includes a full night of Shonda Rhimes

ABC held its own version of Game of Thrones‘ Red Wedding when network execs went on a cancellation spree, giving the ax to fan and critical faves like Trophy Wife, The Neighbors, and Suburgatory, as well as Mixology, Super Fun Night, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Mind Games, Killer Women and Betrayal. In the end, one queen reigned supreme as ABC turns over an entire night to hit-maker Shonda Rhimes.

ABC has a lot to prove in the fall as it currently stands as the fourth place network. A night of programming from Rhimes makes sense as ABC can use the night as a launching pad to move any of those around to plug in a hole if needed and launch a new Rhimes-produced show in the vacant slot. And, let’s face it, how much longer can Grey’s Anatomy run? ABC will have to plan for that eventuality and giving Rhimes a night of her own and a long-term contract is probably the best move the network has made.

It will be interesting to see if the wisdom of cancelling three popular, but low-rated, sitcoms pays off. The Twitter-verse pretty much went nuts when ABC canned The Neighbors, a witty, smart, well-cast comedy that probably failed to grab audiences because they wrote it off as a one-joke gimmick (it was certainly more than that). ABC gave the show a terrible time slot in its second season (Friday at 8:30 PM) and never promoted the show. That it had viewers at all is a miracle and should have been rewarded with a third season, better time slot and lead-in. (Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing was far from compatible. ABC should have scheduled The Neighbors with The Goldbergs and moved Trophy Wife after Modern Family.) It now looks like Last Man Standing will have a more compatible partner on Friday night with the new comedy Cristela, about a law school student trying to modernize her family’s old world culture.

Even with the cancellations, ABC’s schedule still looks surprisingly familiar with Sunday and Monday remaining virtually the same. The rest of the week has a few surprising changes, mainly the move of Grey’s Anatomy to the 8:00 PM time slot on Thursday (which hasn’t been successful since Ugly Betty), Scandal an hour earlier at 9:00 PM on Thursdays and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. moving to the 9:00 PM slot on Tuesday sandwiched between two new comedies and one new drama. ABC hopes S.H.I.E.L.D. will give a boost to the new 10:00 PM drama Forever, starring Ioan Gruffud as a doctor who studies the dead to find an answer to his own immortality.

ABC also has a few shows waiting in the wings including alien drama The Whispers, starring Lily Rabe (American Horror Story) and Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes), Galavant (from The Neighbors creator Dan Fogelman) and Marvel’s Agent Carter starring Hayley Atwell, bringing her Captain America character to the small screen. ABC plans to use limited run series Galavant and Agent Carter as “bridge shows” to fill in the space during the winter breaks of Once Upon a Time and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. respectively. Agent Carter already comes with a built-in fan base, so its success is almost a sure thing. Galavant‘s musical comedy fairy tale may be a harder sell. Rhimes’ new show How To Get Away With Murder, starring Viola Davis, should have no problem luring audiences in with its legal thriller premise.

Here’s hoping ABC can climb out of the ratings basement with it’s fall schedule. To see more photos and video clips of the new shows, be sure to visit and “Like” our Facebook and Google+ pages. Here’s a look at ABC’s fall 2014 lineup:

Monday
8 p.m. — Dancing With the Stars
10 p.m. — Castle

Tuesday
8 p.m. — Selfie
8:30 p.m. — Manhattan Love Story
9 p.m. — Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
10 p.m. — Forever

Wednesday
8 p.m. — The Middle
8:30 p.m. — The Goldbergs
9 p.m. — Modern Family
9:30 p.m. — Black-Ish
10 p.m. — Nashville

Thursday
8-9 p.m. — Grey’s Anatomy
9-10 p.m. — Scandal
10-11 p.m. — How to Get Away With Murder

Friday
8 p.m. — Last Man Standing
8:30 p.m. — Cristela
9 p.m. — Shark Tank
10 p.m. — 20/20

Saturday
8 p.m. — Saturday Night Football

Sunday
7 p.m. — America’s Funniest Home Videos
8 p.m. — Once Upon a Time
9 p.m. — Resurrection
10 p.m. — Revenge