ABC has confirmed its 2016-2017 midseason premiere dates for returning shows including Scandal, American Crime, and The Catch, and the spring return dates for Designated Survivor and Once Upon a Time. The network’s also announced the premiere dates for its new primetime series Time After Time, Imaginary Mary, the mini-series When We Rise, and the event movie, Dirty Dancing.
Speaking of Dirty Dancing, the three-hour musical event is confirmed to star Abigail Breslin (Scream Queens) as Baby, Debra Messing (Will & Grace) as Marjorie Houseman, Bruce Greenwood (American Crime Story: The People vs, OJ Simpson) as Dr. Jake Houseman, Nicole Scherzinger (Dancing with the Stars) as Penny, Colt Prattes (Rock of Ages) as Johnny, Sarah Hyland (Modern Family) as Lisa Houseman, Tony Roberts (Annie Hall) as Max Kellerman, Trevor Einhorn (Mad Men) as Neil, Shane Harper (The Passion) as Robbie Gould, J. Quinton Johnson (Everyone Wants Some) as Marco, Beau “Casper” Smart (Step Up 3D) as Billy, Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy) as Vivian Pressman, and Billy Dee Williams (Star Wars) as Tito.
ABC’s Midseason Premiere Dates:
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26
8:00-9:00 p.m. “Grey’s Anatomy”
9:00-10:00 p.m. “Scandal” (Season Six Premiere)
10:00-11:00 p.m. “How to Get Away with Murder”
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27 – THURSDAY, MARCH 2
9:00-11:00 p.m. “When We Rise”
SUNDAY, MARCH 5
8:00-9:00 p.m. “Once Upon a Time”
9:00-11:00 p.m. “Time After Time” (Two-Hour Premiere)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8
10:00-11:00 p.m. “Designated Survivor”
THURSDAY, MARCH 9
10:00-11:00 p.m. “The Catch” (Season Two Premiere)
SUNDAY, MARCH 12
9:00-10:00 p.m. “Time After Time” (Time-Period Premiere)
SUNDAY, MARCH 12
10:00-11:00 p.m. “American Crime” (Season Three Premiere)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29
8:30-9:00 p.m. “Imaginary Mary” (Sneak Peek)
TUESDAY, APRIL 4
9:30-10:00 p.m. “Imaginary Mary” (Time-Period Premiere)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24
8:00-11:00 p.m. “Dirty Dancing”
When a father, Luis Salazar (Benito Martinez), travels illegally from Mexico into the United States to search for his missing son, he discovers that modern servitude is thriving in the farmlands and agricultural communities. Promised a job and a place to live, these laborers find themselves forced to live in abject poverty. Required to pay for their own food and other essentials, what little money they make is paid back to their employers, and because they will forever be in debt, they can never leave. Undocumented workers aren’t the only people targeted by this system. Coy Henson (Connor Jessup) is a young, white American male, estranged from his family and hopelessly addicted to drugs. When he happens upon farm crew chief Isaac Castillo (Richard Cabral), he takes the opportunity to get his life back on track. But as he desperately tries to free himself of his addiction, he begins to become suspicious of Isaac’s promises and aware of the injustices taking place on the farm. Hesby Farms is a struggling tomato farm, forced to cut back on labor costs in order to be competitive in a market that continuously demands lower prices.
Jeanette Hesby (Felicity Huffman), who married into the family that owns the farm, begins to learn the shocking truth behind their wealth. Her turmoil will eventually force her to make a moral decision which could put her at odds with the family. Kimara Walters (Regina King) is a dedicated social worker who truly wants to help those in need. Unattached, single and in her forties, she desperately wants to have a baby and is finding it hard to get pregnant, even with the help of modern medicine. When Kimara meets Shae (Ana Mulvoy-Ten), a 17-year-old prostitute, she wants to help her get out of the business, turn her life around and take a stand against her pimp. Nicholas Coates (Timothy Hutton) owns a furniture supply business and is feeling the sting of buyers wanting quality items at discounted prices. At home, he finds himself in a marriage where memories of the past seem much more pleasant than the present. His wife, Clair (Lili Taylor), decides that she wants to hire and provide a working visa for a Haitian woman, Gabrielle (Mickaëlle X. Bizet), to be their son’s nanny. But darkness seems to embroil this family, and Gabrielle soon discovers that her employment comes with a steep price.
THE CATCH
The Catch is a sexy, scintillating game of cat and mouse between L.A.’s top private investigator, Alice Vaughan (Mireille Enos), and the man she loves, Benjamin Jones (Peter Krause), the world’s most formidable con artist. At the beginning of season two, con man Benjamin Jones has gone from committing the ultimate betrayal to performing the ultimate sacrifice, when he turned himself in to the FBI to save Alice from wrongful imprisonment. Now in jail, Ben is forced to reckon with his criminal past, while the team at Anderson Vaughan Investigations must come to terms with getting in bed with the bad guys. How will Alice and Ben game the system – and each other – to stay together and overcome their less-than-legal pasts?
DIRTY DANCING
Dirty Dancing, the global pop-cultural phenomenon, becomes a three-hour filmed musical event this season on the ABC Television Network. The adaptation of the beloved 1987 romantic drama and instant movie classic “Dirty Dancing,” which will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2017, will be produced by Lionsgate Television in association with Allison Shearmur Productions, executive produced by Allison Shearmur (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “The Hunger Games” franchise; “Cinderella”) and Grammy Award-nominee Adam Anders (“Glee,” “Rock of Ages”), who also serves as executive music producer. The teleplay is by Jessica Sharzer. Wayne Blair (“The Sapphires,” “Septembers of Shiraz”) is the director, and two-time Tony Award-winner Andy Blankenbuehler (“Hamilton,” “Bring It On,” “In the Heights”) is the choreographer.
Spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances “Baby” Houseman falls in love with the camp’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle, and nothing is ever the same for anyone in the Houseman family. Not only are the memorable songs from the original movie included, but there are additional songs from the era that will be featured, showcasing double the number of musical performances by the stellar cast.
DOWNWARD DOG
Based on a web series, Downward Dog is about a struggling millennial, Nan (Allison Tolman), as observed from the point of view of her lonely and philosophical dog, Martin (voiced by Samm Hodges). Just one session at obedience school makes them realize that even at their worst they may be the best thing for each other. While Martin lays around at home questioning the motives of the neighborhood cat and exercises newly acquired “superpowers” to open the doggie door with his mind, Nan spends her days at advertising agency Clark and Bow, struggling to prove herself to clients and senior management. Despite her boss Kevin’s (Barry Rothbart) patronizing and demoralizing criticisms, Nan and her best friend and co-worker, Jenn (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), find creative ways to persevere. Because of Nan’s long hours at work, she relies on ex-boyfriend Jason (Lucas Neff) to help take care of Martin. Jason’s easy-going and sometimes unemployed lifestyle strengthens his friendship with Martin, but makes it difficult for Nan to move on.
IMAGINARY MARY
Alice (Jenna Elfman) is a fiercely independent career woman whose life is turned upside-down when she meets the love of her life – a divorced father with three kids. This triggers even more upheaval when the slightly unhinged imaginary friend she created as a child suddenly reappears to help her navigate the transition from single girl to a woman ready for a family.
The series stars Jenna Elfman as Alice, Stephen Schneider as Ben, Rachel Dratch as Mary (VO), Nicholas Coombe as Andy, Matreya Scarrwener as Dora and Erica Tremblay as Bunny.
SCANDAL
Everyone has secrets, and Olivia Pope has dedicated her life to protecting and defending the public images of the nation’s elite by keeping those secrets under wraps. Pope’s team is at the top of its game when it comes to getting the job done for its clients, but it becomes apparent that these “gladiators in suits,” who specialize in fixing the lives of other people, have trouble fixing those closest at hand – their own.
Scandal stars Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, Guillermo Diaz as Huck, Darby Stanchfield as Abby Whelan, Katie Lowes as Quinn Perkins, Tony Goldwyn as President Fitzgerald Grant, Jeff Perry as Cyrus Beene, Joshua Malina as David Rosen, Bellamy Young as First Lady Mellie Grant, Scott Foley as Jake Ballard, Portia De Rossi as Elizabeth North, Joe Morton as Rowan Pope and Cornelius Smith Jr. as Marcus Walker.
TIME AFTER TIME
Using the 1979 novel and movie as a launching point, Time After Time chronicles the adventures of a young H.G. Wells (Freddie Stroma) as he travels through centuries, decades and days in the time machine he created. While in the pursuit of the charismatic (yet secretly psychopathic) Dr. John Stevenson (Josh Bowman), better known as “Jack the Ripper,” Wells travels to modern day New York City in search of Stevenson following the doctor’s brazen escape from authorities in Wells’ London home. But instead of the Utopia he imagined, Wells finds a world more aligned with Stevenson’s temperament that leads him on a daring adventure full of mystery, romance and intrigue.
Using creative elements from many of Wells’ classic stories, beginning with The Time Machine and The Invisible Man to The Island of Dr. Moreau and others, Time After Time creates a fantasy world surrounding the events that inspired these great literary works that focus on the best and worst of human nature and its relationship to science and technology. Using the time machine to launch the series, Time After Time is not a time travel show, rather it’s a series that looks at the world of today through the eyes of yesterday while fully charged with danger and adventure and centered in thrills, satire, humor – and most of all – an epic love story.
WHEN WE RISE
When We Rise is written and created by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. This mini-series event chronicles the real-life personal and political struggles, set-backs and triumphs of a diverse family of LGBT men and women who helped pioneer one of the last legs of the U.S. Civil Rights movement from its turbulent infancy in the 20th century to the once unfathomable successes of today.
Starring in the mini-series are Guy Pearce as LGBT activist Cleve Jones, Mary-Louise Parker as women’s rights leader Roma Guy, Rachel Griffiths as her wife, social justice activist Diane, Michael K. Williams as African American community organizer Ken Jones and Ivory Aquino as transgender activist Cecilia Chung. Joining them are Austin McKenzie as Younger Cleve Jones, Emily Skeggs as Younger Roma Guy, newcomer Jonathan Majors as Younger Ken Jones, and Fiona Dourif as Younger Diane.
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