ABC Benches ‘High Potential’ Until 2027 in Bold Fall Move

ABC’s No. 1 show isn’t coming back this fall — and the network is completely fine with that.

The Alphabet unveiled its fall 2026 schedule on Tuesday, May 12, and the biggest story isn’t what’s on it. It’s what’s missing. High Potential, the Kaitlin Olson-led procedural that has been ABC’s signature primetime hit and the No. 1 broadcast entertainment series of the season in adults 18-49, will not be returning until midseason — meaning viewers won’t see Season 3 until 2027.

In its place on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. will be R.J. Decker, the Scott Speedman crime drama that narrowly avoided cancellation before earning a Season 2 renewal. The show will air behind Dancing With the Stars, which continues to dominate Tuesday nights and soared nearly 80% in the demo last season.

Why ABC Is Keeping Its Biggest Show on the Bench

The decision to hold High Potential wasn’t made lightly, and ABC’s senior VP of content strategy and scheduling Ari Goldman spent a lot of time explaining it.

“The ‘High Potential’ move to midseason is one that’s really born out of the success that we’ve proven over the last couple of years with ‘Will Trent,’ ‘The Rookie’ and the uninterrupted runs that we’ve enjoyed starting in that January timeframe going through the end of the season,” Goldman told reporters. “We’re thinking about the behavior of our linear audience, but also the streaming viewers, who really have shown the importance of week-over-week steadiness in planning and rolling out these shows. We do not take lightly the move of ‘High Potential’ to midseason, but I think this is a real opportunity to bridge through to the end of the year, to keep an uninterrupted run of episodes.”

Goldman also pointed out that the show’s previous two seasons have dealt with scheduling choppiness. “We’ve had to take a number of breaks the first couple seasons with ‘High Potential,’” he said. “Season one, it had more to do with a short first season order. Season two, it had the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ lead-in in the fall, and then get into holiday programming and it just gets a little bit choppy after that. So we’re thrilled to be able to bring it back with much more attention.”

The strategy also lets ABC lean into an extraordinary stretch of live events in early 2027. The network will broadcast the College Football Playoff championship game, the Super Bowl (its first in 21 years), the relocated Grammy Awards, and the Oscars — all in the first quarter of the year. Goldman called it “the most formidable block of live events that’s ever been assembled on broadcast television,” and sees each as a marketing opportunity to reintroduce audiences to ABC’s entertainment slate.

And yes — a High Potential Super Bowl lead-out seems like an obvious play. Goldman wouldn’t confirm it, but he wasn’t exactly subtle: “I can tell you, we are very excited for the opportunity, and we are very clearly focused on an ABC Entertainment series that will air after Super Bowl.”

As for episode count, that’s still up in the air. Season 2 ran 18 episodes, and Goldman said only that “we’re still looking at a really full season for ‘High Potential.’” He also confirmed the show has new showrunners in Nora and Lilla Zuckerman — the delay, he stressed, is about scheduling strategy, not creative concerns. “With ‘High Potential’ and the really dominant success that it’s enjoyed, we have no real concern about the audience not making the journey over to midseason to follow the show,” Goldman told TheWrap.

Fans, though, are doing the math: that’s at least seven months without their favorite show on the air.

What’s Actually on the Fall Schedule

Outside of the High Potential move, ABC is playing it steady. The network renewed every single scripted series it carries — Goldman confirmed it’s the first time in ABC’s history, dating back to the network’s founding in 1948, that every scripted show has been picked up. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said simply.

The biggest winner in the shuffle is the Scrubs revival, which is coming back fast after a strong spring debut. It was the No. 1 new comedy on a multiplatform basis and the No. 1 comedy in adults 18-49 on linear this season — and ABC is wasting no time capitalizing. Scrubs will lead off Wednesday nights at 8 p.m., rolling into Abbott Elementary at 8:30 (confirmed for a now-rare 22-episode Season 6 order), followed by Celebrity Jeopardy! and Shark Tank. Goldman said of the Scrubs premiere: “We did have the highest-rated comedy telecast on any network all season with that premiere. It was a big event for us and really brought a lot of attention back to ABC Wednesdays.”

Thursday nights stay exactly as they were — 9-1-1 at 8, 9-1-1: Nashville at 9, and Grey’s Anatomy at 10. None of those shows are lighting up the overnight ratings, but all three perform well in delayed viewing. Goldman noted episode counts for Thursday shows are still being discussed, though he described any adjustments as “nothing particularly austere.”

The full fall lineup breaks down like this:

Monday: ESPN’s Monday Night Football (simulcast with ESPN)
Tuesday: Dancing With the Stars (8 p.m.), R.J. Decker (10 p.m.)
Wednesday: Scrubs (8 p.m.), Abbott Elementary (8:30 p.m.), Celebrity Jeopardy! (9 p.m.), Shark Tank (10 p.m.)
Thursday: 9-1-1 (8 p.m.), 9-1-1: Nashville (9 p.m.), Grey’s Anatomy (10 p.m.)
Friday: Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (8 p.m.), 20/20 (9 p.m.)
Saturday: College Football (7:30 p.m.)
Sunday: America’s Funniest Home Videos (7 p.m.), The Wonderful World of Disney (8 p.m.) — kicking off with the TV premiere of Inside Out 2

What’s Waiting in the Wings for 2027

The midseason bench is deep. Joining High Potential in the 2027 lineup are The Rookie (which just logged its most-streamed season premiere ever with Season 8), Will Trent, Shifting Gears, The Bachelor, and Bachelor in Paradise. For the first time since the 2019-20 season, no Bachelor franchise show will air in the fall — a notable absence driven in part by the ongoing uncertainty around the unaired season of The Bachelorette starring Taylor Frankie Paul.

“‘The Bachelorette’ dynamic right now is one that we were just approaching day by day,” Goldman said. “This is real life, and we want to make sure we don’t rush into any determination in either direction.”

The most anticipated midseason addition is The Rookie: North, the newest spinoff in the franchise, starring Jay Ellis. The series follows Alex Holland, a man whose midlife wasn’t exactly screaming for a crisis — until a violent home invasion reignites something in him and sends him to the Pierce County Police Department as a rookie. The show also stars Janet Montgomery, Karen Fukuhara, Chris Sullivan, Froy Gutierrez, Mya Lowe, and Malik Watson, with franchise creator Alexi Hawley and Nathan Fillion among the executive producers. Goldman all but confirmed it will be paired with The Rookie mothership when both return: “It is simply a rule of audience flow that shows and their spinoffs will have higher compatibility than other pairings.”

As for Dancing With the Stars, Goldman is bullish heading into the new season. The show is adding Summer House‘s Ciara Miller and The Traitors star Maura Higgins to its cast, and the team has been aggressive on TikTok and across social platforms. “The margin now between ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and the nearest entertainment titles just continues to grow and grow,” he said.

Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich framed the whole thing as a network operating from a rare position of security: “We enter this fall season from a position of undeniable strength. Our focus has always been simple: Make the best shows on television and get them to audiences however they want to watch.”

For High Potential fans, that strength might feel cold comfort when their show isn’t back until January. But if Goldman’s plan works — an uninterrupted run backed by Super Bowl-level promotion — the wait could set up Season 3 to be bigger than ever.