The High-Stakes Fate of ABC’s ‘Shifting Gears’ Hangs in the Balance.

ABC Renewal Status Report: ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘High Potential’, ‘The Rookie’, ‘9-1-1’ Duo, ‘Shifting Gears’, ‘Abbott Elementary’ & ‘Will Trent’

Top Row: The Rookie, Will Trent, High Potential, and Grey’s Anatomy Bottom Row: 9-1-1, Shifting Gears, Abbott Elementary and 9-1-1: Nashville ABC

For the past three years, ABC has been like clockwork, kicking off its renewals in January or early February with a pickup of its flagship comedy Abbott Elementary. The network may be slightly off its regular timing this year but the outcome is expected to be the same, with Quinta Brunson’s award-winning series poised for a Season 6 renewal.

ABC may even improve on last year when all but one of its returning scripted series, veteran The Conners, which ended its run with a seventh and final season, were picked up for 2025-26. This time around, all returning series have a very good chance of making it to the 2026-27 season.

Reflecting the current broadcast reality, it won’t be without cost-reduction adjustments, most notably for the oldest of them all, Grey’s Anatomy, ABC’s longest-running scripted primetime series currently in its 22nd season. It is facing another budget cut, which may impact the size of its order and cast for next season, I hear.

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Due to its age and ensemble nature, Grey’s Anatomy features quite a few long-tenured cast members who are among the highest-paid actors on broadcast television. Like other series in a similar position, most notably Dick Wolf’s dramas, Grey’s Anatomy has gone through budget trims the last couple of seasons, including reducing the episodic guarantees of veteran cast members the last two years, with each appearing in 14 of the show’s 18 episodes each season. (Caterina Scorsone’s reduction for this season was bigger, with her doing 10 out of 18.)

A budget conversation on Grey’s is good news and bad news. It clearly indicates that the series will return for a 23rd season. On the flip side, in a cost-saving move, it may be for fewer episodes than the 18 the show has produced the last two seasons, I hear. Cast departures are also possible, sources said.

While no longer a strong linear performer, Grey’s Anatomy remains a streaming juggernaut that brings a lot of value to Disney. What’s more, the introduction of a new crop of interns in Season 19 has reduced the show’s dependence on its veteran cast, helping it successfully navigate star Ellen Pompeo’s transition from a series regular to recurring.

ABC’s other two long-running dramas, 9-1-1, now in its ninth season, and The Rookie, in its eighth, also are expected to continue next season, possibly facing budget trims too. Renewal conversations with The Rookie lead studio Lionsgate TV have commenced, sources said.

9-1-1 remains one of ABC’s most watched scripted series, recently logging its best multi-platform audience since the season premiere. The series’ above-the-line cost underwent downward correction toward the end of last season when Angela Bassett’s co-lead, Peter Krause, exited.

Meanwhile, The Rookie has remained a streaming juggernaut since its popularity with young viewers exploded over the pandemic. It also has become a utility player for ABC and was just dispatched from its Tuesday berth to Mondays. Defying gravity, The Rookie Season 8 premiere was up from last season’s premiere in MP+3 viewership, ranking as the show’s biggest premiere on streaming and among Top 5 ABC premieres of all time. The series’ social media footprint continues to grow too.

Also safe for next season are The Rookie‘s former nightmates on Tuesday, sophomore High Potential and four-year Will Trent. Following a red-hot start last season, High Potential solidified its status as ABC’s top drama this season with strong linear delivery and an even stronger streaming one, making its renewal a foregone conclusion.

Meanwhile, not many may have guessed it, but Will Trent is ABC’s top linear draw, ranking as the most watched ABC scripted series in Live+Same Day viewership. The character procedural also is a favorite among network brass. Its renewal also is a lock.

Tim Allen’s sophomore sitcom Shifting Gears has been another stealth MVP for ABC with strong linear appeal, ranking as the No.1 scripted series on the network in Live+Same Day adults 18-49. With solid, stable performance, it also is looking at a renewal.

Last season, it was a freshman, Doctor Odyssey, that ultimately did not get a return ticket to the 2026-27 season.

The newbie that succeeded it on Thursdays, 9-1-1: Nashville, was also from Ryan Murphy. For a while, there were concerns as the 9-1-1 spinoff was a little wobbly out of the gate. After some growing pains, including a retooling, Nashville has started to hit its stride, recently hitting series highs in both total viewers and adults 18-49. The timing of the momentum is good, solidifying the series’ renewal chances.

ABC’s only real question marks are the series that are yet to premiere, light PI drama RJ Decker starring Scott Speedman, and the Scrubs revival. RJ Decker is getting a great lead-in, launching behind High Potential, while Scrubs, which can draw upon the popularity of the original series and its cast, has been tasked with opening Wednesday night.

The two shows’ performance in the weeks leading up to the May upfronts will determine whether they will come back. Historically, given the short midseason window, series that debut in the spring get more leniency when it comes to renewal but they still need to show promise.

Scrubs, in particular, took years to get off the ground due to a complicated contractual situation involving series creator Bill Lawrence, currently under an exclusive deal at Warner Bros. TV, as well as lengthy deal-making with the original cast. After all that effort, the network would probably like to see it continue.