THE SKED: More ABC Decisions

ABC looks to be all but done with its pre-Upfront orders, adding several bubble show renewals and a few new series to its prior haul.  DON’T TRUST THE B___ IN APT 23, LAST MAN STANDING, BODY OF PROOF, and PRIVATE PRACTICE are all coming back, the latter 2 with what is quickly becoming a standard 13-episode order for bubble renewals. (Missing and GCB have joined the ranks of the dead.)

In addition to the renewals, the network ordered these new series:

LAST RESORT is a Sony Television 1-hour by Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield, with Karl Gadjusek.   It’s got one of the season’s more original premises, about a nuclear submarine that, having refused to fire its missiles when ordered, declares itself a sovereign (and armed) nation.  The cast includes Scott Speedman, Autumn Reese and Andre Braugher.

HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, a virtual tweet in itself, is a single-camera comedy from 20th Television written by Claudia Lonow.  It’s about, no surprise, a single mom (Sarah Chalke) who has to move in with her eccentric parents (Elizabeth Perkins, Brad Garrett).

MALIBU COUNTRY may be the reason Last Man Standing survived, because since it’s a multi-camera comedy, Last Man was the only show the network could come up with to pair with it. Reba McEntire plays a mom who moves her family (including grandma Lily Tomlin) from Nashville to Malibu to restart her own singing career.  It’s written by Kevin Abbott, who’d previously written for My Name is Earl, the aforementioned Last Man Standing, and surely not coincidentally Reba.   A fearless prediction for the new season:  Malibu Country, coupled with Last Man, will not make for a young-skewing hour.