When deciding a TV show has performed well enough to deserve more episodes being broadcast in the current television season, a network will usually make a formal announcement as such relating to the lucky show (or at a push, 2 shows) that are getting the treatment. ABC, though, have this weekend chosen a single announcement to confirm the renewal of no less than 8 pieces of their programming.

The season extensions will have a positive effect on the episode counts of medical drama Grey’s Anatomy and sitcoms Modern Family and The Middle with two new installments each, whilst new sitcom Black-ish and newly-moved show The Goldbergs have also been cleared for two more, all of which are taking their seasons up to 24.

In addition, crime drama Castle has received one more episode to go up to a 23-episode 6th season, whilst fantasy drama Resurrection takes likewise to go to a 14-part 2nd run.

It was also confirmed by Adam Horowitz, the co-creator of Once Upon a Time, that his fairy tale-based drama is to show an extra hour of content this year too, with the broadcast scheduled for 16 November becoming a double-bill, with the chain effect from the network’s request giving the show an extra 23rd episode to its 4th season.

Whilst no formal statement on the matter has been made by ABC themselves, it is fairly clear that the shows they have chosen to extend are amongst their best-performing when it comes to ratings and critics, so will their move to capitalise on that success be vindicated. Any new content has to be better than re-runs at least…

Continuing the seemingly ever-lasting trend of turning 80s/90s content into modern TV shows, ABC have announced their next target in the process to be Uncle Buck.

The Disney-owned network have made a script order for a TV adaptation of the 1989 family comedy movie, which was directed by the late John Hughes, and starred the late John Candy as a good-natured but childish bachelor who is turned to in an emergency to take care of his brother’s children. One of those children was notably played by a pre-Home Alone Macaulay Culkin.

The Universal Pictures format had originally been turned into a TV show by CBS in 1990 with Kevin Meaney as taking on Candy’s role, but would shortly be cancelled after poor critical and viewer reception to the sitcom.

The new effort will naturally be looking to do a lot better, with the people responsible for making that happen being writers Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley, of Universal TV, with their executive producer team so far completed by Will Packer (Ride Along).

Very few of the most recent conversion projects taken on by networks in the past few years have amounted to much, with even basic airtime being a difficult hurdle to overcome, so will a trend be bucked with ABC’s newest old effort? What they are attempting to emulate can be seen below:

Having been highly successful in the global box office since its American release on 27 November 2013 as well as critically (winning 2 Academy Awards, amongst other honours), Disney CGI family film Frozen has been announced as the subject of an upcoming documentary special.

If something like this was going to air away from a Disney-branded channel, it would naturally be aired on a network that Disney hold shares in, with ABC announcing that they are set to air the ‘behind-the-scenes special’. While the timeframe of less than a year is probably far too soon to use part of the title being applied to the project, the documentary that will be known as The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic is set to offer a unique perspective of the movie that has made over $1.2b box office (the 5th-highest of any fim in history) since release.

Going behind the scenes at Walt Disney Animation Studios with an in-depth look at how the film was made, as well as footage of producer research trips taken to Norway and Canada and interviews with cast members including Kristen Bell (“Princess Anna”) and Idina Menzel (“Princess Elsa”). The premiere date for the show is set for Tuesday 2 September, at 8pm ET.

In addition to the special, meanwhile the main characters of the kingdom of Arendelle will also be introduced into ABC’s live-action fairy tale drama series Once Upon a Time during the special, where the characters of snow queen Elsa (Georgina Haig) Anna (Elizabeth Lail), and Prince Hans (Tyler Jacob Moore) will go through a portal to the town of Storybrooke, forgetting the memories of their past lives.

The portrayal of the newest ‘Disney princesses’ is set to first occur at some point during the documentary, although this chilling hint had already been dropped at the end of the show’s previous season:

ABC catch-up TV is no longer free, unless you are already a subscriber to a participating Pay TV provider. As we reported last week, the watch ABC and watch ABC family app and website service is now only available after users provide account details.

The good news is that some episodes can be watched without signing in, authentication is required if viewers want to catch-up with the latest episodes. Participating TV providers that include Comcast Xfinity, AT&T U-verse, Cablevision, Charter, Google Fiber Cox Communications and Verizon FiOS.

Subscribers to participating providers need to verify account details via a username and password on the watchabc.com website or using the Watch ABC app.

Users who are not paying or have already cut the cord have two options. Either wait a week before watching episodes or get a Hulu Plus subscription for a much cheaper than cable, $8 per month.

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When a network has their hand in a different operation as well as their more traditional one, expected behaviour can easily be broken, as proven by ABC, who are entering the new year with the intention of locking out immediate access to their on-demand content for those that do not pay.

Viewers of the ‘Watch ABC‘ service who are unable to see a piece of content live, have not DVR’d it, or do not pay for a subscription service of any kind will now be ‘legally’ out of luck when it comes to options of watching a show soon after its premiere, besides waiting a mandatory period of one week, as per ABC’s new initiative.

As of 6 January, the free-to-air network are claiming to be removing all ‘next-day access to full episodes’ of their ABC TV shows via the ABC mobile app and Watch ABC online, with immediate viewing only able to be reached by cable TV or Hulu Plus subscribers, leaving shows such as Modern Family, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. behind an effective ‘paywall’, with proof of an approved subscription needed as a log-in to access content after the weekend.

Summarising their intentions (which include verification processes supported by selection (but not a complete range) of providers ranging from the well-known (Comcast) to the start-ups (Google Fiber)), ABC noted in an FAQ section of their website: “Pay TV service providers are a key part of the television industry in delivering broadcast content through new technology platforms. Now, with the support of participating pay TV service providers, the ABC network is able to continue to bring live entertainment, news and sports programming on a national and local level as well as the latest on-demand episodes on new, emerging digital platforms at no additional cost to their subscribers.”

Corporate-speak attempting to spin a positive aside, it is noteworthy to point out that ABC are owned by Disney, who themselves are currently part-owners of Hulu, and by extension Hulu Plus, which will be able to enjoy a greater amount of viewer numbers (and potentially subscribers) if ABC fans are forced to wait a week for the content for free. Everything has an explanation and all that…

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