EXCLUSIVE: The Fall 2026 Schedule for the Broadcast Networks Has Only One Genre Entry and a Whole Lot of Non-Scripted Programming

This time of year used to be a big deal for television fans as it brought the Upfronts, when the broadcast networks made quite a production out of unveiling their schedules for the upcoming season. In addition to the new lineups, it also brought plenty of cancellation and renewal announcements along with pickups for new shows. But as the old-school networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and The CW) have continued to slide in relevance and significant programming output, the Upfronts have become much less of an event each year. Once major presentations that offered plenty of spectacle, now they offer little more than network execs or some celebrity bullet-pointing the highlights for their upcoming lineups.

As expected, the 2026 Upfronts delivered little in the way of glitz and glamour, and very little of interest to sci fi and fantasy fans. The broadcast networks have shied away from genre programming over the past few years, and have actually cut back on scripted programming in general. Reality shows, game shows, news programs, and sports are either cheaper to produce and/or deliver higher ratings than scripted entries, and the networks have heavily shifted their schedules in that direction. That continues to be true for the upcoming season, and I do not believe we will see a significant move back to scripted programming on these channels any time in the near future.

The number of sci fi and fantasy entries on the broadcast networks has continued to drop over the last few years, and for Fall 2026, there is exactly one half hour of genre programming currently on the schedule. That would be the new supernatural comedy Eternally Yours on CBS which comes from the same creative team that brought us Ghosts. Here is the official description for the show:

Eternally Yours is a family comedy centered around Charles (Ed Weeks) and Liz (Allegra Edwards)—a vampire couple whose once-passionate romance has devolved into a pulseless marriage after 500 years together. Living in present-day Seattle with their oddball coven, they have settled into an eternal rut until their daughter’s earnest human boyfriend unexpectedly enters their lives and forces them to confront whether their love can survive forever … or if forever is a life sentence.

It has not received an official premiere date, but it is part of the Fall lineup and should arrive in late September or early October.

Apart from that, Ghosts will be held until midseason (though it is still set to get a full 22 episodes for its sixth season along with a Halloween and Christmas special), and Fox’s animated fantasy Krapopolis will also be arriving sometime around January 2027 (there is no word on the episode count for that). So three half hours in total are currently set for the 2026-27 season on the broadcast networks—with nothing in the pipeline—and none of these really count as strong genre entries. That is not surprising considering the recent scheduling trends from these networks, and fans have been much happier with what the streaming services and cable channels have been delivering as far as sci fi and fantasy entries.

You can see the current schedule of sci fi and fantasy TV shows at this link.

I predicted a while back that the broadcast networks would start moving away from scripted programming because they just cannot compete in that arena anymore. They still have their procedurals and sitcoms and evening soap operas disguised as medical or legal dramas or something like that. But the days of shows like Lost, Heroes, Fringe, and Person of Interest on the old-school channels seem to be long gone. The streamers and premium cable channels put much more money into those productions, and the broadcasters have also struggled for years with figuring out the genre, so they seem to have mostly given up on it now.

Instead, as I previously predicted, they are filling their schedules with reality and competition shows along with news programming, sports, and encore runs. Sports is still costly, but it delivers on the ratings, while the other programming is less expensive than scripted shows and tends to draw in strong viewership as well. Those are low-risk schedule entries that may not have much life in syndication, but that typically turn a profit in the short run.

Last Fall, I did a comparison of the schedule to what the broadcast networks were airing ten years prior, and it highlighted how much things have changed (looking at just the early Fall entries). Across all of the broadcast networks, unscripted programming made up 63% of the total schedule vs. only 24% ten years prior in Fall 2015. ABC, Fox, and The CW saw the highest declines in their scripted shows, while CBS was the only one to remain more heavily committed to that type of programming. You can see the full breakdown below:

Most interesting here is the huge change for The CW, which went from 90% scripted to only 15%. Not only did they previously lean more heavily into scripted originals, that network used to be a champion of genre programming. It had the many Arrow-verse shows, Supernatural, The 100, The Vampire Diaries and its spin-offs, and more. But after the Nexstar buyout in 2022, the network almost completely abandoned its scripted programming.

As for sci fi and fantasy shows, those were the second-highest category in Fall 2015 (21% of the schedule) next to Action/Crime Dramas (25%), though that was in large part due to The CW’s lineup (6 shows in Fall). But the other networks did have genre entries across their lineups, with 12 total across the Big Four. In 2025, there were only two to kick off the season, Ghosts (CBS) and Krapopolis (Fox), which made up a whopping one percent of the schedule.

You can see the schedule of current and upcoming sci fi and fantasy movies at this link.

For Fall 2026, the shift to non-scripted programming continues, though not as dramatically as the previous season. The CW has not announced its schedule yet, but among the Big Four, 56% of the schedule is non-scripted vs. 31% in Fall 2016. 44% consists of scripted programming, which is up from 41% for those same networks last year, but not a significant pivot back.

In Fall 2016, the number of sci fi and fantasy shows on the Big Four had dropped to 10, though The CW increased to 7. As mentioned above, going into Fall 2026, there is only one genre entry on the schedules for the Big Four, and I am not expecting The CW to add anything (they had none last season as well).

Reality/competition shows are tied with Action/Crime Dramas (both at 25%) on the Fall 2026 schedule, and sports programming has seen a notable increase to 19%. Expect that to go up even more when The CW is factored in, as they will be playing college games in Prime Time once the season begins. As for sci fi and fantasy shows, the one entry makes up only one percent of the schedule.

While the broadcasters still have some scripted programming that people tune into like the Chicago entries on NBC, the NCIS shows on CBS, Grey's Anatomy on ABC, and more, many of those are growing long in the tooth, and they have not been able to come up with much in the way of newer franchises. In addition, sitcoms—once the staple of Prime Time—appear to be fading from the schedule. They make up only 9% of the lineup (including animated comedies) vs. 13% in Fall 2016.

My guess is that even though we saw a slight increase in scripted programming from Fall 2025 to 2026, we will see it continue to go down in the coming years to the point that it is barely a factor for the broadcast networks. They will likely continue to lean more heavily into reality, competition, sports, and other programming that will cost less or assure higher viewership. And I believe that at some point, most of the scripted programming on the broadcast networks will be encore runs from streaming services that the channels are affiliated with (Disney+/Hulu for ABC, Paramount+ for CBS, Peacock for NBC, etc.). We have not seen too much of that so far, but I do believe it will be the direction going forward.

As for sci fi and fantasy shows, we have some pretty good options on the streaming services (For All Mankind, 3 Body Problem, Fallout to name just a few) and the cable channels (House of the Dragon, Alien: Earth, Interview with the Vampire), and I expect the genre to continue to thrive there (more on streaming than cable). The broadcast networks might throw out a show of interest from time to time that could appeal to sci fi fans if it is affordable like Ghosts or Manifest. But I expect fewer significant genre entries from those venues as they become more of a second- or third-tier outlet among scripted programming.

We did get some announcements of interest to genre fans during and around the Upfronts, mostly from the streaming services. Netflix has given the greenlight to the fantasy series Barbaric based on the Vault Comics title from Mike Moreci and Nathan Gooden. Here is the logline for that one:

A ruthless and crass barbarian is cursed to only use his violence only for good, which sends him, his talking axe and a young witch on a road of self discovery, redemption and revenge.

Amazon is working on an adaption of the Empyrean fantasy books by Rebecca Yarros with Michael B. Jordan attached as executive producer. To be titled Fourth Wing, here is the description of the show:

It follows 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail, who is forced by her mother to enter the brutal world of Basgiath War College. Violet joins hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

In addition, we have premiere dates for Season 3 of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Prime Video, November 11th), VisionQuest (Disney+, October 14th), Season 14 of Futurama (Hulu, August 8th), and Season 3 of The Ark (Syfy, July 29th). So there is plenty in the works and on the way (you can see all the sci fi TV premiere dates at this link), just not from the broadcast networks.

For my deep dive into why sci fi and fantasy television shows have been cancelled so often by the networks and streaming services, be sure to check out the second edition of my book Why Were They Cancelled?

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