Less Supernatural More Drama for ABC Family

ABC Family 2014 Upfront

I am more than a little addicted to ABC Family’s comedies and dramas. This year ABC Family has decided to ease up on the comedies and to try and add some new dramas to their schedule. After launching three new dramas this year and all but one of them having disastrous rating, ABC Family has decide to up their game and has ordered 4 new drama pilots. Their pilots include everything from substance abuse to the supernatural. These pilots if picked up would most likely be developed for next summer, since their 2014 summer line-up has already been set. ABC Family also took this time to make formal cancellation and renewal announcements. 

Pilots in Development:

Alice In Arabia – Not Going Forward
“Alice in Arabia” is a high-stakes drama series about a rebellious American teenage girl who, after tragedy befalls her parents, is unknowingly kidnapped by her extended family, who are Saudi Arabian. Alice finds herself a stranger in a new world but is intrigued by its offerings and people, whom she finds surprisingly diverse in their views on the world and her situation. Now a virtual prisoner in her grandfather’s royal compound, Alice must count on her independent spirit and wit to find a way to return home while surviving life behind the veil.

“Recovery Road”
Based on the popular young adult novel by Blake Nelson, focuses on a teenage girl dealing with addiction. Maddie has a reputation as a party girl who doesn’t think she has a problem, until she’s confronted one day by her school guidance counselor and forced to choose between expulsion and rehab. Trying to save face, Maddie chooses to spend her nights living with other recovering addicts at a rehab facility, and her days pretending everything is perfectly normal among her high school classmates and her closest friends.

“Unstrung”
explores the sexy, cutthroat, and emotional stakes of the professional world tour of tennis as brother and sister Luke and Ellie Holt compete to move up the ranks. The Holts may seem to have it all in a world where success is not only determined by prowess on the court, but by looks, charm and the ability to hide your faults under pressure from fans, critics, opponents, and even your closest allies. But a major family secret threatens to turn their lives, and their hard-earned family “brand,” upside down.

"Stitchers"
Stitchers follows a young woman recruited into a covert government agency to be “stitched” into the minds of the recently deceased, using their memories to investigate murders and decipher mysteries that otherwise would have gone to the grave. Schechter executive produces alongside Jonathan Baruch and Rob Wolken. Production is slated to begin in June.

    

UPDATES on Current Programming:


Pretty Little Liars (Season 5 Begins Summer 2014)

Switched at Birth (Season 3 part B Begins Summer 2014 no news on Season 4)

The Fosters (Season 2 begins Summer 2014)

Chasing Life (20 episode Season 1 begins Summer 2014)

Twisted (No News yet on Season 2, will probably depend on Chasing Life ratings)

Ravenswood (CANCELLED!)

Baby Daddy (Renewed for Season 4)

Melissa and Joey (Renewed for a 20 episode Season 4)

Mystery Girls (Series Premiere Summer 2014)

Young and Hungry (Series Premiere Summer 2014)



Breezy’s Recap: 

I absolutely love ABC Family it is probably my go to channel these days. I have to say I was disappointed in Ravenswood and Twisted I thought they were poor quality which just made the bright light cast by The Fosters shine even brighter. With so many other cable networks like MTV, TVGN, PIVOT trying desperately to attack millennials and producing and ordering amazing series like Eye Candy and Finding Carter as a way to get people to look at their networks abc family needed to step up their game. I am excited about the new crop of pilots they have I hope they all turn out well. So do you like the new pilots or hate them? Are you going to vow to never watch Chasing Life or Abc Family again because they cancelled Ravenswood? Tell us how you feel in the comments section