ABC notes: Little Mermaid Live! movie planned; Roseanne Revivial; Jimmy Kimmel’s Oscar repeat

ABC is really trying to promote their network leading into the 2017-18 season as an ambitious, live experience — what better way to make that happen than with The Little Mermaid?

Today before upfronts, the network confirmed that they are bringing to TV this fall The Wonderful World of Disney: The Little Mermaid Live! – the title is a callback to one of their most famous events in network history, and obviously The Little Mermaid is one of the most beloved franchises ever. This special will combine live-action and animation to create a fun, interactive environment … though there’s no telling at present how in the world this is going to work.

Still, this fits right into the network that ABC clearly wants to be at the moment.

As for some other big announcements…

Jimmy Kimmel returning to host Oscars – This comes as no surprise, given that he did a great job hosting the show earlier this year and it marks ABC promoting their own talent over anyone else. This is a gig we could see becoming an almost-annual tradition for him if he really wants to continue to do it.

No doubt, 2017 has been a difficult, emotional year for ABC so far, and it’s very nice to see him have a victory like this at the moment.

Roseanne Revival official – What is coming up for the new iteration of ABC’s long-running comedy? Well, the good news is that the revival is official first and foremost! The network beat out Netflix for the rights to bring the show back, and the majority of the original cast will be coming back, including Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, and Laurie Metcalf.

One interesting wrinkle here is that the show’s “first” Becky in Lecy Goranson will be appearing in the role; Sarah Chalke, who eventually stepped into the role, will be returning in a different role for the project. This seems to be a nice way to settle the issue while making everyone happy in the process. This is a fun idea to bring the show back, but will it work? The ratings for the Will & Grace revival on NBC this fall should serve as a rather nice indicator for how it could end up doing.

If you missed it…

Be sure to head over to the link here, given that this is where you are going to get a chance to see the full fall schedule for ABC. (Photo: ABC.)