ABC shifts fall schedule, ‘Quantico’ moving to Sunday nights following ‘Blood & Oil’

ABC is already making moves with their fall schedule, and they are doing so even after already making a big announcement of their plans at the upfront.

As first reported by SpoilerTV and later confirmed, the making-of-a-spy-series “Quantico” is going to be shifting to Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time, and it is moving after originally being scheduled for Tuesdays at the same time following Marvel’s “Agents of SHIELD.” Now, it will follow new primetime drama “Blood & Oil,” which has also undergone a name change since the upfronts. (Previously, it was known only as “Oil.” Why make the move? That’s what is not entirely clear. Maybe ABC feels like this show has a better chance to shore up a timeslot that is in need of some sort of significant hit; “Revenge” is now gone off the air, and CBS and NBC don’t really have anything going here other than “Sunday Night Football” whenever it happens to be on.

Another interesting question here is what happens to “Of Kings & Prophets,” the new epic that was previously scheduled to air in this spot. At the moment, ABC does not have a date for the series other than “coming soon,” which may mean that it is being shifted off to midseason. We don’t want to speculate too much as for the reasoning behind this just yet.

What we do at least know is that this is a network desperate for a hit drama on a night that does not revolve around Shonda Rhimes. “Once Upon a Time” is probably its most consistent drama series that airs outside of Thursday, and even it has suffered some ratings losses as of late.