‘American Crime’ season 2 scores official premiere date; will replace ‘Nashville’ season 2

For all of those who were wondering for sure when “American Crime” was going to return on the air, we now have an official answer: Wednesday, January 6 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time. The show will temporarily replace “Nashville” on the schedule, will be going on an extended hiatus until a little bit later in the spring.

This series, which features Felicty Huffman, Timothy Hutton, Regina King, Andre Benjamin, and many other big names, is a completely separate story from the first season of the show, which was met with both critical acclaim and a series of nominations at many major awards shows. The story will focus on issues of identity, gender, and sexuality in a small town, in particular when it comes to a number of young people. It’s a chance for creator John Ridley to tell another compelling story, the likes of which are typically not told on network TV.

Now, will the ratings be somewhat better? We’re still waiting on that, since the lack of major commercial success is for the most part the knock on this past season of the show. We do think that there is potential for the numbers to be a little bit higher given the ABC comedy block that precedes it and some of the buzz, but we never know until the show actually arrives on the air. The only thing that we can say right now with absolute certainty is that ABC is swinging for the fences once again with this story. Here’s to seeing if they are able to connect as they hope.