The Goldbergs: spinoff picked up at ABC starring AJ Michalka
According to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC has ordered a 13-episode spinoff for the 1990s-set series formerly known as Schooled. Michalka was a former series regular on the ABC show who played Barry’s ex-girlfriend, Lainey Lewis, and Erica Goldbergs’s best friend. The untitled project will revolve “around the teachers of William Penn Academy who, despite their eccentricities and crazy personal lives, are heroes to their students.” The teachers include Principal Glascott (Tim Meadows) and Coach Mellor (Bryan Callen).
The series was supposed to air during the current television season, but the project was stalled after Principal Glascott’s sister, played by Nia Long, left the project. She currently stars on CBS’s NCIS: LA. The project’s original plot “revolved around Glascott, now the principal, and his sister (Long), who sends her two teenage daughters (Rachel Crow, Summer Parker) to the high school where she winds up teaching.” The Goldbergs creators Adam F. Goldberg and Marc Firek, along with Doug Robinson are set to executive produce the spinoff series.
The untitled project’s premise sounds similar to the NBC’s Rise, a show where the teachers also inspire their students to reach their full potential. While the spinoff has been in the works for some time, it speaks to the type of shows networks are looking for. Rise has been doing well in its time slot over on NBC and it seems ABC wants in on the genre.
ABC has faith in the spinoff. ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey told THR about her excitement.
“I’m excited because there were so many things about the pilot that I really loved and I’m excited to share that with audiences. After that, we’ll see what happens. We have one more season of The Goldbergs. The show is doing really well for us. At the moment, I’m hopeful we have more down the road. I’m excited to see how [the spinoff] plays and what the audience’s response to it is.”
What will be interesting to see is where ABC will place this show in their lineup. Will it join The Goldbergs on Wednesdays? Or will ABC choose to place the show elsewhere in its schedule? We believe that ABC may place the show with its parent show (if renewed) in order to help bring its viewers to the spinoff. If renewed for another season, then they could consider moving the show to a different night.
Overall, we are looking forward to see the rest of ABC’s 2018-2019 lineup which will include other new shows like The Rookie (starring Nathan Fillion) and Take Two (from Castle creators Andrew W. Marlowe and Terri Edda Miller). It will also join already renewed Roseanne and The Good Doctor.
The Goldbergs airs Wednesday on ABC. For more news related on the untitled project, be sure to keep on look out on our website and visit this link for more on The Goldbergs.
This article was written by Samantha D’Amico. If you want to follow her on Twitter, you can do so at SAM_iamXO. (Photo: ABC.)