Soapy Primetime News Includes a Shooting, Baby Snatching & Kidnapping
The week in primetime includes fall season returns and casting updates.
The primetime fall TV season is finally back! Soaps.com is excited for a few fall premieres containing juicy soap opera storylines premiering during the week of September 23 for Empire, This is Us, Grey’s Anatomy, A Million Little Things and How to Get Away With Murder. There’s also soap related news on Single Parents, Schitt’s Creek, and Filthy Rich, as well as many connections throughout to All My Children, Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, Passions, and Young and the Restless. We are eagerly anticipating all the classic soapy possibilities.
25 Words or Less
Ali Sweeney (Sami, Days of our Lives) will appear on the September 18 episode of the game show 25 Words or Less, which premiered on September 16. In it, two teams of three – two of whom are celebrities – try to guess five words based on clues using 25 words or less. Sweeney will appear alongside Tisha Campbell, who will appear as Dr. Davis on The Bold and the Beautiful and magician Penn Teller. Based on the board game, the Meredith Vieira (Who Wants to be a Millionaire) hosted series is produced by Vieira, Lisa Kudrow (Friends), Dan Bucatinsky (Scandal), and Mary McCormack (The Kids Are Alright). In her Instagram post, Sweeney said of her appearance, “Be warned if you don’t already know me that well – – i am fully prepared to embarrass myself to win. ask @tishacampbellmartin she knows.” Check local listings for time and station.
Empire
The final season of FOX’s musical family drama premieres on September 24. Season 6 will pick up in the aftermath of Andre Lyon (Trai Byers, All My Children) receiving a heart transplant from his recently discovered half-brother who shot himself in the head in front of their father Luscious Lyon (Terrence Howard), who is once again separated from Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson). As has been widely reported, Jussie Smollett who played Jamal Lyon will not be part of the final season, but our sister site Deadline says Keesha Sharp will. The Lethal Weapon alum will play Dr. Paula Wick, “a smart, insightful woman who offers endless compassion but doesn’t take shit from anyone.”
This is Us
At the end of season 3, questions swirled around the fate of Rebecca Pearson Rivas’ (Mandy Moore) health, Miguel Riva’s and Kate Pearson’s whereabouts and the mother of Kevin Pearson’s (Justin Hartley, Adam Newman, The Young and the Restless; Fox Crane, Passions) future son. The trailer for season 4 doesn’t give much away, but it does reveal This is Us, which premieres on September 24, will introduce new characters played by Jennifer Morrison (Once Upon a Time), Omar Epps (Shooter, M. Night Shyamalan (Glass) and Nick Wechsler (Shades of Blue).
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Grey’s Anatomy
Season 15 left viewers on a few cliffhangers which the season 16 premiere will hopefully answer, such as, what will become of Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) after his arrest, is Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) alive, and will Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) get their jobs back? Season 6 premieres on September 26. Then look for October 10 to reunite former Charmed stars Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs as part of ABC’s Cast From the Past week. In the episode titled Reunited, two sisters must decide whether or not to keep their other sister alive after an accident renders her brain dead.
A Million Little Things
The ABC drama’s creator and showrunner DJ Nash previewed to Deadline that season 2 of A Million Little Things will bring about the death of a character viewers have previously met and “the theme is related to family, and the mystery early next season would be linked to a new recurring character played by Jason Ritter” (Kevin (Probably) Saves the World). It will also pick up with Delilah Dixon (Stephanie Szostak) going into labor with Eddie Saville’s (David Giuntoli) baby, which his estranged wife Katherine Kim (Grace Park) will learn about in the season premiere on September 26. October 10’s Cast From the Past will bring Jerry Ferrara (Power) on to reunite with his Think Like a Man co-star Romany Malco. In the episode titled Mixed Signals Malco’s character meets with an old producer friend (Ferrara?) who suggests creative changes to his script.
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How to Get Away With Murder
Season 5 of the deadly ABC drama ended with Laurel Castillo (Karla Souza) seemingly kidnapped as Annalise Keating’s (Viola Davis) back was turned and Laurel’s baby getting snatched as well. The final season will kick off on September 26 with Marsha Stephanie Blake (When They See Us) joining the cast in an as of yet unnamed role. However, speculation is she will play Gabriel Maddox’s (Rome Flynn, The Bold and the Beautiful) mother, who had an affair with Annalise’s now-deceased husband Sam Keating (Tom Verica).
Single Parents
While it’s not a soap opera per se, the ABC sitcom will feature Adam Brody from the teen soap The O.C. reprising his role on the comedy that stars his wife Leighton Meester from another teen soap, Gossip Girl. Brody has previously played Meester’s character’s ex on Single Parents. The real-life duo will air together on the show about an eclectic group of single parents forming a support group of sorts on October 9 as part of ABC’s reunion week.
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Schitt’s Creek
Again, not a soap opera, but the comedy’s Rose family matriarch Moira (Catherine O’Hara) is best known as the former star of the fictional soap opera Sunrise Bay. Besides, we love the quirky series about an entitled, formerly rich family who hits bottom and must rebuild by living in a motel of the town they once bought as a gag. The 6th and final season’s premiere of Schitt’s Creek was recently announced for January 7 on CBC in Canada and Pop TV in the U.S.
Filthy Rich
This soaptastic sounding drama from FOX, starring Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City), began shooting in New Orleans on September 13. The show centers on a Southern family who must contend with three previously unknown heirs to the patriarch’s (Gerald McRaney, This is Us) Christian television network fortune when he suddenly dies in a plane crash. Per Deadline, Broadway actor Aaron Laz has replaced Steven Pasquale (who was also a recast from the pilot but had to suddenly “drop out for personal reasons a week before start of production.”) in the role of a popular minister for the network. Filthy Rich will premiere mid-season.
What Primetime soap opera premieres are you looking forward to next week? In the future? Watch the promos and tell us below!
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