ABC on Tuesday left "High Potential" off its fall 2026 TV schedule and said the drama will return in midseason for Season 3, while "R.J. Decker" takes over the Tuesday 10 p.m. slot that "High Potential" filled last fall.
Ari Goldman said the move was meant to let ABC air the full Season 3 run without a break. He said the network wants viewers to see the series as it returns and plans to have it "all over ABC" as the launch gets closer.
The shift matters because "High Potential" had become one of ABC’s more dependable performers after its Season 2 run, which delivered 18 episodes and drew about 3 million viewers. Goldman also said the show produced the biggest week of streaming for it to date, a reminder that ABC is trying to manage both linear TV and streaming in the same scheduling decision.
Goldman tied the strategy to a playbook ABC has already used with "Will Trent" and "The Rookie": start a show in January, keep it uninterrupted, and carry it through the end of the season. "We’re thinking about the behavior of our linear audience, but also the streaming viewers," he said, arguing that week-over-week steadiness matters in how the network rolls out its series. He added that ABC is not ready to discuss episode counts yet, but said it is still looking at a "really full season" for "High Potential."
ABC is also presenting next season as its most stable schedule ever because every scripted show is coming back. Goldman said that is the first time in the network’s history that all of its scripted series have been renewed. That gives ABC a rare level of continuity, even as it makes room for a new title in a time slot that had been one of the network’s few open questions.
That question centered on "R.J. Decker," which narrowly avoided cancellation before landing a renewal. Goldman said the show "opened phenomenally well" and held up across its season, noting that ABC did not dip below 3 million viewers and that it had its biggest week of streaming after the finale. He said the network will repeat the series heavily through the summer and use "Dancing with the Stars" as a lead-in to expose it to more viewers in the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour.
For ABC, the scheduling move is not a demotion for "High Potential" so much as a bet that a later return will give the series a cleaner runway. "R.J. Decker" gets the fall slot. "High Potential" gets the midseason launch. And ABC is signaling that, when it does bring the show back, it expects the audience to know it is coming.
