ABC planned a coronavirus-proof way of programming fall TV during pandemic

Despite nearly all TV production shut down indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic, ABC Entertainment chief Karey Burke said her network was “well prepared.”

ABC has announced just three new shows for the fall season. They include “Big Sky,” from producer David E. Kelley, and starring “Pitch” alum Kylie Bunbury, Katheryn Winnick and Ryan Phillippe as private detectives searching for two missing girls in Montana; “Call Your Mother,” a multi-camera comedy starring Kyra Sedgwick as an empty-nester; and the revival of “Supermarket Sweep," hosted by Leslie Jones.

“The pandemic disrupted the traditional pilot season in a way that we couldn’t have predicted, but we were very well prepared,” Burke said in a presentation to advertisers last week.

But ABC, like the rest of the world, pivoted.

The new TV shows picked up for the fall 2020 season

The network ordered backup scripts for every pilot show in order to “see more about the life of these series and make wiser choices” going into production, Burke said.

ABC also used its straight-to-series strategy with “stronger” projects, including “Big Sky” and “Call Your Mother,” meaning each show had more scripts locked for when production is finally able to begin again.

As for returning shows, which includes ABC’s library of series like “Grey’s Anatomy," “black-ish" and “The Goldbergs,” virtual writers rooms were set up earlier than normal “so that they would use this time to be very well prepared,” Burke said.

“We won’t hit that natural squeeze that sometimes happens when shows are trying to scramble and get back on their feet with new material," she said during the presentation.

“There actually was a silver lining for us,” Burke said, “and we feel like there are good things going forward that we learned from this process that we will apply to development here on out.”

Networks with traditional TV seasons have struggled to even make plans for fall with no idea when actors and production crews will be able to return to sets.