And then there was one. ABC has renewed its remaining comedy series, Scrubs and Shifting Gears, for the 2026-27 season. For the Scrubs revival, this counts officially as a second season, for the Tim Allen sitcom, it’s a third season.
The pickups, which have been fully expected, leave one current ABC scripted series whose fate has not been determined, freshman drama procedural R.J. Decker, starring Scott Speedman, which is on the bubble.
No episode count has been revealed for either of the two comedies; word is that they would once again produce a limited number of episodes (Scrubs aired 9 episodes in Season 1, Shifting Gears did 10 episodes in Season 1 and 13 in Season 3.)
Both Scrubs and Shifting Gears had earned their renewals with strong ratings performances.
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Fueled by curiosity and nostalgia, the premiere of the Scrubs revival is the highest-rated comedy telecast on any network this season among Adults 18-49 (Live+7 Big Data Plus Panel); it amassed over 11 million total viewers across platforms in its first 35 days, according to Nielsen.
Meanwhile, Shifting Gears again ranked as ABC’s most watched comedy on linear, with its Season 2 finale in February delivering the show’s best multiplatform audience since the fall premiere (Multiplatform +7 Nielsen ratings).
Scott Speedman in ‘R.J. Decker’
ABC
R.J. Decker‘s renewal odds are considered 50-50. In linear ratings, the freshman lags behind its hot-shot Tuesday lead-ins, Will Trent and High Potential, which both have been renewed. The rookie has been solid on Hulu, regularly cracking into the Daily Top 10.
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Looking promising early on, R.J. Decker has seen its renewal odds recently shift toward The Rookie: North pilot, which has emerged as a solid contender for 2026-27 and could be the choice if ABC has to keep its number of drama series flat year to year and can only pick up one of the two. There is a path for the network to order both for next season with some surgical order reductions on some returning drama series to free up budget for the extra show.
In an encouraging sign, Speedman was at Disney’s TV awards season party earlier this week, which was attended by the talent of ABC series which had already been renewed — or whose renewals were pending, including Abbott Elementary, High Potential, Scrubs and Shifting Gears.
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While The Rookie spinoff pilot, starring Jay Ellis, is still very much in contention, ABC’s comedy pilot, Do You Want Kids?, is not moving forward, with the decision foreshadowed by the network’s decision to renew all three of its existing comedy series.
Bill Lawrence created the original Scrubs and executive produces the revival via his Doozer Productions alongside Doozer’s Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer and the series’ stars Zach Braff, Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke. Aseem Batra serves as executive producer and showrunner; director-producer Randall Winston also executive produces.
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Allen executive produces Shifting Gears alongside Michelle Nader, Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker, Rick Messina, John Pasquin, Jim Patterson, Bob Daily and John Amodeo. The series’ co-lead Kat Dennings is a producer.
Both series are produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.
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