The last two slots on ABC‘s 2026-27 schedule went to R.J. Decker and The Rookie: North, both picked up during the weekend before the upfronts where the networks, including ABC, present their fall lineups.

Early on, it looked like it may be one slot that would go to either the freshman drama series starring Scott Speedman or the drama pilot starring Jay Ellis so ABC could keep the volume of scripted shows flat year to year.

It was a tough go for awhile, with the decision coming down to the wire.

“Yeah, we had a lot of discussion heading into scheduling meetings and throughout that week about both of these shows,” said Ari Goldman, ABC’s SVP, Content Strategy and Scheduling. “We are thrilled that not only we were able to renew R.J., but also that we’re adding to our slate for the second straight year with Rookie: North, that’s something that no other network can say heading into this upfront week.”

It was not a straightforward decision to expand the scripted portfolio in order to accommodate both R.J. Decker and The Rookie: North amid the economic realities of the broadcast business, Goldman admitted.

“Certainly, it’s a landscape that requires careful management of resources but I think we felt creatively strong about both shows and felt that we had unique lead-in and launch opportunities for both of them,” he said. “We’re always having hard conversations and trying to balance our objectives, and at the end of the day, we felt we had a huge opportunity with The Rookie universe and with this pilot in particular. And we couldn’t ignore the success metrics we were seeing on R.J. Decker.“

Luckily for R.J. Decker, those metrics kept improving as the network pickup conversations were going on.

RELATED: ‘R.J. Decker’ Renewed For Season 2

“The week after R.J. finaled, just a couple weeks ago, it was its most streamed week in existence,” Goldman said. “We’re still onboarding the show, we’re finding new viewers every day that passes. Combining that with the linear encore strategy that we have this summer and this undeniable lead-in in Dancing with the Stars, we’re just really bullish on both series.”

The linear encore strategy involves the nine episodes of R.J. Decker’s first season airing back-to-back over three consecutive Tuesdays, which will be coupled with “a very dedicated on-air campaign throughout the summer to bring viewers up to speed on R.J..” And in the fall, the series will return for its second season airing behind Dancing With the Stars.

For The Rookie: North, “the unique lead-in and launch opportunities” stem from the spinoff’s compatibility with the mothership series, with the two shows expected to be paired up in a franchise block, anchored by The Rookie.

RELATED: ‘The Rookie: North’ Picked Up To Series By ABC

As ABC continues to expand its scripted slate, even with multiplatform viewing factored in, broadcast remains a challenging business that can’t support continuously growing programming spend. As a result, picking up both R.J. Decker and The Rookie: North was expected to result in episode orders trims for some ABC series.

“We’re still working through the precise episode counts across the board,” Goldman said. “Some of our shows are going to stay exactly as they’ve been, but I do think we’re always looking to make decisions that make financial sense for the company, so some counts may adjust at the end of the day.”

Goldman was quick to emphasize: “Nothing that would ever impact the creative. We’re always in the business of growing the libraries of these shows for streaming, not only here, but across the globe, and so we’re very serious about staying in that game and doing whatever it takes to strengthen that portfolio.”

He confirmed that episode count reductions, where implemented, will be minimal.