Post-Upfronts Analysis: Here's the Fall 2015 Day-By-Day Schedule

Now that Upfronts are over, we finally have a clear picture of the 2015 fall schedule. Well, at least until networks change their minds, shows get canceled, and others underperform. But that shouldn't stop us from taking a good look at the schedule, which has its share of scheduling conflicts, sacrificial lambs, and ridiculously tough battles. We've broken down the Fall 2015 schedule down to its important days (sorry, Saturday), and pointed out the strengths and weaknesses, and the stuff in between. 

SUNDAY

We all know Sunday nights belong to cable and the AMCs, HBOs, and Showtimes of the world, but it's adorable that broadcast networks still try. Obviously NBC is the big winner here as always with its broadcast of giant men grabbing at each other while chucking pig parts around. Fox didn't change its Sunday schedule at all from its midseason, and CBS swapped one CSI with another. ABC brought the most different look after canceling Revenge and Resurrection, throwing two new shows—OIL and Of Kings and Prophets—in the mix, and they should be sacrificed fairly quickly. 

MONDAY

This grid will change quickly. Come November, CBS will swap in Supergirl for The Big Bang Theory and  Life in Pieces, which will both move to Thursday when CBS's Thursday Night Football is done. That pits Supergirl versus Gotham in an interesting battle of DC Comics' heroes. Who will you go for, the superpowered office assistant who can't decide what to wear or the middling story of prepubescent Batman? The CW finds a tonal match for Jane the Virgin in the wacky and whimsical Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which is a total gamble for The CW. It's a better fit than The Originals was there last year, but the chances of it being a hit are very small. Blindspot gets NBC's coveted post–Voice slot, but will it get a boost like The Blacklist did or will it disappoint like State of Affairs did? Minority Report is the real wild card here as Fox continues to search for a sci-fi hit, and I'm not sure this will be it. 

TUESDAY

Fox has the most interesting change on Tuesdays, booting New Girl to the bench in favor of a pair of comedies led by Rob Lowe and John Stamos. Goodnight ladies' comedy night, hello old dudes. I haven't a clue how they'll do, but The Grinder looks way better than Grandfathered. They're followed by Ryan Murphy's Scream Queens, which seems like a lot of fun and should start hot out of the gate, just like all of Murphy's projects. Wow, Heartbreaker looks so bad that it's wasting that slot, and it won't do Best Time Ever any favors, which will already have a lot of struggles on its own. I like ABC's night, The Muppets looks legit good and should be fine on its own. Fresh off the Boat proved (for a while at least) that it could survive on an island by itself last season, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is impervious to lead-in and lead-out politics. And after Forever, Killer Women, Mind Games, and Lucky 7 in the Tuesday 10pm slot, Quantico looks like the show with the best shot to be a hit in that time period in years. The Flash and  iZombie stay put, which makes sense to me. NCIS Tuesdays on CBS are joined by Limitless, while Person of Interest takes a break. 

WEDNESDAY

Wednesdays barely change at all, with only new series Code Black and Rosewood joining the night. Let's see how an almost-full season of Empire does to the schedule. Rosewood is going to need all the help it can get from Empire, which won't be much. It's this year's Rake and Backstrom, basically. 

THURSDAY

Thursdays, as usual, are TOUGH. After CBS's football, Shonda Rhimes' trio will be tops here minus the half hour of The Big Bang Theory that will move here in November. It appears as though Fox just threw Sleepy Hollow here to die, because that's what it will do going up against The Blacklist and Scandal. The CW matched up its vampire shows for the first time ever, and NBC has cobbled together a pretty solid three-hour block of silly entertainment. I'm rooting for the totally ridiculous The Player, and it has a chance to do okay because it pairs really well with The Blacklist. Come November, CBS mixes in its new single-camera comedies  (Life in Pieces and Angel From Hell) with its usual multi-camera comedies for an interesting experiment. Will it pay off? Will CBS get younger? We'll find out in November.

FRIDAY

Friday is the only night NBC has comedy. Think about that! And they're both multi-cam comedies! My how things have changed. Grimm stays steady in Fridays because it does great there, and this year, NBC isn't trying to pair it with something genre like it did previously (Dracula and Constantine). Cristela got dumped for Dr. Ken, putting Tim Allen and Ken Jeong in a multi-cam family-friendly comedy block on Fridays. That's weird. The CW probably wishes it hadn't renewed Reign, so now it's parked on Fridays to fend for itself while the rest of the network's schedule hums along. Fox hasn't a clue what to do with its Fridays. Remember when it relied on Utopia there? Ha! And CBS is CBSing here.

What do you think of the Fall 2015 schedule? Where do you see personal viewing conflicts? Which network looks like the winner?