ABC Fall 2009 Premiere Dates Including ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Castle,’ More

CHICAGO – ABC has announced their fall premiere dates and the season really starts for the network with the return of “Dancing With the Stars” and “Castle” on Monday, September 21st. The network has a very aggressive slate of new programs coming your way including “The Forgotten,” “Modern Family,” “Cougar Town,” “Eastwick,” “FlashForward,” “Hank,” and “The Middle”.

“Dancing With the Stars” and “Castle” return on September 21st, the week when most of ABC’s programming starts up again.

The next night, Tuesday, September 22nd, features another two-hour episode of “Stars,” followed by the premiere of the Christian Slater drama “The Forgotten” at 9pm CST.

Wednesday, September 23rd features the results show for “Dancing With the Stars” (if you’re counting, that’s FIVE hours of “Dancing” in week one) and the premiere of two sitcoms, “Modern Family” with Ed O’Neill and “Cougar Town” with Courtney Cox. The drama “Eastwick” (based on “Witches of Eastwick” and starring Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and Jaime Ray Newman) premieres that night at 9pm CST.

“Grey’s Anatomy” returns on Thursday, September 24th in its typical 8pm CST timeslot. The show will be preceded by the drama/mystery “FlashForward” at 7pm CST.

FlashForward - Peyton List, Sonya Walger, Zachary Knighton, Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Courtney B. Vance, Brian O’byrne, Christine Woods
Photo credit: Bob D’Amico/ABC

Sunday, September 27th sees the return of last year’s line-up with “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “Desperate Housewives,” and “Brothers & Sisters”.

“Shark Tank” makes its in-season premiere on Tuesday, September 29th followed by the regular time period of the results show of “Dancing With the Stars”.

That leaves an hour open on Wednesdays, which “Hank” and “The Middle” join on September 30th. “Hank” stars Kelsey Grammer and “The Middle” stars Patricia Heaton. This means that Wednesday nights on ABC will feature four star-powered sitcoms in a row on ABC featuring Grammer, Heaton, O’Neill, and Cox. Who said the sitcom was dead?

Thursday, October 1st sees the return of “Private Practice” in the 9pm CST timeslot.

“America’s Funniest Home Videos” returns on Sunday, October 4th. Friday, October 9th sees the return of “Ugly Betty” with a two-hour season premiere and a week later, October 16th, “Supernanny” comes back for more.

NBC Fall 2009 Schedule
Saturday, September 5th - “Saturday Night Football”
Friday, September 11th - “20/20”
Monday, September 21st - “Dancing With the Stars” & “Castle”
Tuesday, September 22nd - “The Forgotten”
Wednesday, September 23rd - “Modern Family,” “Cougar Town,” & “Eastwick”
Thursday, September 24th - “FlashForward” & “Grey’s Anatomy”
Sunday, September 27th - “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “Desperate Housewives,” & “Brothers & Sisters”
Tuesday, September 29th - “Shark Tank”
Wednesday, September 30th - “Hank” & “The Middle”
Thursday, October 1st - “Private Practice”
Sunday, October 4th - “America’s Funniest Home Videos”
Friday, October 9th - “Ugly Betty”
Friday, October 16th - “Supernanny”

Read our full review of the 2009 “FlashForward” premiere!
Read our full review of the season-two 2009 “Castle” premiere!
Read our full review of the “The Forgotten” premiere!
Read our full review of the “Cougar Town” premiere!
Read our full review of the “Modern Family” premiere!
Read our full review of the “Eastwick” premiere!

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com