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Disney’s long-expected move to fold ABC Signature into 20th Television brings to an end the media conglom’s in-house TV studio, which started off as Touchstone Television a decade before Disney bought ABC, subsequently being renamed ABC Studios and more recently ABC Signature.
Launched in 1985, Touchstone TV’s first major hit was Golden Girls, which ran on NBC for seven seasons. Other successful series from that era include Blossom, also for NBC, and Home Improvement, Ellen and Boy Meets World for ABC.
In the first years after ABC became part of Disney, Touchstone Television continued to be a supplier to all networks — which is how 20th Television operated for its entire run at Fox — with shows such as Felicity and Popular for the WB and The PJs for Fox/WB.
The studio gradually shifted its attention to its own network, supplying it with series such as Once And Again, My Wife And Kids, Alias and 8 Simple Rules, Less Then Perfect and According To Jim, with occasional hits elsewhre, including Scrubs on NBC, which ended up on ABC post-cancellation amd Ghost Whisperer on CBS.
There were also those that got away — series developed by Touchstone Television that ABC passed on, which went on to become major hits elsewhere with another studio taking lead, CSI on CBS and Monk on USA Network.
Then came one of the strongest broadcast lineup of new series ever assembled, Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy, which all debuted on ABC during the 2004-05 season, all produced by Touchstone Television, which was rebranded as ABC Studios a couple of seasons into their runs.
Other notable series from the 2000s include Brothers & Sisters, Ugly Betty, Grey’s spinoff Private Practice and Castle for ABC, Army Wives for corporate half-sibling Lifetime, Criminal Minds for CBS ( which is back with a revival on Paramount+), the CW cult Reaper as well as Cougar Town, which ran on ABC and then TBS.
The following decade was marked by shows like Revenge, Happy Endings, a big Disney tie-in with the fairytale-themed Once Upon a Time, Shondaland’s Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder, Nashville, as well as the first — and only — Marvel series on ABC so far, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, .
The studio then made a splash with a groundbreaking for that time Netflix deal in 2013 for a suite of Marvel Television series as well as a superhero team-up limited series that yielded six shows. The first of them, Daredevil, is now being reimagined by Marvel Studios for Disney+.
In 2017, the recent wave of mega overall deals kicked off with Shonda Rhimes’ high-profile departure from her longtime ABC Studios home to Netflix, unleashing a frenzied race for A-list talent that defined the streaming wars in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
Some other big-name creators who had been based at ABC Signature and its predecessors over the years include J.J. Abrams, Greg Berlanti and Kenya Barris. Stu Bloomberg, Stephen McPherson, Mark Pedowitz, Patrick Moran, Jonnie Davis and Tracy Underwood are among the executives who have run the division over the past couple of decades.
ABC Studios/ABC Signature’s last hits were Barris’ black-ish franchise and Grey’s spinoff Station 19, with ABC’s A Million Little Things and American Housewife also having respectable runs, along with Godfather of Harlem on MGM+, as well as a number of well received limited series such as Fleishman Is In Trouble, Under the Bridge, A Small Light and Five Days At Memorial.
While 20th TV has been gradually taking ABC real estate away from ABC Signature with shows such as 9-1-1, and the entries Doctor Odyssey and Shifting Gears, ABC Signature is behind a potential breakout hit this season, new one-hour High Potential, which is off to a promising start. Additionally, Rhimes’ age-defying mega hit, Grey’s Anatomy, is still chugging along, entering its 21st season.
