Upfronts 2012: ABC Picks Up Nine Series

Five dramas, four comedies join net's 2012-13 schedule

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/11/2012 7:31:34 PM

Complete Coverage: Upfronts 2012

ABC has begun its series orders, on Friday picking up five dramas - Nashville, Zero Hour, Red Widow, 666 Park Ave. and Last Resort -- and four comedies -- The Neighbors, Comeback Jack, How to Live With Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life and Malibu Country.

Musical drama Nashville stars Connie Britton as a star at her peak in Nashville's music scene and Hayden Panettiere as an upcoming musical star. Other drams are Red Widow (formerly Penoza), about a widow who is forced to adopt her late husband's role in a crime syndicate to protect her family and Zero Hour, about an editor of a conspiracy magazine who is pulled into one of the most fascinating intrigues in human history. All are from ABC Studios.

666 Park Ave., from Warner Bros. TV, is about a young New York couple who encounter paranormal happenings while managing one of the city's most historic apartment houses. And Last Resort, from Sony TV and executive producer Shawn Ryan, follows the renegade crew on a nuclear submarine, starring Scott Speedman.

On the comedy side, The Neighbors (formerly untitled Dan Fogelman project) is a single-camera about a family who moves into an upscale New Jersey condo complex only to discover all their neighbors are aliens. The single-camera Comeback Jack (formerly Red Van Man) is about a man who must give up his dream of becoming a restaurateur when his father suffers a heart attack and he must take over the family handyman business.

How to Live With Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life, also single-camera, stars Sarah Chalke as a single mother who moves back home with her eccentric parents to get help raising her child. The multi-camera Malibu Country stars Reba McEntire as a divorced mother who moves her three kids and mom from Nashville to Malibu to try and revive her singing career.

Neighbors, Comeback and Malibu Country are all from ABC Studios, Live With Your Parents is from 20^th Century Fox and Imagine TV.