Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 ended their shorter-than-usual runs in fall 2020 on killer cliffhangers that were poised to keep viewers on the edges of their seats until early March, but now ABC has released a schedule that means fans need to get comfortable on those edges of their seats for a little bit longer. The new spring schedule has moved back the 2021 premieres of both Grey's Anatomy and Station 19, with other lineup changes on the way as well.
Station 19 and Grey's Anatomy were both scheduled to keep their Thursday night time slots at 8 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET, respectively, with spring premieres on March 4. Now, an updated schedule from ABC has moved those premieres back a week, to Thursday, March 11. The shows aren't losing the time slots that have been so successful for them during the 2020-2021 TV season, but the wait to see what happens next will last even longer than previously assumed.
If you've been dying to know whether or not Meredith pulls through from her latest COVID crisis on Grey's Anatomy or how Station 19 will handle the unjust arrests of not one but two of their firefighters, prepare to hold out for a week longer than expected. Still, a week isn't too bad, all things considered.
That said, ABC didn't announce the reason for the delay. Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 were among the shows that extended their holiday breaks heading into January due to COVID concerns in Los Angeles, and the extended break already resulted in This Is Us skipping a week. Could the COVID delay be the cause for Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 premiering on March 11 rather than March 4?
Only time will tell if ABC confirms a reason, but it's worth noting that at the time of writing, the network has not added any other new premieres to take those March 4 slots that would have pushed Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 back. Take a look at the updated schedule from ABC for the spring season (all times ET):
Thursday, March 11
Station 19 - 8 p.m.
Grey's Anatomy - 9 p.m.
A Million Little Things (New Return Date) - 10 p.m.
Tuesday, March 30
Pooch Perfect Series Premiere - 8 p.m.
Wednesday, April 7
Home Economics Series Premiere - 8:30 p.m.
A Million Little Things Time Slot Premiere - 10 p.m.
Thursday, April 8
Rebel Series Premiere - 10:01 p.m.
The swap of Rebel in for A Million Little Things on April 8 to join Station 19 and Grey's Anatomy will complete a primetime block of shows with Krista Vernoff on board as showrunner. It should be interesting if Rebel ends up joining the same shared universe as Station 19 and Grey's Anatomy, which would put ABC in a similar situation on Thursdays as what NBC has going on Wednesdays with the hit One Chicago block of shared universe shows. I've been speculating that another spinoff is in the works to complete an ABC shared universe block all season; could Rebel be how it happens?
For now, we can only speculate about what exactly ABC has planned for the 2021 premieres of Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 on March, let alone Rebel in April. Check out more of what's on the way in the new year on the small screen with our 2021 TV premiere schedule!
