ABC set premiere dates for two new shows on Wednesday and gave its freshman ShondaLand drama a two-hour February season finale.
Oscar winner John Ridley‘s (“12 Years a Slave”) racially-charged drama “American Crime” debuts on Thursday, March 5 at 10 p.m. ET and upcoming murder mystery “Secrets and Lies” launches on Sunday, March 1 at 9 p.m. ET. “How to Get Away With Murder,” meanwhile” is set to conclude its first season on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 9 p.m. ET.
Viola Davis (“Get on Up”) stars in the murder-mystery, which is one of three Shonda Rhimes-prdouced shows on ABC’s Thursday night slate (with “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal”).
“American Crime” stars Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives”) as Barb Hanlon and Timothy Hutton (“Leverage”) as Russ Skokie and focuses on a quiet Calif. town dealing with the aftermath of a horrific, violent crime.
The ABC Studios drama is written, directed and produced by Oscar-winning screenwriter Ridley (“12 Years A Slave”) and executive produced by Ridley and Michael J. McDonald. Co-stars include W. Earl Brown, Richard Cabral and Penelope Ann Miller.
“Secrets and Lies” stars Ryan Phillippe (“Cruel Intentions”) and Juliette Lewis (“Natural Born Killlers”). The mystery-thriller follows the transformation of Ben Crawford (Phillippe) from do-gooder to murder suspect after he discovers the body of his neighbor’s young son in the woods. Detective Andrea Cornell (Lewis) is the one tasked with finding out the truth.
KaDee Strickland (“Private Practice”), Natalie Martinez (“Under the Dome”) and Dan Fogler (“The Goldberg’s,” “Hannibal”) co-star. Barbie Kligman (“Private Practice”) developed the show, which is based on an Australian series of the same name, which was created by Stephen Irwin. Executive producers include Kligman for Avenue K Productions, Aaron Kaplan for Kapital Entertainment, Tracey Robertson and Nathan Mayfield for Hoodlum Entertainment and Timothy Busfield.
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