ABC Makes Renewals, Series Orders

BURBANK: ABC has renewed several of its hit shows, including Modern Family and Scandal, and has ordered a number of projects to series, among them How to Get Away with Murder, a new legal thriller from Shonda Rhimes.

The network has renewed the comedies The Goldbergs and Modern Family, and the dramas Castle, Grey's Anatomy, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Once Upon a Time, Resurrection, Revenge and Scandal. Also coming back is Dancing with the Stars.

New pickups for the 2014-15 season include American Crime, a racially charged drama told from the point of view of the victims, the accused and their families. It is written and produced by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and stars Timothy Hutton and Felicity Huffman. Black-ish stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross as a couple living the American dream in an upper-middle-class neighborhood but are trying to stay in touch with their cultural identity. The comedy is written by and loosely based on the life of Kenya Barris (The Game) and executive produced by Larry Wilmore (Bernie Mac). Laurence Fishburne co-stars.

Galavant is a fairy-tale musical. It comes from Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love), composer Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast) and lyricist Glenn Slater (The Little Mermaid). From Grey's Anatomy and Scandal's Shonda Rhimes comes How to Get Away with Murder. It is about four ambitious first-year law students at a prestigious school where they are given a shot at participating in real cases. They are all competing for the attention of the charismatic and seductive professor of Criminal Law 101. In The Whispers (formerly titled The Visitors), an unforeseen alien force has figured out the human weakness that parents have a soft spot for their children. Amblin TV is co-producing with Dawn Olmstead's Grady Girl.