ABC is continuing the trend set forth by its broadcast brethren to air some of their Fall pilots online before their official premiere dates.  NBC did it with Revolution, and CBS has done it with Elementary, so now ABC is in the game offering up their military drama Last Resort to online viewers.

Last Resort was created by Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and stars Andre Braugher (Homicide: Life on the Street) and Scott Speedman (Felicity) as two Navy officers who refuse a mysterious order to fire missiles at Pakistan, making their submarine an enemy of the state.  For more on the series and to watch the premiere episode, hit the jump.

The new ABC drama series Last Resort, premiering on September 27^th, tells a suspenseful, emotional and action-packed story about what happens when a U.S. submarine crew receives an order to fire nuclear weapons at a foreign country, and then ignores that order.

While at the ABC portion of the TCA Press Tour, show creator/executive producer Shawn Ryan (The Shield) talked about telling such an ambitious story, how the characters will come first, how realistic and technical the show will be, why director Martin Campbell was the perfect person to bring the series to life for the pilot, putting their very healthy budget on the screen, how much edge they can bring, how the special effects elements will come into play, and what shows he’s currently enjoying on TV.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

As part of the TCA Press Tour presentation for ABC, President of ABC Entertainment Paul Lee took some time to talk about their new Fall line-up of comedies and dramas, and some of their already existing series.  During the interview, he spoke about what appealed to him about the new drama series Nashville (starring Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere), what they see for the future of Shawn Ryan’s drama series Last Resort, multi-camera versus single-camera comedies at the network, what happened with the Gotham pilot, and his thoughts on serialized storytelling.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

ABC has finally put the finishing touches on their Fall 2012 lineup and announced premiere dates for new and returning series.  It seems like just yesterday we were saying our goodbyes to the network shows for the summer, with the intensity of Breaking Bad and the silliness of True Blood keeping us company until the fall season, but it’s about time to start looking to the Fall 2012 TV lineup.

Fan favorites like Modern Family, Revenge, and Once Upon a Time will premiere in the normal late-September slot, but we’ll have to wait until October for the return of Happy Endings and Suburgatory.  For my money, the most promising new show on ABC’s schedule is the Connie Britton-fronted drama Nashville, which premieres on October 10th.  Body of Proof, Wife Swap, and new shows Red Widow and Zero Hour are being held until midseason. Hit the jump to take a look at the full list of premiere dates.

ABC announced their Fall 2012 schedule this afternoon, and followed up with trailers for the 10 new series.  We’ll start with the dramas:

• 666 Park Avenue – Terry O’Quinn stars as the manager of The Drake, an apartment building that offers the ultimate luxury yet “maintains a dark hold over all of its residents.”
• Last Resort – This is the latest tense thriller from Shawn Ryan, who created The Shield.  After the captain (Andre Braugher) and commanding officer (Scott Speedman) of a submarine defy firing orders, they flee with the sub’s patrons to find refuge at an exotic island.
• Nashville – The country music drama centers on an aging legend (Connie Britton) who must deal with a scheming young talent (Hayden Panettiere).
• Mistresses – Alyssa Milano toplines the soap about the “scandalous lives of a sexy and sassy group of four girlfriends.”
• Red Widow – After her husband is brutally murdered, Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell) “takes on the gangsters and the FBI to unveil the truth about her husband’s death.”
• Zero Hour – Anthony Edwards stars as a skeptic who gets sucked into an ancient mystery—the kind that involves treasure maps symbol-deciphering—when his wife (Jacinda Barrett) is abducted.

The comedy trailers are here.  Hit the jump for the trailers and series synopses.

Upfronts Day 3: Commence! Over the last two days, we’ve seen the new fall 2012 schedules for NBC and Fox, as well as trailers for some of the new series that those networks will be offering.  Today it’s ABC’s turn, and their new schedule has a couple of change-ups for returning series.  The fan-favorite drama Revenge has taken over Desperate Housewives’ Sunday night spot (if you weren’t aware, DH had its series finale this past weekend), and the comedies Happy Endings and Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23 will be moving to Tuesday nights.

Tuesday is fast becoming the new comedy night, as NBC has set their two most high profile new comedies—The New Normal and Go On—for Tuesday, and that night is currently host to Fox’s all-comedy block that includes New Girl and Mindy Kaling’s The Mindy Project.  In other words, you’re probably gonna have to do some in-depth DVR scheduling.  Hit the jump to check out the full ABC schedule.  We’ll have trailers for the new series up once they’re available.

In addition to the series renewed by ABC, we’ve got some new series pick-ups, along with a couple more renewals and some unfortunate cancellations.  Here they are at a glance:

• Renewals: Private Practice, Body of Proof, Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23, Last Man Standing and Scandal
• Pick-Ups: Nashville, Zero Hour, Malibu Country, Last Resort, 666 Park Avenue, Red Widow, How to Live With Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life, Neighbors, and Family Tools
• Cancellations: GCB, PanAm, Missing and The River

Hit the jump for more.