What’s on ABC tonight? Here is the full ABC schedule for Saturday, October 31, 2026, with times in Eastern Time (ET).

ABC hands its whole Saturday to college football, and the night game is the one to keep

See also: What's on tonight across all channels | Wednesday's TV guide

If you only watch one thing on ABC on Halloween, make it the college football game that starts at 7:37pm ET (4:37pm PT) and runs 203 minutes. There is no scripted show anywhere on the day, no primetime drama, no comedy block. ABC has cleared the evening for a single live game, and that is the whole offer.

The 7:37pm start is the detail worth noticing. The pregame is a seven-minute College Football Kickoff at 7:30pm ET, which tells you the network is running tight to the whistle rather than padding. Before it come two half-hour College Football Scoreboard slots at 6:30pm and 7pm ET, so the build-up is a full hour of score updates and previews before the broadcast proper. Because this is live, kickoff is one moment nationwide, so the West Coast gets it at 4:37pm PT, well before dark.

The afternoon is the same story, twice

ABC’s college football day starts early. The first game is at noon ET (9am PT) and runs 180 minutes, and a second one follows at 3:40pm ET (12:40pm PT) for 170 minutes. In between sits College Football Scoreboard at 3pm ET and a ten-minute Kickoff at 3:30pm ET. That is three games on one network in a single day, with the first two serving as the warm-up for the evening one.

The honest rating split is simple. The noon and 3:40pm games get three stars each: they are fine if you follow the sport closely and the network has done nothing to sell them to anyone else. The night game gets four because it has the longest run time, the cleanest build-up and the primetime slot. A tight finish is what makes a long broadcast pay off, and nobody can promise that in advance, so treat the rating as a view on the scheduling, not a forecast.

Mornings and the late slot

The one non-sport block worth a mention is Good Morning America Saturday. It airs at 8am ET and again at 9am ET, so you can catch it on either side of breakfast without setting an alarm. It is a reasonable way to ease into a day that is otherwise all football.

At the other end, ABC News Nightline comes on at 12:37am ET. That is technically the tail end of Friday night, so if you are checking Saturday’s guide and wondering where the evening news went, that is it. Nightline is a fixture that runs every night in the window, and the half-hour is as dependable as ever.

What to expect from local stations

A lot of ABC’s day is simply handed to local stations. Overnight, early morning and the 10am and 11am hours are all local programming, and so is the 11pm hour that closes the night. What airs there depends on where you live: local news, community shows or paid programming. If you are looking for something specific at those times, check your local station, because the national schedule does not set it.

The practical plan

Keep the evening free for the 7:37pm ET game. If you want warm-up, tune in at 6:30pm ET for the Scoreboard. If you are a casual viewer, you can skip the noon and 3:40pm games and lose nothing, and then join in at primetime. And if football is not for you, ABC is not the channel to pick tonight: there is nothing else on it after dark.


Also on TV tonight at 8pm ET

  • NBC: College Football (from 7:30pm ET)
  • CBS: FBI
  • FOX: 2026 World Series
  • PBS: Secrets of the Dead
  • The CW: WWE NXT (from 7pm ET)
  • ION: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
  • TCM: Dracula
  • AMC: Halloween (from 7pm ET)
  • FX: Ghostbusters: Afterlife
  • Freeform: Hocus Pocus (from 7:20pm ET)

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Frequently asked questions

Is there a movie on ABC tonight?

No. ABC has no movies in its evening schedule on Saturday, October 31, 2026.

What’s on ABC late tonight?

After 11pm ET, ABC has Local Programs at 11pm ET.

What time does ABC’s evening start?

The evening schedule starts with College Football Scoreboard at 6:30pm ET.