#7a speculation

You know a fun way to circle back to the unresolved themes introduced in Season 4 re: Eddie following his heart and not Christopher's would be if Christopher and Buck have a conversation about Shannon for whatever reason (homework, it seems like) and Christopher mentions feeling like something vital is missing from his / his dad's / their family life. Eddie subsequently overhears this conversation and gives Christopher the letter from Shannon in hopes that reading his mom's words will help fill some of that gap, but he still goes full throttle in this thing with Marisol because now there's an unspoken "pressure" for him to provide that missing piece for his son (not realizing that there's nothing he can do that'll fill that void because Shannon is dead and she will stay dead). In allowing the story to unfold like this, that'll put Buck, Eddie, and Christopher right back to where Season 4 left them:

That looks like Tommy to me

What kind of scenario do you think might come out of the scene?

Why the nervous feelings for the bball scene?

It’s kinda giving… they’re playfully roughhousing??? but capital S Something is looming over them and for a split second Buck’s frustration is too much and he grabs Eddie too hard or something? I don’t mean this in a “Buck is an abuser” way but shit is so intense between them always, has been for so long, and it was bound to bubble over at some point. IDK IDK I thought this and now I can’t stop thinking about it

No but you are so right for that last post. Tim acknowledged that they are grateful to have the current audience follow them over to the new network but also made the pointed statement that they are aware that new viewers are going to be around as well. It’s almost like they will be treating season 7 as somewhat of a relaunch to reestablish what works for the current audience (seasons 2/3 and parts of 4/5) AND to keep new viewers around once they check it out. And like you mentioned part of that is to keep them invested in the characters and their relationships which will be a motivating factor for new audience members to go back and watch prior seasons and become fully invested. Like as new viewer you would tune in and see Buck/Eddie fighting and be like meh the boys are fighting but if you then go back and watch from the start and all that history you’re then like “OH…THE BOYS…ARE FIGHTING?!!” It would be the same for the Madney wedding…it would be like “oh just another wedding” but if you go back and see all that history and how much Chim and Maddie had to fight to get there it would then be “Madney wedding!!!!!” They want more seasons and have more stories to tell but they need to solidify/grow the audience first to be able to show that the network move was the right call and investment. With that said it’s not wrong at all to say manage expectations as in season 7 is not the year for Buddie canon because it’s too condensed of a season and to make a bold narrative choice like that when they are getting established on a new network and expanding the audience. They are also repairing the dynamics that have been lost over the course of season 6 so that we can get back to our Firefam and what worked so well with the found family aspect. I think the most reasonable expectation is that if Tim wants to still leave the door open for Buddie canon certain narrative choices can still be made to have those threads exist for season 8 once the show finds its footing again and is established on ABC and they have an understanding of the audience/demographic (abc is slightly different than fox)and the network expectations moving forward.