Tuesday May 15, 2012
ABC announced its very comedy-heavy fall schedule today, renewing six existing comedies and adding four more (two premiering in the fall, and another two at midseason). All of ABC's current comedies will be returning next season, with the exception of Cougar Town, which has been picked up by TBS for a fourth season to air in early 2013. Modern Family, The Middle, Suburgatory, Happy Endings, Last Man Standing and Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 will be joined by new fall comedies The Neighbors and Malibu Country in the fall, and How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life) and The Family Tools at midseason.
The Neighbors (pictured), about a human family that moves into a suburban neighborhood full of disguised aliens, will join the popular ABC Wednesday-night comedy block (alongside The Middle, Suburgatory and Modern Family). Malibu Country, starring Reba McEntire as a divorced Southerner who moves to California, will be part of a new comedy night on Fridays along with Last Man Standing starting in November (the traditional family sitcoms airing together on Fridays conjures up memories of TGIF).
In January 2013, Happy Endings and Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 will be joined on Tuesdays by How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life), starring Sarah Chalke as a single mother who moves back in with her free-spirited parents, and The Family Tools, about a bumbling young man taking over his father's handyman business.
Photo courtesy of ABC
Monday May 14, 2012
Fox announced its fall schedule today, with a new four-comedy block set for Tuesdays that will include returning shows Raising Hope and New Girl as well as new comedies Ben and Kate and The Mindy Project (pictured). One more new comedy, The Goodwin Games, is set to debut at midseason.
Ben and Kate stars Nat Faxon and Dakota Johnson as the sibling title characters, who move in together after the free-spirited Ben offers to take care of Kate's young daughter. The Mindy Project stars The Office's Mindy Kaling, who is leaving that show to play an OB/GYN trying to get her life together; Kaling is also The Mindy Project's creator. And The Goodwin Games comes from How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, and follows three siblings who have to engage in a series of ridiculous activities in order to inherit the $20 million left to them by their father.
Photo courtesy of Fox
Monday May 14, 2012
Network upfronts week, when the broadcast networks announce their upcoming fall schedules, got off to an early start Sunday with NBC revealing its schedule for next season, which includes four new comedies to premiere in the fall, and three more set for midseason. It also includes renewals for current NBC comedies The Office, Parks and Recreation, Up All Night, Whitney, 30 Rock and Community. For 30 Rock and Community, those are just 13-episode renewals (as opposed to the typical 22), and 30 Rock was initially announced as headed into its final season (although NBC now says this may not be the case).
The new shows for fall include Go On (pictured), starring Matthew Perry as a sportscaster in group therapy; The New Normal, co-created by Glee's Ryan Murphy, about a gay couple having a baby via a surrogate; Animal Practice, about a misanthropic veterinarian; and Guys With Kids, about, well, three guys with kids. Debuting at midseason are Save Me, starring Anne Heche as a woman who talks to God; 1600 Penn, about the family of the president of the United States; and Next Caller, starring Dane Cook as a foul-mouthed DJ.
Photo courtesy of NBC
Tuesday May 8, 2012
With network upfronts scheduled for next week, when all four broadcast networks will be announcing their line-ups for the 2012-2013 season, NBC has been getting a head start by picking up a few new shows in advance. Three of those are comedies, with one, the Matthew Perry vehicle Go On, picked up a couple of weeks ago, and the other two announced this week.
Go On stars Perry as a sportscaster dealing with grief in a group-therapy session; let's hope it fares better than Perry's underrated (and underperforming) recent ABC sitcom Mr. Sunshine. The other two new comedies are Save Me, starring Anne Heche as a woman who creates miracles; and The New Normal, co-created by Glee's Ryan Murphy, about a gay male couple having a baby via a surrogate.
What does this mean for NBC's existing comedies? Deadline reports that 30 Rock, Community, Parks and Recreation and Up All Night still have chances of returning next season, although possibly with smaller episode orders. We'll know for sure on May 14 when NBC announces its full fall schedule.
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