Woohoo !
One of the more confounding scheduling decisions any network made during upfront season was ABC's scheduling of the new comedy The Neighbors on Wednesdays at 9:30. The timeslot after Modern Family is the best launching pad ABC can give a new sitcom — though the results have been mixed at best in the past for Cougar Town, Mr. Sunshine, Happy Endings and Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 — and it's hard to find anyone who doesn't work at ABC with many kind things to say about the pilot for The Neighbors.
Clips of the show — starring Lenny Venito and Jamie Gertz as parents who move their family into a gated community where all the neighbors are secretly aliens — bombed in front of advertisers at the network's fall schedule announcement, and early critical buzz has been rough, with many in the industry speculating on how many weeks ABC would leave the show in such a good slot before admitting defeat.
Instead, it appears ABC has accepted the inevitable and is going to put a different, better show after Phil, Claire and the gang. As first reported by Deadline, and confirmed to me by a source close to the show, ABC has decided to put Suburgatory on at 9:30 and try The Neighbors in the old Suburgatory slot at 8:30.
Suburgatory had a very strong début season, and while it seemed a good match in the 8 o'clock hour with The Middle, it feels like the best possible match with Modern Family of all the other comedies ABC currently has in its inventory. And if there's going to be an audience that likes The Neighbors, it'll likely be little kids who think people who turn into squishy green aliens are cool — and those kids won't be watching at 9:30 pm.
Source : Alan Sepinwall.
At least now I don't have to worry about missing it because I have a late class on Wednesday. (Still have to Hulu it the next day, though, because it's on the same time as SPN and Criminal Minds.)
ReplyDeleteYes, thank goodness for On-Demand and online viewing! This now conflicts with SVU for me so I will definitely be adding it to the list of shows I need to watch after the live airing.
ReplyDeleteI love this show and I feel like more people should talk about it. I hope this is good news!
ReplyDeleteExcellent. Suburgatory is good TV and I'm glad ABC is giving it a helping hand.
ReplyDeleteIMO they should hold the 'neighbors' until (forever?) midseason and air 'How to live with your parents' at 9:30 instead... not sure if 9:30 is a good move for Tessa. ;/
ReplyDeleteMe likey ! I think Suburgatory was one of the best new sitcoms of the past season*. Jane Levy is great and the supporting cast is one of the best on TV : Jeremy Sisto (SFU), Cheryl Hines (Curb your Enthusiasm), Alan Tudyk (Firefly), Chris Parnell (30 Rock, Archer), Ana Gasteyer, Rex Lee (Entourage), Allie Grant (Weeds)… what more do you want ? I didn't like Carly Chaikin at first, but like her character (Dalia) she grew on me.
ReplyDeleteMoving it to 9:30 will only help the show. Not that it needed help : it's not exactly a gamble, Suburgatory did very well last season (keeping all of The Middle's audience on both general audience and 18-49 demo, something improving it). But what's good is that the tone of the show is much closer to Modern Family's than The Middle's, of which I watched the first two seasons and then stopped after asking myself "what does this show have that makes it special ?".
ABC really blew it by even ordering a pilot of The Neighbors (an incomprehensible move, much like Work It). By just looking at the synopsis, I could have told you it was going to be crap, which was ultimately confirmed by the Upfront trailer and now the reaction from the press.It was even more incomprehensible to see it getting the coveted 9:30pm timeslot. I can't imagine how many pilots ABC must get each year and this is the one they get to air after Modern Family ? C'mon. It's a good thing they're admitting their mistake now and put Suburgatory there instead.
* Not that there was much competition from all the other networks : ABC also came up with the other great new 'free-access' comedy of the past season, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. Thankfully, premium cable came up with great new comedies/dramedies such as Enlightened, House of Lies, Girls and Veep. This summer, there's Comedy Bang Bang on IFC that's a good, original surprise.
Assuming SVU stays at 10pm this should be fine
ReplyDeleteNBC'S SVU has moved to 9pm, Chicago Fire gets the 10pm slot I believe.
ReplyDeletesmart move from ABC, it was unlikely that any new show would thrive in the post MF slot as has been the case for a few seasons now so why not place an already established show there instead?
ReplyDeleteThis suits the line up much better and my guess is has more to do with The Neighbours being more suited to a 8.30 time slot behind The Middle than Suburgatory being given a helping hand. I would be suprised if its ratings did any better this season in the post MF slot than they did last season.