ABC is heading into its renewal decisions tomorrow with its entire freshman class on the bubble. The one first-year show that appears most likely to get the nod is country drama Nashville. With a great pedigree, creator Callie Khouri and star Connie Britton, Nashville launched to critical praise and OK ratings. But it’s had a rocky freshman season, with the show going through growing pains and struggling with its creative direction as well as the ratings. I’ve heard accounts of tension between co-producers ABC Studios and Lionsgate and other behind-the-scene issues, including star Britton being unhappy with the experience. But in the end, most problems seem to have been resolved, and Nashville, which at one point looked unlikely to continue, now likely will be on the schedule next season. In addition to the solid response from critics (Britton is a major awards contender), Nashville draws important young viewers and also generates sizable revenue from digital music downloads. The only other freshman ABC drama that is still alive, Red Widow, is not expected to come back.
On the comedy side, The Neighbors is going toe to toe with fellow family comedy How To Live With Your Parents. How To Live has benefited from a better known cast and a later start as it is fresh on ABC executives’ minds while The Neighbors finished its freshman run awhile ago. How To Live also launched promisingly behind Modern Family. But it has steadily declined in the ratings to a point where choosing between The Neighbors and How To Live has become a toss-up. In breaking such a tie, other factors — usually political — come into play, like the fact that The Neighbors is owned by ABC and hails from writer Dan Fogelman, who has been very important to Disney on the feature animation side and might not come back to TV anytime soon. Meanwhile, How To Live is from 20th TV, the studio behind ABC’s top comedy Modern Family. Another freshman comedy series, Malibu Country, also has been heavily on the bubble. With ABC today passing on John Leguizamo’s multi-camera comedy pilot, things look more optimistic for the Reba McEntire comedy as it is from ABC Studios, has a popular star in McEntire and is an OK companion to multi-cam sophomore Last Man Standing, which is expected to return.
Suburgatory is also struggling creatively to a point where it has become a true bubble show in danger of cancellation.
Source: deadline
On the comedy side, The Neighbors is going toe to toe with fellow family comedy How To Live With Your Parents. How To Live has benefited from a better known cast and a later start as it is fresh on ABC executives’ minds while The Neighbors finished its freshman run awhile ago. How To Live also launched promisingly behind Modern Family. But it has steadily declined in the ratings to a point where choosing between The Neighbors and How To Live has become a toss-up. In breaking such a tie, other factors — usually political — come into play, like the fact that The Neighbors is owned by ABC and hails from writer Dan Fogelman, who has been very important to Disney on the feature animation side and might not come back to TV anytime soon. Meanwhile, How To Live is from 20th TV, the studio behind ABC’s top comedy Modern Family. Another freshman comedy series, Malibu Country, also has been heavily on the bubble. With ABC today passing on John Leguizamo’s multi-camera comedy pilot, things look more optimistic for the Reba McEntire comedy as it is from ABC Studios, has a popular star in McEntire and is an OK companion to multi-cam sophomore Last Man Standing, which is expected to return.
Suburgatory is also struggling creatively to a point where it has become a true bubble show in danger of cancellation.
Source: deadline
I don't buy that Suburgatory is a buble show. I agree that Nashville did look bad at a point but I think it looks ok right now. Even though I don't buy it as 100% sure thing, I say it comes back easily (around 80% chance). Body of Proof I give about the same shot, which means I also think it will be back.
ReplyDeleteAs for the comedies, well, I actually think that both How to Live and The Neighbors will be back, even though I expect the later to be hold as spackle. A How to Live cancelation would surprise me a lot, as I give it about 70% chance of coming back. The Neighbors is a true toss up, I have it at 55%, so nothing will shock me in regards to it. I hope that MC makes it, I agree with deadline that the passing of the multicam pilot probably helps its chances.
Suburgatory should be doing much better. I'm not surprised that people are turning away from this show, because after an excellent season 1 it started to lose its unique charm and it stopped focusing on George/Tessa duo. I've dropped it recently and not planning to go back.
ReplyDeleteSuburgatory on the bubble? Yeah, right, like that show is not comming back
ReplyDeleteJust because it is doing much worse than it was expected it does not mean that it is doing bad. We all had (and ABC as well I imagine) high expectations for it given the post MF timeslot. But just because it didn't fulfill them, doesn't mean that its ratings, in the relative landscape of ABC comedies are not worth renewal - they are!
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