First off, thanks to ABC for canceling Hank, because I love it when headlines rhyme.
Second, yes, the network has canceled the struggling Kelsey Grammer comedy. It never really clicked with TV viewers or critics, and when ABC gave full season orders to all of the other Wednesday night comedies (The Middle, Modern Family, and Cougar Town) you knew the writing was on the wall and this show just wasn't going to be around for a second season. Of course, it's not going to be around for a full first season either. ABC is replacing the remaining episodes with holiday specials and repeats of their other sitcoms.
This might be a silly question to ask but ... is anyone out there going to miss this show? I have a high tolerance for sitcoms, even mediocre ones. But this show was mediocre, with a capital ocore. It just wasn't funny and the characters/premise just weren't interesting enough.
A lot of shows on the list won't surprise us: Hank, The Forgotten, Numb3rs, Gary Unmarried, and 'Til Death (each either gets low ratings or has been on for a while), but there are several that I think will actually make it to a another season, including The Good Wife and Parks and Recreation.
TV Guide has released their list of shows that are safe for the rest of the season and those that are "on the bubble," the shows that are in danger of being canceled. There are a lot of shows on the latter list that aren't a surprise, such as Hank, Gary Unmarried, Cold Case, and The Forgotten (I'm surprised Cold Case even made it to another season).
But among the list of shows are a few that I didn't think were in danger, including Gossip Girl and Fringe. I know that Gossip Girl isn't a show that gets incredible ratings, but that describes The CW in general, and I figure that even if it gets low ratings it's sort of the network's signature show. As for Fringe, the ratings are a lot worse this season than last season, but it would still surprise me if the show went away, especially since it has its fan base and it's produced by JJ Abrams.
In what must be a major slap in the face to Kelsey Grammer and the creators behind Hank, ABC is pre-empting the show on October 28th with the Halloween classic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Wait, it gets worse. It's pre-empting the show with a repeat of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown from the night before. Granted, the previous night will be the expanded, hour-long version, but still...
Admittedly, opinions of Hankhaven't exactly been stellar. Quite the opposite, in fact. While the show has not actually been canceled, it does not seem long for this world. Its only consolation is that it lasted longer than The Beautiful Life.
Kelsey Grammer will never be able to get away from Frasier Crane, much like Carroll O'Connor was never able to get away from Archie Bunker. It's a shame since Grammer is a better actor than that.
Let me give you a quick inside look at how things operate here in online entertainment journalism land: ABC sent us an invite to talk to Kelsey Grammer (and his co-star Melinda McGraw) during the same whirlwind "defending Hank" tour that Bob mentioned in his post yesterday. As much as I wanted to talk to Grammer, the conditions just didn't seem to be right.
For one, we would have had maybe ten minutes to talk to him. For another, he'd be defending a show that is a) terrible and b) on the verge of being cancelled. I want to talk to Grammer about comedy, Frasier, Cheers, his heart attack, and lots of other stuff. I wasn't particularly interested in him telling me how good he thinks Hank is for the whole interview.
But, when he told The TV Addict that last night's episode was going to be funny, it got me curious; maybe they had figured things out and made a leap in quality. So I tuned into last night's episode. I wish I hadn't.
All of the new ABC Wednesday night comedies -- The Middle, Cougar Town, and Modern Family -- have been picked up for the entire season. Actually, one new sitcom is missing from that group.
Kelsey Grammer's Hankisn't getting any love from viewers and it's not getting any love from critics. Ratings aren't that good and the critics don't like it. So Grammer is doing a bunch of interviews for tonight's episode, including this one over at The TV Addict. He promises that tonight's episode is funny -- really! -- and we should all watch it.
I've always heard that three out of four ain't bad. But if you're Kelsey Grammer, it's a whole different ball game. While there's been no word on the horrid Hank, ABC has ordered full season pick-ups for the rest of their Wednesday comedy block. At this point, I'd say that was inevitable. ABC's bold experiment of a whole new night of programming seems to have worked out.
Early buzz on Modern Family particularly brought people to sample the wares, and luckily that show delivered. The Middle has been impressive as well, and would probably fare even better if it switched places with Cougar Town. Courteney Cox's latest vehicle is much better than I expected, but not up to the creative caliber of its lead-ins.
As for Hank? Well, it is the only multi-camera comedy on the night, so it stands out a bit in that respect. Oh, and its derivative and lacking in any originality or, and this one can be a bit of a problem, comedy. So there's that to deal with as well.
The networks have had a quiet summer, quietly introducing scripted bomb after scripted bomb, so they're certainly ready to jump into the new fall season. And It looks to be an interesting one. ABC is scheduling a two-hour block of new comedies on Wednesdays as the sitcom tries to make a comeback.
Even more risky is NBC handing 10:00 to Jay Leno every night of the week. Everyone's waiting to see how that one plays out. FOX is banking on huge positive buzz for Glee to make it a hit, while ABC is hoping FlashForward can pick up where Lost is leaving off when it wraps its run this season.
To help you with it all, TV Squad has put together a handy calendar of all the premieres so you can schedule responsibly in this busy time of TV watching. Some nights have as many as twelve premieres scheduled, so you might need to invest in a few more DVRs to catch all your favorites; Monday's still look grim. Bookmark this page and you'll have it handy to help see you through.
Networks and advertisers love the 18 to 49 demographic. If you're not in that demo, then just sell your TV right now, OK? Nielsen even creates an "awareness" survey every year and sends it to the networks so they know which new shows have made it into the public consciousness, and Nikki Finke has the list.
ABC's Flash Forward and The Cougar have the most awareness, while Hank has the lowest (every time I hear the name of this show I forget that Kelsey Grammer is in it - it sounds like the name of an animated show).
The title of this post seems far-fetched: How could a big TV star like Kelsey Grammer think that Kevin Reilly, the programming head of FOX, had something to do with the heart attack he suffered a year ago?
If you heard Grammer speak about it during the panel for his new ABC comedy Hank, it's not hard to connect the dots. "I had an event they thought was stress related. You can make of that what you will. It was a rough year," said Grammer, whose FOX sitcom Back to You was cancelled after its first season.
His beef was that he pitched the show to Reilly when the exec was still at NBC, and he passed. Then Reilly got the position at FOX after they bought Back to You. So, basically, the show was airing on a network whose entertainment head already passed on it somewhere else. That, according to Grammer, caused conflict between the network and the writers of the show.
ABC released video previews of some of its upcoming shows for the 2009-2010 season today. Below are some early looks at three of the network's new comedies, Hank, The Middle, and Cougar Town (complete with some snap judgments). All three shows will be part of ABC's new Wednesday night comedy block along with Modern Family.
Lets start with Hank:
I like Kelsey Grammer, but I won't watch everything he does. I never made time to catch a single minute of Back To You, his short-lived Fox comedy, but Hank looks like a solid family sitcom. It definitely doesn't look like a classic or even a gut-buster, though. I can see it catching on and becoming a strong lead-in for ABC's Wednesday night. It's basically about a family of rich New York City jerks who are forced to move to the burbs when dad (Grammer) loses his high-paying job as a CEO.
First off, thanks to ABC for canceling Hank, because I love it when headlines rhyme.
A couple of weeks ago, I did a post about the shows that were "on the bubble," the ones in danger of being canceled. Now AOL TV has 
At 8, ABC has a new Hank, followed by new episodes of The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick.
In what must be a major slap in the face to Kelsey Grammer and the creators behind Hank, 
Let me give you a quick inside look at how things operate here in online entertainment journalism land: ABC sent us an invite to talk to Kelsey Grammer (and his co-star Melinda McGraw) during the same whirlwind 
Hallmark has an I Love Lucy marathon all night.
I've always heard that three out of four ain't bad. But if you're Kelsey Grammer, it's a whole different ball game. While there's been no word on the horrid Hank, ABC has ordered 
TBS has Baseball Playoffs all night.
At 8, ABC has the series premiere of Hank, followed by the series premiere of The Middle and new episodes of Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick.
The networks have had a quiet summer, quietly introducing scripted bomb after scripted bomb, so they're certainly ready to jump into the new fall season. And It looks to be an interesting one. ABC is scheduling a two-hour block of new comedies on Wednesdays as the sitcom tries to make a comeback. 
Networks and advertisers love the 18 to 49 demographic. If you're not in that demo, then just sell your TV right now, OK? Nielsen even creates an "awareness" survey every year and sends it to the networks so they know which new shows have made it into the public consciousness, and 
The title of this post seems far-fetched: How could a big TV star like Kelsey Grammer think that Kevin Reilly, the programming head of FOX, had something to do with the 
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
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