NBC Pulls The Michael J. Fox Show, Sean Saves the World; TV Land's Darren Star Sitcom Gets Pilot Order Starring Sutton Foster, Hilary Duff

Monday, February 10, 2014

NBC Pulls The Michael J. Fox Show, Sean Saves the World; TV Land's Darren Star Sitcom Gets Pilot Order Starring Sutton Foster, Hilary Duff

Late last week NBC announced it has pulled (and canceled) both of its remaining freshman Thursday comedies on the schedule. Sean Saves the World and The Michael J. Fox Show will not be returning after the Winter Olympics as planned, instead NBC will now air new episodes of Hollywood Game Night on Thursday nights in the 9pm hour (following Community and Parks & Recreation) starting February 27. Sean Saves the World already had its episode cut from 18 to 15, and now the remaining two episodes are unscheduled. 13 of the 15 episodes have aired. As for The Michael J. Fox Show, 22 episodes were ordered and only 15 have aired, with seven episodes still left to air. No word on if and when NBC will burn-off either of the show's remaining episodes. If it happens, it might be on a Saturday night, in the summer or just placed on nbc.com. Both really struggled in the ratings, with The Michael J. Fox Show on Jan. 16 doing less then 2 million total viewers (1.992 million) and just a 0.59 18-49 rating, both historic lows for NBC Thursday originals. We'll let you know if they schedule these remaining episodes. Stay with us.

TV Land

Production has begun on TV Land's newest sitcom pilot, Younger, starring Tony® Award winner Sutton Foster (Bunheads) Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire), Debi Mazar (Entourage) and Miriam Shor (GCB). The single-camera project, which is written, executive produced and directed by Darren Star (Sex and the City), is based on the novel Younger by Pamela Redmond Satran. Patricia Field, who worked with Star on Sex and the City, will be a costume consultant on the production. The Younger pilot follows 40-year-old Liza (Foster), a suddenly single mother who tries to get back into the working world, only to find out it’s nearly impossible to start at the bottom at her age. When a chance encounter with a 20-something guy at a bar convinces her she looks younger than she is, Liza tries to pass herself off as 26 – with the help of a makeover, courtesy of her best friend Maggie (Mazar). Armed with new confidence, she lands a job as an assistant to the temperamental Diana (Shor) and teams up with her new co-worker and fellow 20-something Kelsey (Duff) to make it in the career of her dreams.

TV Land also recently announced the series pick-up of another single-camera sitcom, Jennifer Falls, starring Jaime Pressly. The network's current original sitcoms includes hit series Hot in Cleveland, The Exes, The Soul Man and Kirstie, all multi-camera sitcoms starring pop culture icons and fan favorites including Betty White, Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick, Jane Leeves, Kristen Johnston, Donald Faison, Wayne Knight, David Alan Basche, Kelly Stables, Cedric "The Entertainer," Niecy Nash, Wesley Jonathan, Kirstie Alley, Michael Richards, Rhea Perlman and Eric Petersen. We will let you know if and when Younger will get a series pick-up, but for now, this is just a pilot order. Stay tuned.