Friday, May 31, 2019
Fri-Yay: NBC Cancels AP Bio Just As It Was Finding Its Stride; Showtime Orders Work in Progress

by Vincent
Upfronts ended a few weeks ago, but there's still some renewal and cancellations that networks have yet to figure out. One of those was AP Bio, until NBC announced they decided to cancel the series this week. It's a decision that doesn't come with much surprise. AP Bio had a mediocre-rated first season, but NBC decided to give the show a second chance, as they've done before with shows that had slow starts like 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation and Community. While those shows wound up running for years, AP Bio's ratings actually dropped drastically in its second season, so NBC pulling the plug is not a surprise. However, it is a shame. AP Bio wasn't necessarily a great sitcom, but it was a very enjoyable one that was perhaps on the way to finding its greatness.
AP Bio started off seeming like a too-mean spin off of Community, a show that wanted to have a cable comedy-esque streak of dark comedy but didn't have the talent to pull it off. However, over the course of the first and especially into the much improved second season, the series began to find its direction by strengthening the personalities of its students out of stereotypes and pinning down into humor sense. The show, like Community, also found some heart, without feeling too preachy, and was becoming a delightfully absurdist network sitcom that actually made you care about the characters...even though the humor could sometimes be dark or even borderline mean, the show did a much better job of tiptoeing that line in its second season. It will be a shame to see it go, and that it will never take off into the great sitcom it had the potential to be.
Showtime has ordered an eight-episode season of the new half-hour comedy series Work in Progress, created by Abby McEnany and Tim Mason. McEnany stars in the series, expected to premiere later this year. Mason directed the pilot. Lilly Wachowski (The Matrix, Sense8) will co-write the first season and executive produce with McEnany and Mason. Showtime acquired the project after its premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it was an official selection of the Indie Episodic program. A funny and uniquely human comedy, Work in Progress features McEnany as a 45-year-old self-identified fat, queer dyke from Chicago whose misfortune and despair unexpectedly lead her to a vibrantly transformative relationship. Chicago-based performers Theo Germaine and Karin Anglin co-star alongside Celeste Pechous, with Julia Sweeney (Saturday Night Live, Shrill) appearing in a crucial role as herself.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Tuesday, July 22
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 21)
Tuesday, July 22
- Fortune Feimster (FUBAR/Kenan/Bless the Harts/Champions) - Fortune guest hosts on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Sterling K. Brown (Starved) - Sterling is a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Paul Walter Hauser (The Afterparty) - Paul appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Pete Davidson (Bupkis) - Pete stops by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Leanne Morgan (Leanne) - Leanne is a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Mary Beth Barone (Overcompensating) - Mary appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Paul F. Tompkins (The Great North/BoJack Horseman/DAG) - Paul is a guest on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building/Mulaney/I'm a Big Girl Now/The Associates) - Martin talks about Match Game on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Molly Gordon (The Bear/Ramy) - Molly talks about Oh, Hi! on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Paul Reiser (Mad About You/Red Oaks/Married/My Two Dads) - Paul is telling Drew about his huge return to comedy after thirty years with his standup special, Life, Death and Rice Pudding, and his new movie The Gutter on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
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