Suburgatory

CHICAGO – NBC has long owned Thursday night comedy but ABC has staked claim to Wednesday nights in the last few years with a two-hour block of comedy anchored by the highly-acclaimed and beloved “Modern Family.” While that Emmy winner is an undeniably great show, the rest of last year’s line-up was underrated including the reliable “The Middle” and the increasingly funny “Suburgatory,” a show that started off with a few problems but ironed them out to become one of the funnier shows on TV this spring.

CHICAGO – Last year represented a notable leap forward for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as they finally embraced a few critical darlings over popular favorites, finding room for major nominations for shows like “Louie,” “Justified,” “Game of Thrones,” and “Parks and Recreation.”

CHICAGO – After an incredibly successful 2011-2012 season, ABC is doing something of a victory lap by not changing much of what worked about a season that saw the network create a number of new hits, including “Revenge,” “Once Upon a Time,” and “Suburgatory.”

CHICAGO – In advance of next week’s official Fall schedule announcement, ABC gave a vote of confidence to seven of their biggest shows, revealing that they will be a part of the 2012-2013 schedule. The lucky seven include three freshman series — “Once Upon a Time,” “Revenge,” and “Suburgatory” — along with “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Castle,” “Modern Family,” and “The Middle.”

CHICAGO – “Don’t Trust the B—— in Apartment 23” may seem at first like a cynical, modern program, but it’s really a throwback to sitcoms of the ’70s and ’80s when you think about it’s structure.

CHICAGO – Fans of “Pan Am,” “Man Up!,” and “Cougar Town” better be sitting down. None are on ABC’s mid-season schedule, announced today. It’s unclear for sure what the heck is going on with “Cougar Town,” a show that was announced as returning mid-season months ago, but one hopes it will still return in the spring. Stay tuned for further updates. The fact that the sliding “Pan Am” and “Man Up!” appear less and less likely to make it through their first seasons should come as a surprise to no one.

CHICAGO – Does ABC actually have a pair of new hits on their hands? Unable to find a freshman success last year with disasters like “The Whole Truth” and “My Generation,” the network has a much happier story to tell this year as a a few of their programs have not exactly set the TV world on fire but delivered solid numbers. Two such programs are on Wednesday nights as the net gave full-season orders to sitcom “Suburgatory” and guilty pleasure “Revenge” after this week’s ratings.

CHICAGO – It feels like only yesterday that we were naming the most promising shows of 2011 (and would like to point out that our #1 was the first program given a full-season order for just one second).

CHICAGO – FOX’s new reality singing competition, “The X Factor,” dropped in its ratings from last week’s premiere to this week’s new auditions. While the drop is no surprise (almost every show drops in ratings from the premiere to the weeks that follow) “The X Factor” was already slightly disappointing in its viewership from week one.

CHICAGO – ABC reaches a new low with “Suburgatory,” one of the least funny comedies of the fall TV season. It’s only appropriate that the pilot premieres after ABC’s other torturous suburban sitcom, “The Middle,” since neither show seems to have been conceived by a writer willing to step foot outside of the L.A. city limits. Yet while “The Middle” was admittedly likable during its first season, “Suburgatory” tanks in its opening moments.