ABC shifts 'Happy Endings' to Fridays in March
'Celebrity Wife Swap' premieres on Feb. 26, shifting 'The Taste' back
"Happy Endings"
Credit: AP
The schedule shuffling just continues for ABC's well-liked, little-watched comedy "Happy Endings."
In a strange release that was held til Wednesday (February 13) evening, ABC announced that starting on March 29, "Happy Endings" will move to Friday nights, airing back-to-back episodes in the 8 p.m. hour. While obviously shifts to Friday night don't need to be a death sentence -- "Fringe" and "Supernatural" can always be held out as signs for hope -- the double-airing strategy certainly looking like burning off.
ABC has already tried double-dipping "Happy Endings" in a different atypical fashion this season, airing bonus episodes on Sunday night in the 10 p.m. hour for several weeks along with "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23." That move failed to generate even marginal additional sampling. "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23" was soon pulled from its schedule and effectively cancelled.
It should be noted that ABC had scheduled "Happy Endings" to end its Tuesday schedule at the end of March back in December. This just preempts a handful of pre-March episode and gives home to a handful of additional remaining episodes. "Last Man Standing" and "Malibu Country" had also already been slated to wrap their Friday runs ahead of the May end of the season.
ABC's late-Wednesday release also revealed that "Celebrity Wife Swap" will take over the 8 p.m. hour on Tuesdays starting on February 26 and that the struggling first-year cooking show "The Taste" will move back an hour to 9 p.m. that same night, taking over the "Happy Endings" slot.
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
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February 14, 2013 at 12:38AM EST Reply to CommentUgh - such an amazingly funny show that's not getting the credit it deserves. We appreciate that it isn't getting the ratings, but it's easily one of the funniest shows on TV
Ryan Schwartz
February 14, 2013 at 12:38AM EST Reply to CommentMeanwhile, in the third season premiere of "New Girl," Coach returns for a visit. The guys haven't seen or heard from him in TWO years!
Intellectual Ninja
February 14, 2013 at 12:42AM EST Reply to CommentI'll be the one to get the obligatory out of the way:
Anytime any show gets moved to the Friday "death" slot, I will now and forever think of Walter's freak-out in a grocery store after Peter left him for the alternate universe at the end of the second season of Fringe.
Let's be honest, FOX did a pretty fantastic job in playing up the mythology of Fringe and the "death slot" quotes from such notables as Herc from Aint It Cool News in a very clever promo for the move, seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrwXij6HthY
"Death! Delicious... strawberry-flavored DEATH!"
And Dan, this question is for you:
Has Friday always been a death slot? I seem to remember watching the X-Files for YEARS on Friday. Am I mixing-up my days? I thought it was Friday. It was appointment viewing, and it did well on Friday.
Or is the Friday night death slot a rather recent happenstance? Maybe a "Curse of the X-Files" would be more appropriate name for it than the ambiguous "death slot."
Maybe you and Alan can discuss it on FWIB, the notion of a Friday night death slot, and where it started, it's origins, the shows that have bucked it, etc.
Marquan As I recall, what made the X-Files notable was that it did comparatively very well in the "death slot." This was back when you normally had to have many millions of viewers to keep from getting cancelled on network TV. So the low expectations of Friday allowed the X-Files to grow an audience. Once the core audience was fully established, Fox moved it to Sunday nights to get more viewers. The only other thing to do well on a Friday that I can think of offhand would be the ABC TGIF lineup of the 90's, with Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Full House, etc. That only worked because kids under 14 or so would watch TV on Friday nights in those pre-high speed internet days.
February 14, 2013 at 6:02AM ESTBalaji K
February 14, 2013 at 12:55AM EST Reply to CommentDan - I was actually going to ask about Happy Endings in today's ratings post.
The last original episode aired on January 29. When will the next episode actually air? Will there be 2 episodes next week (Feb 19) before the haitus till March 29 or has that been pre-empted for the Bachelor?
February 14, 2013 at 10:09AM ESTBalaji K In effect, there will be a 2-month hiatus for Happy Endings. I hope TBS will pick this up in case ABC cancels it.
February 14, 2013 at 10:40AM ESTTom A.
February 14, 2013 at 7:54AM EST Reply to CommentMost fans of happy endings watch int via dvr, hulu or on demand. we don't care when it's actually on. I'm just glad my DVR will record it, so I don't have to find when the good shows are on. I'd probably never see HE the way it keeps getting moved around. Such a pity they are replacing quality programming with more reality shows.
ChampSkins
February 14, 2013 at 10:31AM EST Reply to CommentUGHHHHHHHHH. Hopefully this isn't the death blow we all anticipate it will be. Here is to terrible comedy pilots at ABC!
evolution1085
February 14, 2013 at 1:05PM EST Reply to CommentTBS in the market for more sitcoms? Netflix? Amazon Prime?
Mother Love
February 15, 2013 at 3:59AM EST Reply to CommentMoving HE to Fridays will actually allow me to watch it now. I am in despair at the thought it may be cancelled. Hopefully the lack of Friday night programming will give this great show a chance to be seen.
Ktscott60
March 2, 2013 at 12:20AM EST Reply to CommentBest show on tv...will continue watching on ABC, FX, TBS, CBS...whatever network!
emmanuelabor
March 5, 2013 at 11:35PM EST Reply to CommentI still don't get why it got moved from Wed night. Its better than any of the other shows before or after Modern Family...especially that terrible alien show.
Suzanne
March 9, 2013 at 5:02PM EST Reply to CommentSo sad when a show isn't appreciated in its own time. I will hope for the best but it will happily live on forever in my DVD player!