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Better with You: Another Family Sitcom on ABC; Cancel or Keep It?

Published:September 24, 2010

Better with YouWith the success of Modern Family (and to a lesser extent, The Middle), ABC is trying to round out their Wednesday block of comedy. They have several sitcoms in the pipeline and their first candidate, Better with You, has now premiered. Will it find success or, like last year’s Hank, be quickly cancelled?

Better with You revolves around members of the Putney family and their significant others. Maddie and Ben have been happily dating for a long time. They begin to question their choice to not get married when Maddie’s sister gets pregnant by her new boyfriend and they announce their plans for nuptials. The girls’ parents approve of the idea, having taken on a carpe diem approach to life. The sitcom stars Debra Jo Rupp, Jake Lacy, Jennifer Finnigan, Joanna Garcia, Josh Cooke, and Kurt Fuller.

On Wednesday night, Better with You scored a 2.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 7.9 million viewers. That put the series in fourth place for the coveted demo and third place in total viewership. It lost viewers from The Middle lead-in and likely benefited greatly from leading into the return of Modern Family (which got a 5.1 demo rating).

What do you think of Better With You?

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As is the case with CBS and their successful Monday night sitcoms, networks have high expectations when they team a new show with an already successful one. It’s hard to imagine that ABC is overly happy with the first outing of Better with You but they’ll surely give it some time to see if it catches on.

If the numbers don’t improve however, the execs will quickly start to wonder if they can do better with another new sitcom in that timeslot. We’ll have to wait and see.

But, what do you think? Is Better with You worth watching? Should ABC stick with it or cancel it and try another comedy?

 

Image courtesy ABC.

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{ 54 comments… read them below or add one }

Chadly October 9, 2010 at 2:07 pm

Loved it, Joanna (Mia) is an amazing actoress though no one really pays much attention due to two out of the three (Privileged and Reba) of her shows got cannceled. Jake (Casey) is funny and a stereotype early 20 something year old. Jennifer (Maddie) is the “older sister” that gets along with her sibling. Josh (Ben) is my favorite because he’s usaully getting made fun of. Debra (Vicky) is just so funny! And lastly there’s Kurt (Joel) is the stereotype dad “Maddie when are you and Ben getting Married?”

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Ande October 8, 2010 at 12:49 am

I have to say that I liked the pilot and the second episode, but I wasn’t wowed yet. The third episode had me rolling though. It made me reminisce about the awesome family comedy days of Everybody Loves Raymond. It is hearfelt and clean and we need more tv like it. Guys give it time it is warming up.

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Rye September 30, 2010 at 10:10 pm

This is a great show. Stop hating, give it time. It’s had two episodes! Did you find the very first episode of The Middle, Modern Family, and Cougar Town to be absolutely hysterical? No! So shut your mouths and learn to love it because I think it’s going to stay. (:

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Pat September 29, 2010 at 12:48 pm

If you noticed that when shows on ABC have a laugh track, they get cancelled earlier, just look at Hank or Romantically Challenged. I hope this is cancelled along with Outsourced and Bleep My Dad Says.

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Jeremy Rynek September 26, 2010 at 3:45 pm

Well hard to say honestly. But honestly if their hopeing that the funny guy to deliver all the laughs and keep this on. Well good luck with that. But last year I disliked The middle even more and that turned out to be pretty good so I say keep it on for now.

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--john. September 26, 2010 at 10:35 am

Intersting premise. Lose the laugh track. It’s very annoying and actually makes the punch lines less funny. I guess I just don’t think the traditional sitcom format works with the writing and concept. It would benefit from more of a Cougar Town approach.

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michael September 26, 2010 at 12:00 am

they cancel a far superior comedy better off ted and replace it with this better off with you, better off without you, better off ted had the same things going for it as seinfeld friends all in the family great shows that did poorly to begin with

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Randy September 25, 2010 at 5:57 pm

Meh. Not very good characters, so-so writing, and semi-funny (at best) jokes. The two ‘sisters’ don’t even look alike, and the ages don’t add up well – assuming that they are (as is mentioned on the show) 4 years apart, and assuming that the older sister (as she said on the show) 1) has dated the guy for 9 years, and 2) started dating him when the younger sister was 12, that would make the sisters 25 and 21, respectively. Assuming that the older sister wasn’t a progeny and graduated from college at 22, she would have JUST graduated from law school, meaning she’d have no law experience whatsoever, and certainly would not have such a large law office (which is more like the office of a partner than a junior associate). Too many character holes to make it believable, and thus funny, IMHO. They should have made the older sister in her 30′s, which would have made the younger sister an ‘oops’ kid, and explained a bit more of the tension between the parents

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Charlie September 25, 2010 at 3:42 pm

I felt the whole time watching this rushed. They randomley spewed out plot threads. She’s Pregnant. The Mom’s a racist. All Rushed.

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Tom September 25, 2010 at 5:24 am

Despite the attractive women (and a few actors I like), this show just doesn’t cut it. Open the slot for it’s replacement! Two thumbs down:(

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Moses M. September 25, 2010 at 4:49 am

Are you guys serious? I didn’t laugh or even crack a smile once. Not even one of my co-workers enjoyed this show. But everyone sure as hell was talking about The Big Bang Theory, Office, 30 Rock and Modern Family and how funny those shows were.

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Matthew Keaton September 24, 2010 at 2:53 pm

Awesome show!!! lots of one liners had me laughing pretty hard

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Charlie September 24, 2010 at 1:45 pm

I loved this show. So many laughs. The scene in the resturant, especially the untypical reaction of the parents, was hysterical. All of the actors had excellent, natural delivery of their lines. If it had not been sandwiched between the Middle and Modern Family, I might have missed it. Good job ABC, stick with this show.

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jason September 24, 2010 at 1:09 pm

It was a good first show, it definitely could use some improvement. But I could see this becoming a vital part of ABC’s comedy lineup.

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Bradley September 24, 2010 at 12:02 pm

This was a Great show! The cast has Amazing timing & chemistry…kinda like they have really been a family…well their whole lives! Very funny…many laughs…Best OH~NO moment was when the “pregnancy” slipped out!!! Keep this show! Nice addition to 3 other FANTASTIC & FUNNY SHOWS!!!

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