Tonight’s episode of Accidentally on Purpose marks the final episode of the freshman sitcom’s first season. Will it be the show’s series finale as well?
Accidentally on Purpose follows a thirty-something movie critic (Jenna Elfman) who’s broken up with her charming boss (Grant Show). She ends up having a one-night fling with a much younger man (Jon Foster) and becomes pregnant. She ultimately decides to keep both the baby and the guy. The series also features Lennon Parham, Nicolas Wright, Ashley Jensen, and Pooch Hall.
The sitcom got off to a good start back on September 21, 2009 with 8.99 million viewers and a 3.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic. The numbers started to decline in the next couple of weeks but then came back up.
On Mondays, the show averaged a 3.1 in the all-important demo and 8.23 million viewers. In that same timeslot, Rules of Engagement’s been doing about the same.
For the past couple weeks, CBS has been airing Accidentally on Purpose on Wednesday nights. Without as strong a lead-in as How I Met Your Mother, the sitcom hasn’t been doing as well. In its two weeks of original episodes, Accidentally on Purpose has attracted a 1.9 rating and just 5.97 million viewers. In the same timeslot, Gary Unmarried, averaged a 2.15 rating and 6.65 million viewers.
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In the end, Accidentally on Purpose has performed either lower or about the same as other sitcoms in the same timeslots. That’s not bad but likely not good enough to get it a second season. If the show had beaten Gary’s or Rules’ ratings then Accidentally on Purpose would have had a much better chance but it didn’t.
CBS isn’t satisfied with how their lower-rated sitcoms are doing, so they’ll want to try at least one or two new ones next season. They already have a new one from Chuck Lorre (The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men) in the works and won’t want to let that go. They have the least invested in in Accidentally on Purpose and it’s essentially the lowest-rated, so will likely be the first to get the axe.
Still, the ratings aren’t that bad and it is produced by CBS’ in-house studio. It could survive, perhaps as a midseason replacement. It just doesn’t look all that likely. We’ll know on May 19th for sure.
Thankfully, tonight we’ll see the birth of Billie’s baby so that means we’ll get some sort of closure, just in case this is indeed that last episode.
What do you think? Should Accidentally on Purpose get a second season? Is it better than some of the other CBS sitcoms? Would you be satisfied with this being the series finale?
Please! don’t cancel this show. This show is too funny. My friends and I can’t wait for it to come on so we can talk about it the next day. I love ALL of the characters. Yea Dave is a piece of work ahahaha they all have such great chemistry together, I love it!
This is a mavelous, funny show. I hope it stays!!! Besides Two & Half men (although great) is risky with Charlie Sheen. This one is a keeper!
Oh my goodness I’m so sad to hear this show is at risk of being cancelled !! I LOVE it, never missed an episode even when they moved it on us. There’s no other show that really captures the 20-something’s of my generation. They crack me up every time and being a mother myself, it’s nice to see other people panic and to bring out the humor in situations we’ve had to go through. I think the cast is such a great blend of characters that there’s at least one everyone can relate to. PLEASE PLEASE don’t cancel it !!… Read more »
I hope they don’t cancel. Jenna Elfman and Jon Foster are great together and “Dave” is hilarious. It’s a cute family premise but not the same old family. It makes me laugh out loud and not too many shows do that. I’m a fan of Two and Half Men and Modern Family and Accidentally is in my top three.
I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! I’m sure there’s a lot more they can do with it.. just because they had the baby doesn’t mean anything. I love all the characters.. Davis is a riot!!
After they moved it, I honestly could not have cared less about it. In fact, I took it for granted that it was canceled before any kind of finale could air prior to learning it had been shipped to Wednesdays.
This is one of the only shows on TV that makes me laugh out loud! Keep it going!
I love the actors that play on this show so it has kept me watching, I am just worried about the plot lines. If they can come up with some good ones on family situations I would love to watch this cast interact with one another some more! They are VERY funny together!
i love Jenna and i always will she is gorgeous and she makes me laugh thats all i need in my life
Accidentally on Purpose, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Gary Unmarried, and Rules of Engagement are all on the bubble. I can tell that this show has a lot of fans just by reading the viewer comments. They might completely get rid of their Wednesday night “Happy Hour,” as it was first called. Thanks to this site for most of that info. If they all go down the tube and they put a new Chuck Lorre thing up there, it will be like Fox on Sunday nights where only one show isn’t by the same guy. They have better luck… Read more »
DO NOT CANCLE THIS SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!! ITS SO FUNNY AND I ENJOY WATCHING IT!!!! PLEASE DONT CANCEL IT!
Please don’t cancel Accidentally on Purpose!!!!!!!! It is the best show ever!!!! My all time favorite!! Me and my friends love it!!!!
Can’t see it getting any better after the birth — adding a baby has killed more than one show (call it the Mad About You syndrome). They should let it go.
dont cancel it rocks i loved jenna in dharma & greg & love this new show too
DON’T CANCEL THIS SHOW!!! This show is one of the two show I watch (the other being HIMYM) on CBS that I just die laughing at!!! I especially like that line Billie says “…I went from hey baby (sexy voice) to hey baby (high pitched voice).” Absolutely HILARIOUS.