Last spring, ABC renewed venerable comedy Scrubs and newbie Better Off Ted, despite their low ratings. Now that they’re back, the network is in a hurry to get rid of them.
Scrubs follows hospital life as seen through the eyes of Dr. J.D. Dorian (Zach Braff). After having left Sacred Heart last season, he’s returned to help teach a new crop of med students. Others in the current cast include Donald Faison, John C. McGinley, Ken Jenkins, Sarah Chalke, Eliza Coupe, Kerry Bishe, Michael Mosley, and Dave Franco.
Better Off Ted follows Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington) and the other employees at Veridian Dynamics, a heartless technology company. The rest of the cast includes Andrea Anders, Jonathan Slavin, Malcolm Barrett, and Portia de Rossi.
Based simply on the ratings, neither ABC sitcom should have been renewed last season. Scrubs had dwindled to an average of 4.97 million viewers and a 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic. It was ultimately saved because ABC’s production studio produces the show and another season would bring more money in syndication.
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Last May, Better Off Ted had only aired half of its completed episodes and was averaging a disappointing 1.76 rating and 4.39 million. Though the ratings were quite low, ABC decided to bring the sitcom back for another season. The network programmers supposedly liked the pairing of Ted and Scrubs and hoped that the ratings would improve. When the network began airing the rest of Ted’s first season during the summer, the ratings dropped much further, to an average of 0.74 in the demo and 2.09 million viewers.
The sitcoms have now both returned for the 2009-10 schedule and the ratings are still terrible. Scrubs kicked off this season with a low 2.0 rating in the demo and only 4.5 million viewers. The numbers have dropped since then and last Tuesday’s episode brought in a 1.8 rating and 4.26 million.
Ted debuted with a 1.5 in the demo and 3.82 million. Last week’s installment attracted just a 1.3 and 3.18 million.
To little surprise, ABC has decided to burn off the unaired episodes of both series as quickly as possible. Single installments of each sitcom will air tomorrow night and on the 29th. On New Year’s Day, two episodes of Ted and one of Scrubs will follow the Rose Bowl Game. Then, beginning on January 5th, two installments of each sitcom will run on Tuesday nights. By the end of the month, both sitcoms are expected to have run through their full 13 episode orders.
While the network hasn’t indicated that either series has been cancelled, the decision to burn through the seasons in 60 days certainly isn’t a vote of confidence. Neither Scrubs nor Ted is expected to return, especially in light of the much better performance from newcomers Modern Family and Cougar Town.
What do you think? Do you think Better Off Ted and Scrubs will be cancelled? Will you be sorry to see either one end?
Image courtesy ABC.
Message I left on the comment section of the ABC site: Please, please, please don’t cancel Better off Ted. I just found it in January 2010 while flipping through channels. It is by far the FUNNIEST show on! My husband and I laugh from start to finish and usually take a quote or two from each episode and apply it throughout the week so we laugh again and again. We get so excited to see another episode pop up on the queue (we don’t watch TV until our 3 y/o is in bed). Please, please, please don’t cancel BoT. Thank… Read more »
I will be so disappointed if Better Off Ted is canceled! It’s the only sitcom I’ve been interested in for years, and I have been so impressed with it’s clever humor, and heart warming story lines. It’s the only show that makes me laugh out loud. I hope ABC can figure something out in terms of schedule line-up, because I think this show has the potential to be a winner. It’s nice to see something a little more intelligent than the typical sitcom.
Ted can’t go, where else are we going to find witty writing on network television? It reminds us of the slow demise of Family Guy, hopefully some other network will be smart enough to pick it up and reap the benefits of a ready made audience!
I just started watching BOT, and I kept thinking “how can such a witty, funny, sophisticated program be on TV in the US.?” So I am not surprised getting cut, in fact just the opposite; I don’t know how it every got on air….the usa viewers want blood and cuts, not highly cognitive based humor, that comes so fast there are jokes within jokes over meta-jokes.
I just hope I can buy the DVD someday….
And I think BoT, Big Bang and Modern Family (MF is last on my list of the three, but still mostly making the cut in my book) all fit the description of clever and intelligent half-hour comedies, so BoT it makes sense that BoT should do as well with the same kind of audience as the other two if given a reasonable chance. ABC did it no favor by pairing it with the quickly dying (perhaps even DOA?) Scrubs, IMHO.
I t takes longer sometimes for a clever, intelligent comedy show to get popular, by word of mouth, than broad, slapstick, or crudish comedy. But shows like the popular Big Bang Theory, which also started slow, show definitely that it can be done. Cmon ABC, with continued great scrips, acting, and direction, Ted can be an equally big hit. Every one of the people I’ve told about it has liked it!
OK. Who do I have to sleep with at ABC to keep BETTER OFF TED on the air? Cuz i will take a hit for Team Ted. That’s just the kind of guy I am. I’ve seen too many great shows come and go (ahh, PUSHING DAISIES anyone?) to watch this happen YET AGAIN to one of my favorites. And sending goofy stuff to the network in support of a show just isn’t cutting it anymore. Extreme measures must be taken. TED is everything that THE OFFICE wishes it was. Seriously, ABC, you kept that piece of crap Belushi show… Read more »
I think that this is one of the best “unwatched shows” on TV. If ABC really wanted to sweep the night……move it to Wednesdays along with their other fantastic shows…..and then…you will have won the night. DO NOT CANCEL THIS SHOW.. Portia de Rossi has….THE BEST LINES EVER.
Better Off Ted also is my favorite serie. It is great. I hope this will not cancel.
I have never watched ABC for any other reason than sports, until I recently discovered Better Off Ted. It’s a fantastic comedy! This show needs a chance to grow! I discovered Arrested Development a month before it got cancelled… and while I don’t think any show will rival AD, BoT is very good. My wife and I love it!
Please keep Better off Ted on the air! I have watched so many great shows canceled and so many awful ones that just keep going, I have been waiting for another awesome offbeat office sit com since “Working”.
I’m hoping this reaches some of the program directors at ABC. I missed just about all the Better Off Ted episodes that aired during the summer. I couldn’t keep track of the ever changing timeslot (since my tv is usually off during those months). The show being shoved behind the dying Scrubs (especially this lackluster season) is a bit unfair to an innovative show trying to find a wide audience. Again, Hank’s cancelation left a gap on your Wednesday night schedule and I think it would fit perfectly in the 830 slot, fitting well with The Middle’s quirk and Modern… Read more »
I just did that; the address is abc.go.com/site/contact-us
… and I referred them back to this site.
I’m seeing a lot of great comments on BoT posted here over just the last couple of days, so I’m glad that so many are finally realizing what we’re about to lose!
I’d just ask that everyone who posts here also jump over to abc.com and give them the same feedback directly! I’ve seen ABC kill great comedy programs before, but I’ve also seen them keep good ones at the last minute. In fact, I understand BoT was almost gone after last summer’s initial run.
Noooo! I love Better of Ted! It is hilarious! I will be so sad if they cancel it. They really need to advertise it. If my tivo hadn’t recorded it as a suggested show I might like, I would never have found it! Scrubs on the other hand, has definitely run its course.