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.
Loading ...
|
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.
I LOVE Better Off Ted. Give the show a chance. Every one I know who tries it likes it. The show just needs to be marketed a little better so people can discover it.
I really, really hope they give it another shot. This show could be a major hit if given a little more time.
I love Better off Ted!! I have been waiting for new episodes to air, so I decided to find out what happened. I am really disappointed to see that they most likely won’t have any more. This show was so funny and had a great cast. I hope ABC gives it another chance.
Better of ted is ok but I was not surprised to hear it may get cancelled. SCRUBS however is my favorite show on TV. It has great writers and the new characters helped the transition of losing a few of the original cast go smoothly. It is a witty and extremely humorous show and many veiwers would be greatly saddened if ABC cancelled the show. It has been running for 9 seasons and has always been hilarious. ABC needs to put it in a better time slot so that it may attract new viewers as well as keep their loyal… Read more »
Goodness knows I love Scrubs; it’s only my favorite television show EVER, but I won’t be too sad to see it go because it truly left after the last episode of season 8 and I wish they would’ve left it at that and let this masterpiece go out with a bang. As for Better Off Ted, I am hugely picky about TV shows and this show has rapidly risen into my top favorites. Please Please Please ABC, don’t cancel one of the only good shows being produced anymore. It’s absolutely hysterical and I would be so, so sad to see… Read more »
This show is hilarious! It’s all about saying what people think but never really want to say out loud. It’s refreshing, and silly! Yes, we need silly with all the bad news around all the time! I’m begging too, don’t let this one go!!!!!! I would like to see Portia (Veronica on the show) go on Ellen Degeneres to promote Better Off Ted. (After all, Ellen and Portia are married, shouldn’t be too hard for Ellen to put her on.) It does need to be on at a time when something else big is on before it so more people… Read more »
Please don’t cancel ‘Better Off Ted.’ I’ve spent so much time looking for a new ‘Arrested Development’, and I’ve finally found it — please don’t take it away from me. The ratings don’t tell a proper story, given that the show has generally aired at the worst possible times (i.e. the second-half of the first season, and double episodes during the Christmas break).
This is one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. Leave it alone.
“Scrubs” has been one of my favorite shows since I started watching it about three years ago. The season 8 (“series”) finale was one of the best finales I’ve ever seen; I’ve watched it now about 10 times, and I still cry every time. It was the perfect culmination of an awesomely funny, yet poignant show. However, ABC made the terrible, almost NBC-like, decision to milk a good thing until it was a dried up version of its former self. As another poster said, this show tried to get the same kind of chemistry, charisma, and comedy out of a… Read more »
BETTER OFF with TED. Good show. Scrubs bit it when Zach and Faison left and cannot carry it off. The replacements are good. It’s quite a show that can run 9 seasons and quite rare beyond that, period. The writing on Scrubs tried too hard for the same comedy with different actors. Can’t do it.
TED may not have ideas that keep it around as long, but the cast, especially the lab boys and Ted and Portia are awesome. maybe an investment in writing could lift the viewership.
Better Off Ted is terrific. I normally don’t watch broadcast TV but a friend told me about this show. My only problem was finding when it was on. It’s funny, well done, and intelligent. I’ve got my DVR searching for it and recording it whenever it comes on. I told family and friends back east about it and they’re watching it, too. We can’t get enough of Better Off Ted!
Better Off Ted is one of the funniest, wittiest, and down right better shows on network television today. The show runs it’s course smoothly with tons of laughs, double entendres, and little “inside” jokes that make this show hilarious. The comedic interaction and banter between the characters seems flawless and has me laughing and, in a dark, twisted kind of way, people can relate to some of the far fetched stuff that Veridian throws at them. I think that this show suffers an identity crisis because it is constantly being shuffled around to different time-slots and has almost no promotion… Read more »
I can’t believe Better Off Ted is being canceled. It is such a smart show and oh so funny. College students love this show and they should definitely keep this on. PLEASE!!! Cougar town is OK but not in the same category as Better off Ted.
Scrubs was a funny show but I believe has run it’s course.
Better off Ted is a great show. It is truly funny. I have never seen Scrubs. Maybe if the paired it with a different show it would do better. I really hope that they do not cancel it.
Better off ted should not be cancelled. If the network would promote it properly and put it on a better night like with cougartown that show would take off. Its hiliarious and the cast has a great chemistry. I pray they don’t take it off. It would also be nice if portia de rossi would go on her girlfriends talk show and give it a little boost to viewers. If you have an outlet like that you might as well use it to your advantage. Couldn’t hurt anything.
Better Off Ted is one of the best series I have seen in a long time. I can name off so many shows that were cancelled prematurely like Arrest Development, Firefly and The Sketch Show. Just because shows have a bad kick off studios feel like they have to shed it to find the next big hit. But so many great shows start off so poorly. Cheers had the lowest ratings its first season. I would also like to know if they look at online viewership of shows as well. I know that 90% of my viewing is done online.… Read more »
Far too often a good, SMART comedy will come along and just doesn’t get the chance it deserves. Better Off Ted is one of those shows. This show is so smart and witty it has me in stiches every time! As other have mentioned above – it is sad but the show just seems to be too smart for the average American and will go the route of Arrested Developement. Another very sad, sad waste of comic genius. Need I remind everyone…Seinfeld did HORRIBLE it’s first few seasons. Good thing someone had the guts to stand up for it back… Read more »