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.
Ted has been consistently funny and, thankfully, has no cops, doctors or lawyers. Its promotion was almost nonexistent and it’s been moved all over the schedule. We came across it by accident. I swear networks decide what they don’t like and then do as little as possible to promote so they can say, “see, no one’s watching.”
And they put it after the Rose Bowl? Yeah, that makes all kinds of sense.
Ted is great. I can’t believe it isn’t doing well. Portia de Rossi is great. And, hot! Jay Harrington and Jen Anders are hysterical. Malcolm Barrett and Jon Slavin are hysterical. A morally bankrupt company doing anything and everything to turn a profit. It’s awesome. I hope it gets renewed.
Better off Ted is amazing.
It’s one of the few non-lawyer, non-doctor, non-reality.. well uh hmmm… closer to reality shows for those of us confined to corporate life (LOL). Please, please renew it. I hadn’t even heard of it before a friend introduced me to it a few weeks ago — which goes to show how hard it is to find it on the schedule. Give it a consistent time slot and it will grow in popularity. It’s the sitcom version of Dilbert!
I will sad to see Better Off Ted be cancelled, it constantly makes me laugh, It is a great show that should stay and just needs to find a better airing time.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE keep BoT on the air!!! It is my favorite show on TV and I have to say that I would be crushed to see it cancelled. Give it a chance ABC!
Better Off Ted is a gem. If viewership is down it’s because you never know when they are going to air it. I love this show–please keep it on the air!
This is true. The article points out how low the ratings were during the summer but this could be because the fans could not find it. They did not give it a steady schedule and I kept on missing it.
This show is hilarius! They take all the flaws in business, magnify them and make them FUNNY. The casting is perfect! The writing is witty and unlike the usual sitcom fare. Networks should be more patient. It takes time for a show to build an audience (especially when the air time or day of the week keeps changing). Seinfeld and Star Trek are both television icons but each of them faltered in the ratings until they found their audience. I LOVE this show! My daughter bought me the first season on DVD for Christmas and I was thrilled because I… Read more »
Better Off Ted consistently makes me laugh out loud. I really like the characters. It would be a shame to lose this show.
I LOVE Better Off Ted! Don’t cancel it.
Better off ted is a great show. I watched the New Scrubs and it is not very good.. but keep better off ted… maybe sandwich it in between some other good shows until people realize its a show they should be watching
I am starting to not worry about the way ABC is treating their programs. what these celebrities are doing to live.
I think Better off Ted is funnier than either Modern Family or Cougar Town, and since Hank tanked (btw, who didn’t see that coming?) they could do much worse than to put Better off Ted in the Wednesday lineup, and see the ratings skyrocket.
Love Better off Ted!!!
Agree with scrubbing Scrubs.
Burning off the episodes of “Better Off Ted” does seem like they are just trying to get rid of it…Hopefully they have the patience and foresight to keep it around. ‘The Office” took a couple of Seasons to build an audience and is part of one of the best line-ups on TV these days. “Better Off Ted” can be the same thing if paired with the right shows. Time will tell…until then I’l just have to watch my DVD’s of season 1 again and again, laugh my butt off and hope for the best.