ABC picks up new comedies starring TV vets
ABC will make official pick up announcements Tuesday, but the trades are already reporting that the network has ordered a large number of new shows for the upcoming fall season.Along with some dramas and mythology-laden shows, it looks like ABC is playing it safe by picking up four half-hour family comedies starring some well-known TV vets.
Joining the already renewed Scrubs and Better Off Ted will be Hank, a multi-camera family show starring Frasier's Kelsey Grammer and The Middle, a single-camera comedy with Grammer's former Back to You co-star Patricia Heaton. Both shows seem to have pretty tired concepts. Hank is about a washed-up Wall Street deal maker who moves back to his home town, and The Middle is about a middle-class mom who is approaching middle age. Hopefully the stars, and the jokes, will make these shows worth watching.
The network is also moving ahead with Courteney Cox Arquette's comedy Cougar Town, also starring Josh Hopkins.
ABC also officially picked up Modern Family, billed as a multi-camera mockumentary, like The Office, starring Ed O'Neill (Married With Children) and Julie Bowen (Ed). Remarkably, Modern Family is produced by Back to You executive producers Christopher Lloyd and Steve Levitan.
I'm looking forward to Modern Family. O'Neill and Bowen are two of my favorite not-quite A-list stars, and producers Lloyd and Levitan have a decent track record with network comedies (Fraiser, Just Shoot Me).

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