"BACK TO YOU" IN THE MEDIA

[Sonia]

I know we've posted articles in diferent threads but i found some intersting ones today that bring some new facts so I'm starting a new thread and perhaps we can keep it only as a 'what's the media saying about the show's cancellation' section

[Sonia]

The Fox 2008-09 Lineup: Not Idling Until Idol

The shows that Fox chose not to renew are an obscure lot; only Back to You aired even a full season's worth of episodes. The sitcom got decent notices, but while Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, and Fred Willard have awesome comedic resumes, all three are well outside the typical Fox demographic.

http://www.film.com/tv/story/fox-200...82602/20838735

[Sonia]

On TV with Lisa de Moraes

Reality, Non-Reality and Everything In-Between


Re: "Back to You": So has "Back to You" been canceled? I didn't see it in next fall's lineup. I kind of liked the chemistry between the Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton. I hope they give it another chance.

Lisa de Moraes: Fox network has passed on the show for next season but it's being shopped around. Given how CBS-ish it is, that would seem a natural second home, but it's not looking likely. ABC's pickup of NBC's "Scrubs" happened in large part because that sitcom is produced by ABC-parent Disney. (the guy who actually developed it years ago at what's now called Disney TV is the guy who now runs the entertainment division at ABC, Steve McPherson.) But "Back to You" is produced at the Fox studio, so CBS does not have the same financial motivation to keep the show going in order to amass enough episodes to make it viable for syndication. Now, if CBS Prods. was given a financial stake in the show, or fully took over production of the show, that might make the difference. I can't picture Fox studio agreeing to do that, but you never know...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...051101909.html

[Sonia]

It replaces the canceled "Back to You," the TV-station sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. An online petition is afoot to save that show.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/featu....asp?ID=244936

[Sonia]

'Back to You' the latest victim of Fox's flirtatious nature
Friday, May 16, 2008
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Fox is a big flirt.

The network and multiple executive regimes have a long history of falling in love with TV shows that sound great on paper -- "The Tick," "Firefly," "Wonderfalls" -- and just as quickly losing interest.

This year's victim was Pittsburgh-set newsroom sitcom "Back to You," which has been canceled.

When Fox launches its fall schedule on Aug. 25, the network will have two more potential victims with additional shows waiting in January.

Fox confirmed that a "24" TV movie will air this fall. Slated for 8 p.m. Nov. 23, the two-hour production is a prequel to season seven, which debuts in January. The film will be shot on location in South Africa, "exploring Jack's complex emotional state of mind," according to executive producer Howard Gordon, as Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) handles an international crisis. Back in America, a new president (Cherry Jones) is about to be inaugurated.

Although Fox inexplicably renewed " 'Til Death," Entertainment Weekly reports the young couple next door, played by Eddie Kaye Thomas and Kat Foster, will be dropped in favor of the character introduced this season played by J.B. Smoove.

"It's creatively up for grabs right now," said Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly. "I'm not sure where we're at with that."

As for "Back to You," Reilly said the show's cost and demographic appeal were factors in its cancellation, but not the ultimate factor.

"This was not an easy decision," Reilly said, but with big-name stars in Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, there were expectations for better ratings. "The show didn't really seem to be striking a chord and as far as the creative direction went, it was a pretty mixed bag.

"We're looking to find the next generation of live-action Fox hits," he said, "and where the show was headed, it just didn't feel like it fit into that mix."

Three unaired "Back to You" episodes remain and will likely wind up on DVD. Other canceled series include "Canterbury's Law," "K-Ville," "New Amsterdam," "The Return of Jezebel James" and "Unhitched."

Fox will likely continue to be a flirt in the future, falling in and out of love with the next pretty thing that walks by. Take heart disgruntled viewers; it's not you, it's them.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08137/882288-42.stm

[Sonia]

Kelsey Grammer lobbies to revive ailing sitcom
Steve Gorman , Reuters
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Kelsey Grammer, whose latest sitcom, "Back to You," was canceled by Fox after one season, said on Wednesday he has personally lobbied CBS executives to give his show a second chance on their network.

But the Emmy-winning veteran of "Cheers" and "Frasier" is finding that his star power may not be enough to save the newsroom comedy, which Fox announced last week would not return in the fall.

Grammer, 53, told Reuters that he called CBS Corp chief executive Leslie Moonves on Monday to suggest a pickup, and that Moonves told him his network was "thinking about it."

A follow-up call the next day to Nina Tassler, the CBS Entertainment president, was less encouraging, Grammer said.

"She dismissed it," he recalled.

So did viewers and many critics.

Grammer plays a pompous TV news anchor who lands back at his old Pittsburgh station with his former co-anchor and paramour, played by "Everybody Loves Raymond" co-star Patricia Heaton. With its big-name cast and producers, it is one of the most expensive comedies on U.S. television.

Grammer, who gained fame playing a pompous shrink for 20 years on "Cheers" and its spinoff "Frasier," said he was surprised by Fox's cancellation, and felt the News Corp-owned network had not given the series enough time to establish itself.

"I really believe in the show. If I didn't I wouldn't have tried to fight for it," he said.

As a kind of throwback to the traditional TV sitcom genre, "Back to You" was widely seen as an odd choice for Fox, a network better known for cartoon fare such as "The Simpsons," edgy dramas like "24" and the hit talent show "American Idol."

The season finale of the show, its very last episode unless another network comes to the rescue, aired on Wednesday.

It is rare -- but not unprecedented -- for a network to rescue a rival's reject. Walt Disney Co's ABC will next season take over the veteran hospital comedy "Scrubs" from NBC, a unit of General Electric Co.

Many have suggested CBS, looking to expand its comedy offerings next season, might be a more natural fit. But the most-watched network earlier on Wednesday announced plans to launch fresh sitcoms on the back of existing fare like "Two and a Half Men" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

Grammer is not alone in his quest to keep "Back to You" alive. A spokesman for the show's producer, 20th Century Fox Television, said the studio would "love to explore" options at other networks. Grammer said he has heard little from the studio.

20th Century Fox Television, a corporate sibling of the Fox network, makes shows for all the networks.

http://www.canada.com/topics/enterta...e-c074bdf127d3

[Sonia]

2. You were surprised that the Kelsey Grammer/Patricia Heaton sitcom Back to You has been canceled after only one season.

Trevor Snyder: Fiction - I was more surprised to read this question and find out that the show had even lasted a full season in the first place. Honestly, I had forgotten all about this thing, and hadn't thought about it once in the past...oh, I don't know...six months? I don't know a single person who watched the show, and I never saw much promotion for it, so no, I can't say I'm surprised...or saddened...that it's now gone.

Matt Richissin: Fiction - After finding out that Back to You was canceled I have spent the last 4 days crying in my shower, eating Rodeo Cheeseburgers and listening to the Cure wondering why the world is so cruel. In all honesty, I'm more surprised how poor FOX is at marketing it's own shows. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it was somewhat expensive to get Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton on a sitcom. Then why neglect to give any kind of real marketing?! In the past month I've seen about 3.68 billion commercials for The Bill Engvall Show (which apparently is now TV's #1 comedy?) yet I can't recall ever seeing more than a 15 second spot for Back to You. I'll never understand why FOX continuously spends a ton of money on their shows and then neglects to market them. Why bother?

http://www.411mania.com/movies/colum...:-Week-126.htm

[Sonia]

Thrills and laughs in Fox's fall lineup

The network also dumped its most-promoted new series from last fall, Back To You, with Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as feuding news anchors, even though its ratings were decent.

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertain...ry/535177.html

[Sonia]

Kelsey asks CBS to save Back to You
Posted May 16th 2008 8:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Cancellations, Reality-Free

Frasier has left the building, but Kelsey Grammer hasn't. Or maybe he just doesn't want to. The actor, whose Fox situation comedy, Back to You, was canceled after just one season, doesn't want to call it quits. He wants the show to continue and he's so determined, he's even lobbied for the show personally. The Emmy award winning star phoned CBS executives -- including CBS CEO Les Moonves -- to plead the case for Back to You.

When Kelsey phoned, Les took the call, and he even told Grammer that he'd "think about it," that is, moving Back to You to CBS. However, when Kelsey followed up with a call to Nina Tassler, CBS Entertainment prez, she dismissed it. There really was no room on the CBS schedule for another sitcom; even Rules of Engagement (which CBS has a vested interest in bringing back) won't be broadcast till mid-season next year. There's no mention of Kelsey calling ABC or NBC; perhaps they didn't take his call?

I have to say that it's hard to believe that Kelsey Grammer would put himself out there for a show as mediocre as Back to You. He told Reuters, "I really believe in the show. If I didn't, I wouldn't have tried to fight for it."

Really, why? I mean, seriously, Back to You never lived up to the hype of two major stars -- Grammer and co-star Patricia Heaton -- and the writers from Frasier. In fact, it was the ill-conceived concept that did the show in. The whole idea that a conceited news anchor like Chuck Darling would return to his old stomping grounds -- Pittsburgh -- to reteam with another news personality, Kelly Carr, and stick around after finding out that she had his child after a one-night stand 10 years before, was ridiculous. He would have hopped the first JetBlue out of PA.

Comic situations work best when the principals are forced together -- like Frasier being forced to care for his father because he cannot put him in a nursing home (and Niles couldn't take him). In Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray and Deborah are stuck living across the street from his parents and brother -- they can't get away. That's funny.

In retrospect, Back to You might have worked better without the entire daughter angle. But it doesn't matter now. This sitcom is over and all the calls in the world to network brass won't save it.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/05/16/ke...e-back-to-you/

[Sonia]

For TV studios, failure happens
Twentieth rebounding from 0-for-7 finish
By STUART LEVINEMore Articles:

Does "Bionic Woman" ring a bell? How about "Big Shots"?
While enthusiasm is high for the new slate of shows, history dictates that only a handful will make it to a second season. That's even if they get through a full first season.

Twentieth TV, especially, knows the lesson well. Studio screened seven new shows last year and none are back. The most surprising might be "Back to You," which Fox didn't announce for renewal at the upfront. Sitcom came in with two Emmy-winning leads (Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton) and a topnotch creative staff.

"It's a business where the failure rate is much higher than the success rate," says Twentieth's Marion Edwards.

Adds CBS Par's Armando Nunez Jr.: "There are always lessons that you learn from one year to the next. We're dealing with a mature marketplace. There are odds against you any time you take a show out."

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...ryId=3141&cs=1

[Sonia]

Networks Anticipate the Fall Cautiously

With fewer new shows to buzz about, talk centered on other questions, like why some marginal shows (like CBS’s “Moonlight”) were canceled, while others survived. One head-scratcher was Fox’s comedy “Back to You,” starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, which Fox won in a ferocious bidding contest last season. Fox dropped it, but kept the comedy “ ’Til Death,” which did no better in the ratings.

One reason offered by a Fox executive: “Back to You” never fit as a Fox show and should have been allowed to go to a more appropriate network (namely CBS) in the first place. CBS executives did consider picking it up, but decided they liked their own new comedies better.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/ar...l?ref=business

[Brian Damage]

Thanks for your links and articles Sonia! I will be emailing them with our links very shortly.

[Sonia]

Patty Heaton interview with FOX News. This is pre-cancellation....but what the hell is Patty


http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/play...26715&src=news

[JulieSomoski]

I hope you don't mind, but I added all these to the links thread. Thanks for all of them - it was interesting to see some of the people's comments to the show!

[Sonia]

Grammer says Back to You sitcom won't be back on Fox
Posted 12 hours ago
Kelsey Grammer said this week that Fox is dropping his sitcom "Back to You," calling the decision a surprise and a shame.

"They have let it go," Grammer told The Associated Press. "We were told all this time we were in good shape and we were coming back."

Last week, Grammer taped arrived home to a call telling him that the show was cancelled.

"Back to You," co-starring Patricia Heaton and set in a Pittsburgh TV station newsroom, debuted strongly last fall with nearly 9.5 million viewers. But its audience has slipped, with last week's episode drawing just under seven million viewers.

Television watching overall is down, a trend that's been blamed in part on lingering effects of a 100-day writers strike that shut down TV production.

Grammer said he spoke with Fox executives Peter Liguori and Kevin Reilly and they didn't fully explain the decision. He speculated that their interest in the show had "waned" so they were unwilling to be patient with it.

"I'm not really sure what the real reasoning is. I think they ended up with a show that was going to be a great show. It was a great show," he said.

An online petition campaign is afoot to save the show and Grammer and his wife, Camille, sent an e-mail note to friends inviting them to jump aboard.
Grammer said he's "nursing a tiny hope" that CBS might pick up the show after talking with CBS CEO Leslie Moonves.

"I spoke with Les the other day and he was not completely discouraging," Grammer said wryly.

Grammer dismissed talk that the show, with two high-profile TV stars in him and Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond"), was too costly for Fox.

http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleD...aspx?e=1031935