TBS Head of Programming Michael Wright On Why He Saved "Cougar Town"

[JamesG]

TBS/TNT's Michael Wright On Why He Saved "Cougar Town"
May 16, 2012
by Michael Schneider


You made a lot of "Cougar Town" fans very happy with the pick-up.
Walk me through how this happened.


It happened because of a conversation between the folks at ABC Studios and myself. We're doing other business with them on a show called "Perception" that we're really high on, and in the course of conversation I was asked, "What do you think of 'Cougar Town'?" I told them I loved the show.

We had done a show a couple years back called "My Boys" that I absolutely loved, and I think although they are different shows there's a similarity to them. They're character-based and the humor is mined from the way good, close friends interact.

There's an honesty to the characters on "Cougar Town", and I just always loved [creator] Bill Lawrence's voice. I think he and Kevin [Biegel] have created this really fun place to go. I love going to the cul-de-sac, my wife and I have our glasses of wine, and we're laughing because we recognize these people.

Bill has this tone and it's whimsical, this sense of fun. Everybody's having a great time. That's the kind of comedy I want to spend time with on a weeknight. So they asked me, if it became available, would you be interested?



This is different from "Southland", where I went after that after reading that NBC was passing, and called John Wells that morning. This was them referencing "Southland" and saying, "So does this mean you guys are open to shows from elsewhere?" And my answer has always been, I don't care where the show comes from, if it's on brand and works and is funny and can help us win, I'm interested.

Then they called back a week later and said, "Well, now this is serious, how serious are you?"



It's one thing to buy a new show and develop it and try to put it on the air. When you're picking up a show from another network, it's amazing how many moving parts need to be addressed.

I'm happily surprised we were ultimately able to land the plane. A show I think is incredibly on brand, very funny, represents the tone that we're going after on TBS, and I couldn't be happier.











What does "Cougar Town" mean for TBS?
It's an established show that brings a loyal fan base.


At a time when TBS is trying very hard to let people know that we are serious about original comedy, to have a show like this that is already known and has a great fan base, it just affirms what we're out there telling people, which is we're stepping out aggressively in the original comedy space.

We're incredibly enthused about "Men at Work", it's a very funny show. "Sullivan & Son" is just getting started, we think that show has huge promise. To add "Cougar Town" to it, now with "Men at Work" and "Sullivan" and "Wedding Band", you're letting people know we're going to be in this space for a while, we're serious about it, and I think with all of those shows you'll begin to see the brand affirmed.

Smart, funny, irreverent but not snarky, a contemporary spirit to the comedy that we're attracted to.



You look at "Conan" and "Big Bang Theory" [repeats] especially, they're all relevant in their own way. There's a brightness to them. None of them are mean-spirited.

You add it all up, and I hope the audience recognizes a certain kind of comedy that TBS is putting out there — relevant, smart, funny.











Whenever a cable network picks up a broadcast show, the sense is they have to make budget cuts in order to afford it.
Will they have to make budget cuts and slim down "Cougar Town"?


I would point out "Southland" to anyone who's watched the show since it moved to TNT. It's a better show than it was when it was on NBC. Part of that is just the natural evolution and growth of a good TV show, but also in some ways, having to figure that show out for cable I think focused them and made it an even better show.

"Cougar Town", I can tell you, from a budget standpoint there's not going to be any sort of significant hit to the show. The cast is coming back, the writing staff is intact, we are making the same "Cougar Town" that was on ABC.

My comments to Bill and Kevin and Courteney Cox are, "I bought the show because I love the show and I have to intention of asking them to change it. This show is great, keep doing it. No one is looking over your shoulder."

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