ABC Orders More Episodes!

[Pavan]

This is great news, 13 episodes were ordered in May, when it was announced it made the fall schedule, now 9 more have been ordered for this season, for the full-season total of 22! This is great news:

ABC announced Thursday (Oct. 3) that it's picking up the back nine episodes new comedies "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" and "Life with Bonnie," ensuring each show of a full-season run.

The pickups are the first for any of the 35 new network shows this season.

"Both of these shows have really delivered for the network, giving us the blocks we need to build a solid new Tuesday night," ABC Entertainment president Susan Lyne says. "We have every belief that '8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter' and 'Life with Bonnie' will continue to be strong players."

"Life with Bonnie" and "8 Simple Rules" premiered Sept. 17, a week before the official start of the season. Their premieres each drew in excess of 16 and 17 million viewers, and subsequent episodes, airing against a full slate of competition, have held up well.

"Rules," which stars John Ritter as a harried father of two teenage girls, has averaged 14.5 million viewers and a 5.5 rating among the advertiser-coveted 18-49 group in its three airings. "Bonnie" has pulled in an average of 12.8 million viewers in its three airings -- two "previews" at 8:30 p.m. and this week's show at 9 p.m., its regular timeslot. It's averaging a 5.1 rating among adults 18-49.

"Life with Bonnie's" pickup also ends a personal string of bad luck for star/producer/writer Bonnie Hunt, whose previous shows "The Building" and "The Bonnie Hunt Show" didn't last a full season.

The two shows have also provided solid lead-ins for the night's other comedies, "According to Jim" and "Less than Perfect," both of which debuted Tuesday (Oct. 1). They combined with old standby "NYPD Blue" to give ABC a win among adults 18-49 for the night.

The encouraging results on Tuesday night are a huge turnaround from last season, when the night was a disaster for ABC. "Spin City" and "Dharma & Greg" both faded in what would be their final seasons. "What about Joan" was cancelled after two episodes, and the heavily hyped "Bob Patterson" tanked, moving to Wednesday night after two weeks and folding soon after that.

[Brian]

Thanks for the news. I really like that show. I hope it lasts more than two seasons.

[Pavan]

Official ABC Release:

ABC ANNOUNCES FULL SEASON OF NEW COMEDY HITS
"8 SIMPLE RULES FOR DATING MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER"
AND "LIFE WITH BONNIE"




ABC has announced full seasons for two of its new comedy hits, "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" and "Life with Bonnie," it was announced today by Susan Lyne, president, ABC Entertainment. Both series are produced by Touchstone Television.

In making the announcement, Ms. Lyne stated, "Both of these shows have really delivered for the network, giving us the blocks we need to build a solid new Tuesday night. We have every belief that '8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter' and 'Life with Bonnie' will continue to be strong players. This announcement is a demonstration of our confidence in these series."

Stephen McPherson, president, Touchstone Television, added, "I am so grateful for this aggressive vote of confidence for these two wonderful shows from ABC. It is so rewarding for everyone involved at the studio and the productions who have worked so hard to bring these series to life."

"8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" has won its time period among Adults 18-49 on all three of its telecasts. It is currently the second-highest-rated program on Tuesday night in the key sales demographic, behind only NBC's veteran comedy "Frasier." Since entering the half-hour, "8 Simple Rules" has improved ABC's delivery on Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. by nearly 5 million viewers (14.5 million vs. 9.6 million) and by 62% in Adults 18-49 (5.5/16 vs. 3.4/10) over the same time frame last year. On its most recent broadcast, "8 Simple Rules" gave ABC its highest sitcom rating in the time period during the course of a TV season in nearly 3 years - since 11/16/99.

Moving into its regular Tuesday 9:00 p.m. time period this week (10/1/02), "Life with Bonnie" gave ABC its most competitive Adult 18-49 performance with a comedy, opposite an original episode of "Frasier," in almost 1-1/2 years - since 5/22/01. In its time period bow, "Bonnie" generated ABC's highest series Adult 18-49 rating in the time slot in more than 8 months - since 1/15/02. "Bonnie" improved ABC's delivery over the same night last year by 13% in Total Viewers (11.1 million vs. 9.8 million) and by 9% in Adults 18-49 (4.7/12 vs. 4.3/10).

"8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" stars John Ritter as Paul Hennessy, Katey Sagal as Cate Hennessy, Kaley Cuoco as Bridget Hennessy, Amy Davidson as Kerry Hennessy and Martin Spanjers as Rory Hennessy. The series is based on W. Bruce Cameron's bestselling book, "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter." Tracy Gamble ("Home Improvement," "The Golden Girls"), who created the series, also serves as executive producer, along with Tom Shadyac ("Liar Liar," "The Nutty Professor," "Patch Adams"), Flody Suarez ("The Tick") and Michael Bostick ("Liar Liar"). "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" is a Touchstone Television production.

"Life with Bonnie" stars Bonnie Hunt as Bonnie Molloy, Mark Derwin as Dr. Mark Molloy, Samantha Browne-Walters as Samantha Molloy, Charlie Stewart as Charlie Molloy, Holly Wortell as

Holly, Chris Barnes as Marv, Marianne Muellerleile as Gloria, Anthony Russell as Tony Russo and David Alan Grier as David Bellows. The series was created and is executive-produced by Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake. "Life with Bonnie" is a Touchstone Television production.

[Sean Snow]

Yay! That's great! Thanks for keeping us updated, PB!

[IheartMoonlighting]

I kind of figured that 8 would be the first comedy to get picked up. I'm also happy that Bonnie Hunt gets to stick around a little bit longer. Her show is okay and something I would not watch on a regular basis, but I like her so, this is good news.

[callmetootie]

I'm disappointed LWB is getting more episodes, because the first episode was so great, and the 2nd and 3rd were basically unwatchable and terribly unfunny.

[FOLrocks1]

This is great! I love this and LWB! Both are 2 of my favs.