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American television sitcom (2007–2008) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Back to You is an American sitcom that aired on Fox from September 19, 2007, to May 14, 2008. The creators and executive producers were Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, and the director was James Burrows.[1] The series starred Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as squabbling anchors of a news program.[2]
| Back to You | |
|---|---|
| |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | |
| Directed by | James Burrows |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Adam Anders |
| Composer | Paul Buckley |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 17 (3 unaired in the U.S.) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | |
| Producer | Maggie Randell-Blanc |
| Production locations |
|
| Editor | Ron Volk |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | Fox |
| Release | September 19, 2007 – May 14, 2008 |
Chuck Darling (Grammer) and Kelly Carr (Heaton) were co-anchors of Pittsburgh news program WURG News 9 that had great on-screen chemistry, despite constant quarreling off-screen. However, Chuck left to take a job elsewhere. After an embarrassing comment he makes results in his dismissal from a large market LA newscast, Chuck returns to Pittsburgh after 10 years to become an anchor on the newscast he originally left.[3][4] Chuck also learns that he is the father of Carr's 10-year-old daughter. Their daughter, Gracie, turns 11 years old in the episode, "Something's Up There".
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | James Burrows | Steven Levitan & Christopher Lloyd | September 19, 2007 | 1ANX79 |
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The pilot episode sees Chuck Darling returning to his old Pittsburgh TV news co-anchor job, re-partnering with his former co-anchor Kelly Carr, and their frequent off-screen quarrelling. | |||||
| 2 | "Fish Story" | James Burrows | Dan O'Shannon | September 26, 2007 | 1ANX01 |
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Chuck is given a fish and attempts to use it as an opportunity to prove to Kelly he can handle responsibility. | |||||
| 3 | "First Supper" | James Burrows | Gail Lerner | October 3, 2007 | 1ANX02 |
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When Chuck's dinner date is called off, he meets Kelly and Gracie at a nearby restaurant and awkwardly joins them for a meal. Chuck and Gracie bond as they swap offensive quips about Kelly. Despite her disdain, Kelly starts to think having Chuck around wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. Meanwhile at WURG-TV, Marsh helps Gary create a promo after some failed attempts; Montana learns about her broken relationship while she is on the air and Ryan has to hide his infatuation for her in time for the night's broadcast. | |||||
| 4 | "A Gentleman Always Leads" | James Burrows | Christopher Lloyd | October 10, 2007 | 1ANX03 |
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After hearing some of his old friends, who used to work at WURG, talking about him getting fired in Los Angeles, Chuck tries to prove he's still got what it takes to be a big network anchor. As the night's lead story continues to change, Chuck and Kelly argue over who will be taking the lead story, Chuck knowing his old friends will be watching the broadcast. Kelly finally ends up giving the lead story to Chuck, but unknown to him, the victim of the bear attack, which was the lead story, has a helium sounding voice. Also, after stealing Montana's intern to work in the Sports Department, Marsh tries to find her a replacement. When the intern is older than they both expected, Montana and Marsh must figure out how to fire him. | |||||
| 5 | "A Night of Possibilities" | James Burrows | Andy Gordon | October 17, 2007 | 1ANX04 |
|
Kelly accuses Chuck of being selfish and rude after he declines a dinner invitation from Ryan in order to reinstate a Friday tradition, his "night of possibilities", in which he does five activities: goes for a walk, smokes a Cuban cigar, drinks a scotch, has a steak, and "Destiny knocks". In rebuttal, Chuck states that Kelly is uptight and rigid. The pair try to prove each other wrong leading Chuck to go to dinner with Ryan and Kelly going for a night out with Montana. Meanwhile, Gary tries carpooling with Marsh, who is a disaster waiting to happen while behind the wheel. | |||||
| 6 | "Gracie's Bully" | James Burrows | Jeffrey Richman | November 7, 2007 | 1ANX05 |
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Gracie's class take a field trip to WURG and Kelly tells Chuck that Gracie has been having problems with a bully. While Kelly tries to take the rational approach to dealing with the problem, by calling the school principal and organizing a conflict resolution session, Chuck tells Gracie to take the problem into her own hands with a more corporeal approach. This leads to Kelly taking Chuck's advice and threatening the bully, Xander. Meanwhile, Marsh tries to prove to Gary he can read the poem "Casey at the Bat" to the children without crying. Also, Montana has to deal with a precocious young weathergirl, who upstages her when the young weathergirl can successfully pronounce Monongahela River, and Ryan encounters a younger version of himself. | |||||
| 7 | "Something's Up There" | James Burrows | Steven Levitan | November 14, 2007 | 1ANX06 |
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A vicious raccoon causes havoc at Gracie's birthday party. | |||||
| 8 | "Cradle to Grave" | James Burrows | Abraham Higginbotham & Steven Levitan | February 26, 2008 | 1ANX09 |
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Kelly attends a funeral of a former anchor and leaves Chuck to babysit Gracie. | |||||
| 9 | "Business or Pleasure" | James Burrows | Sally Bradford | February 27, 2008 | 1ANX07 |
|
Another anchor from a rival news program asks Kelly out on a date, which makes Chuck jealous. Meanwhile, Gary chastises the members of Anthrocon | |||||
| 10 | "Wall of Fame" | James Burrows | Andy Gordon | April 16, 2008 | 1ANX12 |
|
When Marsh decides to throw Chuck a surprise party, Chuck and Kelly discover an incriminating photograph on Marsh's wall portraying them in a compromising position in the background and they try to find a way to remove it without anyone's knowledge. Meanwhile, Gary and Ryan stumble into Marsh and Peg's bedroom and are disturbed by what they see. | |||||
| 11 | "Hug & Tell" | James Burrows | Gail Lerner & Chuck Tatham | April 23, 2008 | 1ANX13 |
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Everyone's favorite security guard hugs everybody else but won't hug Gary. | |||||
| 12 | "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back" | James Burrows | Christopher Lloyd & Dan O'Shannon | April 30, 2008 | 1ANX14 |
|
When Gracie reacts badly to the announcement that Chuck is her father, Chuck and Kelly remember the night Gracie was conceived. | |||||
| 13 | "The New Boss" | James Burrows | Sally Bradford & Jeffrey Richman | May 7, 2008 | 1ANX10 |
|
Shockwaves reverberate through the newsroom, as major changes are expected when a tenacious station manager (played by Suzy Nakamura) takes over at WURG. Meanwhile, Gary worries about taking a much needed vacation under the new regime. | |||||
| 14 | "Chuck and Kelly, Doin' It Again" | James Burrows | Story by : Chuck Tatham Teleplay by : Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman | May 14, 2008 | 1ANX15 |
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In the First Season Finale, Chuck and Kelly seek the best way to publicly disclose their parenthood, but an unfortunately timed new ad campaign for the station complicates their efforts. Meanwhile, Marsh bestows a gift upon Gary but immediately regrets his generosity. | |||||
| 15 | "Date Night" | James Burrows | Gail Lerner | July 2, 2008 (Australia) [note 1] | 1ANX08 |
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After Chuck accuses Kelly of dating a rival anchor because he's a younger version of himself, Kelly gets even by redirecting a dinner invitation Chuck intended for a specific co-worker. When both couples end up dining at the same restaurant, the evening turns into a showdown. Gary and Marsh help Ryan get ready for his cyber date with Shelley (Jayma Mays) a girl from New Mexico.[10] | |||||
| 16 | "House of Tomorrow" | James Burrows | Abraham Higginbotham | July 9, 2008 (Australia) [note 2] | 1ANX11 |
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Chuck decides to buy a state-of-the-art technologically-advanced house, while Kelly vacillates between liking and hating the new, more mature Chuck. Meanwhile, Gary wants the chief weatherman position, which is now vacant since Montana was fired. | |||||
| 17 | "Hostage Watch" | James Burrows | Chuck Tatham | July 31, 2008 (Australia) [note 3] | 1ANX16 |
|
The team brainstorm ways to increase their ratings. Meanwhile, there is a hostage situation at the local bank and the gunman insists Chuck Darling must act as the mediator. | |||||
It was reported in January 2007 that Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton were in talks to lead the cast of the series, originally titled Action News, which only had a script commitment with 20th Century Fox Television at the time.[11] The script was reportedly a hot commodity with numerous networks interested before Fox outbid the competition and gave it a blind thirteen-episode commitment in February 2007. Upon its pickup, it also became Levitan and Lloyd's first project under their production banner, Levitan-Lloyd Productions. Grammer and Heaton were also confirmed to star in the series in the same month.[12] It was renamed Back to You in April 2007 because Pittsburgh has a real life Channel 4 Action News.[13] (The show was originally to be set in Buffalo, New York, which, at least in name, did not have an Action News station, but Lloyd felt that having a major-market news personality fall from Los Angeles (market #2) to Buffalo (market #49) was implausible. This was despite the fact that several prominent Los Angeles news anchors, including John Beard, Nick Clooney, Maria Genero, Kevin O'Connell, Brian Kahle, and John Stehlin have all moved from the Los Angeles to the Buffalo markets; all but Clooney and Stehlin remain there to this day, though Kahle has since died, and Stehlin has moved to an even smaller market in neighboring Erie, Pennsylvania.) The series was officially greenlit on May 11, 2007.[14] James Burrows, who had directed all the episodes of the show joined the staff as an executive producer in June 2007.[15]
Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Levitan-Lloyd Productions, the series premiered on September 19, 2007.[16] The show aired on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30c on Fox, leading out 'Til Death, which features Heaton's former Everybody Loves Raymond co-star, Brad Garrett. The first episode rated a promising 9.44 million viewers for Fox.[14]
On October 24, 2007, the show was picked up for an additional 11 episodes, bringing the total number of episodes to 24.[17]
Also, despite the show's cancellation, and no guarantee of its renewal, Channel 4 in the United Kingdom picked up the show.[18] The series premiered in the UK on Wednesday, June 11, 2008, on More4 at 9.30 pm. It then moved onto Channel 4 on early morning weekdays comedy slot at 8:00.
Back to You was filmed at 20th Century Fox Studios in Los Angeles.[19]
After the first two leads were found, Paul Campbell and Aimee Garcia were originally cast as Ryan Church and Montana Diaz Herrera respectively in February 2007 but the roles were re-cast in April 2007 with Josh Gad and Ayda Field replacing them.[13][20] Fred Willard was also cast as Marsh McGinley in February.[20] Casting continued throughout March with Ty Burrell and Laura Marano landing the last two regular spots in the series.[21][22] There was also talk of casting Sung Hi Lee in a recurring role as Chuck Darling's love interest, but the producers decided in April to go in a different direction.[23] She did appear in the Pilot.
The role of Gracie Carr was re-cast starting the tenth episode, "The Wall of Fame", and was played by Lily Jackson. Ayda Field was also dropped from the show after the tenth episode. The background used for Ayda Field's credit in the title sequence, a weather map of the United States, was still briefly shown but her image was replaced by a silhouette of a man.
Production on the show was halted on November 6, 2007, due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.[24]
The show went on hiatus on November 14 but returned on Tuesday, February 26, 2008, at 9:30/8:30c. It aired a new episode that night and another on Wednesday, February 27, 2008, the following day, and new episodes began airing weekly, starting Wednesday April 16, 2008. On this day, Back to You moved to its new time slot at 8:00/7:00c, following 'Til Death, and replacing The Moment of Truth.[25]
Despite having better ratings and reviews than its comedy companion 'Til Death, [citation needed] the series was not renewed by the network on May 9, 2008, while 'Til Death was renewed.[26]
The comedy was shopped around for a new home, at Grammer's request, and CBS was interested in picking up the comedy for a second season. CBS was also interested in using the comedy to open an extension night of comedy beyond Monday night, giving the series as a solid anchor for the extension.
However, Grammer was already searching for a new show and ABC had given him some new projects (one was an overseas remake of Roman's Empire, which failed to pick up, and Hank, which premiered Fall 2009, but was cancelled after five episodes). Heaton also was interested in an ABC project (The Middle, which also premiered in fall 2009 and lasted for nine seasons, until May 2018). As a result, Back to You was never renewed.
In a somewhat related note, the creators of the show, Lloyd & Levitan, would go on to create another fall 2009 series for ABC, Modern Family, which features fellow Back to You star Burrell, as well as Willard as Burrell's character's father, and even airs after The Middle (which aired after Hank from September–November 2009). When originally pitching their show, Lloyd & Levitan never offered Modern Family to Fox because of their issues dealing with that network over Back to You.[27]
Back to You received generally mixed reviews, receiving a rating of 58 from Metacritic.[28]
The episode "Something's Up There" (aired November 14, 2007) involved Marsh trying to convince the show's lone Polish-American character, Gary, to go bowling after work by saying: "Come on, it's in your blood, like kielbasa and collaborating with the Nazis." Fox later apologized on November 20, 2007. They vowed never to air the line of dialogue again in repeats and/or syndicated broadcasts. Fox stated that, "The line was delivered by a character known for being ignorant, clueless, and for saying outlandish things. Allowing the line to remain in the show, however, demonstrated poor judgment, and we apologize to anyone who was offended."[29]
| Season 1 | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| |||
| Release Dates | ||||
| Region 1 | Region 4 | |||
| October 14, 2008 | October 22, 2008 | |||
Back to You is also available on the iTunes Store, featuring the fourteen episodes that aired on the Fox network.[31]
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