Greetings From Tucson Picked Up For a Full Season

[TJ]

http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?28476

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The WB has picked up new comedies "Do Over" and "Greetings from Tucson," joining "Everwood" as series that will make it at least a year on the network.

The news was not good, however, for second-year comedy "Off Centre." The WB has stopped production of the show, and it will leave the air after November sweeps.

Neither "Tucson" nor "Do Over" has been a ratings smash -- they're averaging 3.8 million and 2.7 million viewers each week, respectively. But network executives like what the shows are doing creatively and are willing to give them a chance.

"Greetings from Tucson," a family comedy centering on a teenager with a Mexican-American father and Irish-American mother, has had some success in holding on to the audience of its Friday night lead-in, "Reba." About 75 percent of that audience stays around for "Tucson," and the show has also done well in the teen and young-adult demographics The WB targets.

"Do Over" airs 8:30 p.m. Thursday, opposite CBS' "Survivor" and NBC's "Scrubs" in one of the tougher time periods on television. Its pickup means it will survive where ABC's similarly themed "That Was Then," which is officially on hiatus but with no scheduled return date, did not. Both shows were about thirtysomething guys with boatloads of regret who get a chance to relive their high-school years.

As for "Off Centre," its average audience was only about 2 million people at 9:30 Thursdays. That's lower than last season's 2.3 million-viewer average, when the show aired on Sundays. A decision on what will fill its spot in the schedule hasn't been made.

A WB spokesman tells Zap2it that decisions on the network's other new series -- "Family Affair," "What I Like about You" and "Birds of Prey" -- are expected soon.