Samantha Where?: Networks Take Aim at Thursdays

I remember most of the Thursday nights in the ’80s and ’90s belonging to NBC. With shows like The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, and Friends dominating the ratings, it seemed like NBC was the only network on the air on Thursdays. Then came the ’00s and CBS made a play for dominance with CSI and Survivor. As the last of the ’90s holdover sitcoms on NBC came to an end, CBS and ABC took over in the ratings, leaving Fox, the CW and once-mighty NBC to scrounge for leftover demos.

The CW seems to have scored a niche audience with Smallville and Supernatural, NBC is making a minor comeback with 30 Rock and The Office – although with ER ending this season, things look grim for 10pm slot – and Fox has decided to enter the arena by moving Bones into the 8pm timeslot, followed by Hell’s Kitchen (an odd pairing if you ask me, although I suppose both could put you off your supper).

And now comes news that ABC is going after beleagured NBC’s comedy block with one of their own. Beginning March 26, the alphabet net will premiere a new half-hour comedy, In the Motherhood, starring comic vets Megan Mulally (Will & Grace) and Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm). ABC describes the series as

…a look at the importance of family and friends while trying to juggle motherhood, work and love lives in an overly complicated modern world. The story focuses on Rosemary (Mullally), Jane (Hines) and Emily (Jessica St. Clair), who represent mothers we all know. Rosemary is a free-wheeling mom who plays it fast and loose when it comes to parenting her teenaged son, Luke. Married numerous times, but currently single, Rosemary lives by her own rules. Much to the amazement of the other moms, her nontraditional parenting style has yielded a son much more responsible than she. Rosemary’s best friend, Jane, is a recently divorced working mother of a pre-teen, Annie, and a baby girl, Sophie, who is just trying to keep her career and home afloat. Having just returned to work after giving birth eight months ago, Jane struggles to find a happy balance – lucky for her she has her “manny,” Horatio (Horatio Sanz, “Saturday Night Live”), to help out. Jane’s younger sister, Emily, sees herself as the model stay-at-home-super-mom for her two young children, Esther and Bill. Emily’s home is a work of art, and her kids are polite and sweet — everything has its place in her world. Married to Jason (RonReaco Lee), Emily takes parenting as seriously as any mother could.

ABC is pairing the series with Samantha Who?, moving to a new night and time for the second half of the season. The two shows do seem to appeal to the same demographic: women trying to do it all in a chaotic world. So the question is, can relative newcomer Samantha Who? anchor a comedy block on a new night with a new show as its lead-in? Will it be enough to encroach on NBC’s comedy territory? Will the trades declare the rebirth of the sitcom? We’ll have to wait until March 26 to find out!