Beyond The Animated TV Grave is a sub-series of Beyond The TV Grave, and takes a look at short-lived prime time adult animated series that aired on ABC, CBS, or NBC. This eleventh, and perhaps final, edition focuses on ABC's summer 2009 series The Good Family, which was pulled from its original time slot after two episodes, and canceled after airing its 13-episode season. Click here to view all articles in the series.
Background & Synopsis
The Goode Family was ABC's fourth attempt at adult animation. The first three, 1992's Capitol Critters, 1994's The Critic, and 2000's Clerks: The Animated Series, lasted a combined 15 episodes in their original time slots before relegated to a summer burn-off if not outright canceled on the spot. The Goode Family, however, had the potential to turn out differently. Of all the adult animated shows ABC, CBS, and NBC had premiered since The Simpsons debuted in December 1989, The Goode Family looked most like a show that would conceivably air in a time slot following The Simpsons. It was a political satire starring a staunch liberal California family who struggles with balancing their socially liberal values with their working-class conditions. It was created by Mike Judge, who also created FOX's King of the Hill. When ABC ordered The Goode Family straight to series in February 2008, King of the Hill was the show occupying FOX's Sundays at 8:30 pm time slot directly following The Simpsons. If another network were finally to recapture the audience of a FOX cartoon like The Simpsons or King of the Hill, it would be ABC with The Goode Family.
There would be no better network for The Goode Family to potentially find an audience than FOX. Had The Goode Family been ordered to series by FOX rather than ABC, it could have plausibly aired on FOX Sundays. Instead of moving King of the Hill to 7:30 pm in spring 2009 to make room for the new live-action series Sit Down, Shut Up, the time slot could have opened up for The Goode Family. Given Sit Down, Shut Up was quickly relegated to 7 pm and King of the Hill brought back to the 8:30 pm time slot, The Goode Family couldn't possibly have done much worse. It would have benefitted from airing in King of the Hill's old time slot, in between The Simpsons and Family Guy on FOX's signature Animation Domination night.
In reality, The Goode Family ran on a network deprived not only of adult animated comedy, but of comedy in general. ABC carried just four sitcoms in 2007-08, three new and one returning. Two of the new sitcoms, Cavemen and Carpoolers, premiered together on Tuesdays and were either pulled or received no backorder. The other new sitcom, Samantha Who?, delivered high ratings after Dancing with the Stars but deteriorated on its own. Their one returning sitcom, the seventh season of According to Jim, crumbled when it returned midseason. The situation was so dire that despite its low ratings, According to Jim was still renewed and reruns were still being used to plug problem slots.
The Goode Family was one of five new comedies ordered to series by ABC in 2008-09, with According to Jim and Samantha Who? returning from the 2007-08 season. Whether it was a product of ABC being displeased with The Goode Family's output or simply a matter of not having an obvious schedule companion for it, ABC prioritized their other new sitcoms over their new cartoon. One of those was Surviving Suburbia, a Bob Saget-starring multi-cam family comedy. Originally meant for The CW, the series premiered in the spring on Mondays following Dancing with the Stars. Its ratings were mediocre at best for its Monday stint, which ended with Dancing with the Stars. Surviving Suburbia would then move to Wednesdays at 9:30 pm starting May 27, where it would follow the series premiere of The Goode Family. The second season of Wipeout would start off the night.
Ratings & Cancelation
