TV News: ‘Cougar Town,’ ‘Pan Am’ Missing From ABC Mid-Season Schedule

CHICAGO – Fans of “Pan Am,” “Man Up!,” and “Cougar Town” better be sitting down. None are on ABC’s mid-season schedule, announced today. It’s unclear for sure what the heck is going on with “Cougar Town,” a show that was announced as returning mid-season months ago, but one hopes it will still return in the spring. Stay tuned for further updates. The fact that the sliding “Pan Am” and “Man Up!” appear less and less likely to make it through their first seasons should come as a surprise to no one.

GCB Photo credit: ABC

What is good news is that ABC has a surprisingly strong mid-season line-up of replacements to go along with arguably the most successful fall season of the broadcast networks with hits like “Revenge,” “Suburgatory,” “Once Upon a Time,” and “Last Man Standing.” Stay tuned for coverage of highly-anticipated shows like “GCB” and “The River.” (Good news for “Cougar Town” fans may lie in the fact that the network also failed to include half-hour “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23” on their mid-season schedule, which could mean that the two are being saved as a potential replacement pair for the first drama that sinks. Limited run “Scandal” was also not on the schedule but most of us expect that later than mid-season anyway.)

New shows premiering on ABC at mid-season include “Work It,” “The River,” “GCB,” and “Missing.” Key returning shows include “Celebrity Wife Swap,” “Wipeout,” “Shark Tank,” and “Dancing With the Stars.”

Here are the key dates and times announced today:

Tuesday, January 3rd — “Work It” premieres at 7:30pm, paired with “Last Man Standing” and replacing “Man Up!” “Celebrity Wife Swap” premieres at 8pm that same night.

Thursday, January 5th — “Wipeout” premieres at 7pm

Friday, February 3rd — “Shark Tank” premieres at 7pm

Tuesday, February 7th — “The River” premieres at 8pm, after the run of “Celebrity Wife Swap” ends

Sunday, March 4th — “GCB” premieres at 9pm, replacing “Pan Am,” which it looks likely will run for a few more months, meaning that if there’s a massive upswing in ratings, they could find it another home or even consider it for year two

Thursday, March 15th — “Missing” premieres at 7pm

Monday, March 19th — “Dancing with the Stars”

Stay tuned for the FOX mid-season schedule and any news about potential official cancellations of “Pan Am” or “Cougar Town.”

[19]	By BRIAN TALLERICO [20] Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com [19]