In the Motherhood

In the Motherhood is an American television sitcom that debuted on ABC as a midseason entry and ran from March 26 to June 25, 2009.[1] The series was produced by ABC Studios in association with Spud TV and Mindshare Entertainment.[2]

In the Motherhood
GenreSitcom
Created by
  • Alexandra Rushfield
  • Jennifer Konner
Starring
Composer(s)
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes7 (2 unaired)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Alexandra Rushfield
  • David Lang
  • Jennifer Konner
  • Peter Tortorici
  • Stu Bloomberg
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time30 minutes
Production company(s)
  • Spud TV
  • Mindshare Entertainment
  • Pointy Bird Productions
  • ABC Studios
DistributorDisney–ABC Domestic Television
Release
Original networkABC
Original releaseMarch 26 (2009-03-26) –
June 25, 2009 (2009-06-25)
Chronology
Related showsBased on the online web series

Plot

The series focused on Rosemary, Jane, and Emily, loosely inspired by real-life everyday moms.

Rosemary, who has been married numerous times but currently single, is a fast and loose free-wheeling mom with a teenaged son, Sid, who seems to be more responsible than his non-traditional mother.

Rosemary’s best friend, Jane, is a recently divorced mother of two girls, pre-teen Annie, and eight-month-old Sophie. As she tries to keep her career and home afloat, Jane has also hired a "manny," Horatio, to help her out with her working mother duties. Horatio also has the ability to "communicate" with Sophie and believes she is the only person that really "gets" him.

Jane’s younger sister, Emily, is a model stay-at-home-super-mom for her two young children, Esther and Bill. Emily also believes in perfection which she sees as key to her family life and takes parenting as seriously as any mother could. Her home is a work of art, and her kids are polite and sweet. Emily is married to Jason, the breadwinner in the family, who likes his food to be organic and determined to make sure that his family is at the top of their class.

Cast and characters

Production

Loosely based on the popular online web series created by Mindshare and produced by Science + Fiction and Microsoft's Branded Entertainment and Experience Team (BEET) in 2007 in conjunction with Suave hair care products and Sprint Nextel, this adaptation chronicled the daily and hilarious perils of three mothers, with most of their stories being adapted from everyday real-life mothers. The success of the webisodes led to ABC's announcement to order 7 initial episodes for the 2008-2009 TV season after the premiere.[3] Sprint and Suave had an involvement in the series as well.[4]

Casting

Whereas the webisodes featured Leah Remini, Jenny McCarthy, and Chelsea Handler in the lead roles, Handler was supposed to be the only cast member from the series to make the transition to the small screen.[5] But on November 24, 2008, TV Guide reported that the series would instead star Megan Mullally and Cheryl Hines. In addition, Horatio Sanz and Jessica St. Clair had also been cast, with Sanz playing Hines's manny and St. Clair playing Hines's "intimidating younger sister," who doesn't discipline her children. Handler decided to drop out of the project due to scheduling commitments to her E! show Chelsea Lately.[6]

Reception and scheduling

The series had not been received well by critics, and despite ABC's promotional push in the hope of weakening NBC's Thursday night comedy lineup, not many viewers, especially fans of the original web series, flocked to see the show.

On April 30, 2009, ABC announced that it was pulling the series.[7] Followed by the return of Ugly Betty to the schedule while on May 15, 2009, ABC announced that In the Motherhood would return once again, to burn off the remaining episodes.[8] But on June 30, 2009, ABC announced that they pulled In the Motherhood and instead doubled up on Samantha Who? for Thursday, July 2 and Thursday, July 9 at 8:30PM Eastern/7:30PM Central.[1][9]

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers
(millions)
1"It Takes a Village Idiot"Richard ShepardJennifer Konner & Alexandra RushfieldMarch 26, 2009 (2009-03-26)N/A
2"Vacation"Beth McCarthy-MillerPaul Corrigan & Brad WalshApril 2, 2009 (2009-04-02)N/A
3"Bully"Gail MancusoAlan J. HigginsApril 9, 2009 (2009-04-09)N/A
4"Practice What You Preach"Jamie BabbitLiz Cackowski & Maggie CareyApril 16, 2009 (2009-04-16)N/A
5"Shepfather"Lee Shallat-ChemelCraig DiGregorioJune 25, 2009 (2009-06-25)N/A
6"Where There's a Will, There's a Wake"Linda MendozaAnnie MumoloUnairedTBD
7"In Sickness and In Health"Lee Shallat ChemelJoel MadisonUnairedTBD

U.S. Nielsen ratings
Order Episode Airdate Rating Share Rating/Share
(18-49)		 Viewers
(millions)		 Rank
(Overall)
1 "It Takes a Village Idiot" March 26, 2009 4.6 7 2.2/6 6.69 TBA
2 "Vacation" April 2, 2009 3.4 6 1.6/5 5.00 TBA
3 "Bully" April 9, 2009 TBA TBA 1.3/4[10] 4.57 TBA
4 "Practice What You Preach" April 16, 2009 TBA TBA 1.4/5[11] 4.70 TBA
5 "Shepfather" June 25, 2009 2.0 TBA 0.7/2 2.69 TBA
6 "Where There's a Will, There's a Wake" UNAIRED TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
7 "In Sickness and In Health" UNAIRED TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
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References
  1. ABC Drops "Motherhood", Shuffles Sundays, The Futon Critic, June 30, 2009. Retrieved June 30, 2009.
  2. From The Futon Critic
  3. "ABC cuts 'In the Motherhood' order" From Los Angeles Times (March 27, 2009)
  4. "ABC orders 'Motherhood' episodes" From Variety.com (September 5, 2008)
  5. "Chelsea Handler is a Mommy!" from Chisme Time (September 13, 2008)
  6. Horatio Sanz Embraces Motherhood" TV Guide. November 24, 2008. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  7. NBC Yanks "Kings"; ABC Shortens "Motherhood", "Samantha" Runs Archived 2009-04-25 at the Wayback Machine, TV Week, April 21, 2009
  8. ABC Bumps "Motherhood" Burn Off, The Futon Critic, May 28, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  9. "In the Motherhood": ABC Yanks Cancelled Sitcom Again, TV Series Finale, July 1, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
  10. Robert Seidman, Thursday Ratings: Modest success for Southland and Parks and Recreation April 10, 2009.
  11. Robert Seidman, Thursday Ratings: Southland holds up, Parks and Recreation dips Archived 2010-11-15 at WebCite April 17, 2009.
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