by Not much longer than a week after NBC said this…
“Without having to launch these comedies on Friday at this time, we can keep our promotion focused on earlier in the week — plus we will have both comedies in our back pocket if we need to make any schedule changes on those nights. When we have a better idea of viewing patterns in the next few weeks, we will announce new season premieres of Whitney and Community.”
…the network announced today that Animal Practice would be put down, and replaced Nov. 14 with the second season of Whitney, starring comedians Whitney Cummings and Chris D’Elia.
Apparently the Peacock Network was tired of monkeying around with its Wednesday night lineup. Egads. Call the pun police.
Animal Practice, set in a veterinary hospital and starring a scene-stealing capuchin named Crystal the Monkey, previewed during the Summer Olympics in August to 12.8 million viewers, but officially debuted three weeks ago to less than half that audience. Last night, it pulled in only a 1.0 rating in the ages 18-49 demographic and 3.8 million viewers overall. Even with human comedians Bobby Lee, Betsy Sodaro and June Diane Raphael providing comic relief, the sitcom finished next-to-last among all five networks broadcasting in primetime. Even CW’s Arrow beat the monkey this week.
Among other comedians who tried to help bolster Animal Practice with guest spots were Paul Rust, Brian Huskey and Kevin Heffernan. The sitcom will continue airing episodes at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Nov. 7, 2012.
