ABC's critically reviled Work It, canceled after a two-episode infliction, will be replaced on Valentine's night by the returning Cougar Town, ABC announced Tuesday.
It was an unexpectedly quick reprieve for Cougar Town, whose creator, Bill Lawrence, had been notably unhappy with ABC's treatment of the show. So much so that he held his own guerrilla party Jan. 9th, on the eve of ABC's day-long presentations to TV critics during the just-concluded winter "press tour" in Pasadena, CA...
Lawrence and the stars of the show, including Courteney Cox, gathered in a hotel bar to pointedly express their concerns before ABC entertainment president Paul Lee told TV writers the following morning that Cougar Town was "tentatively in there for March.
"We love the show... We're going to give it a really good launch pad," Lee said, commending Lawrence for what he termed a "pirate job" of getting the word out about Cougar Town.
Cougar Town will follow Tim Allen's Last Man Standing Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET. Reruns of the Allen sitcom are filling that slot until Feb. 14th.