ABC Pulls Ugly Betty For Samantha Who, Shifts Schedule

ABC has announced that it is pulling Ugly Betty and replacing it with episodes of Samantha Who and the single-mom comedy In the Motherhood. Starting March 26, Samantha Who will air Thursdays at 8 pm/ET, where it will lead into In the Motherhood, a new comedy starring Cheryl Hines, Megan Mullally and Jessica St. Clair. Ugly Betty will take a hiatus, then will return to the show’s regular time slot later this season after In the Motherhood and Samantha Who finish their runs. That puts Ugly Betty’s return sometime around June and outside the regular season, unless Samantha Who or In the Motherhood gets canceled.

ABC has also scheduled office sitcom Better Off Ted, airing Wednesdays at 8:30 pm/ET starting March 18, paired in the hour with Scrubs at 8 pm/ET. The network still has not scheduled Mike Judge’s animated comedy The Goode Family, which is considered a challenge because ABC does not have other anaimted shows to pair it with.

The new schedule puts ABC’s two female-centric comedies in front of Grey’s Anatomy on Thursdays, and its more male-oriented comedies before Lost. Samantha Who will go up against NBC’s new Amy Poehler comedy, while In the Motherhood will air against NBC’s My Name is Earl. Scrubs will battle CBS’ Old Christine, while Better Off Ted is up against Gary Unmarried.

The Thursday play is especially intriguing as not many broadcast comedies air head-to-head nowadays and NBC’s My Name Is Earl and Kath & Kim have slipped in the ratings this season. ABC also is not the first competitor to see an opportunity in the hour this season. Just last week Fox moved medical drama Bones into the same slot and came in first place.