New ABC John Stamos Comedy Put Up Against Survivor

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ABC’s midseason comedy “Jake in Progress,” with its lack of laugh track and single-camera shooting style, doesn’t exactly fit with the other, more traditional sitcoms on the network’s schedule.

“I think that hopefully the show would appeal to the same audience that likes ‘Desperate Housewives’ or ‘Lost,'” creator Austin Winsberg told reporters at last month’s TCA press tour. “… And I think it’s just a question that we’re all struggling with of where does it fit.”

The network has come up with an answer to that question, deciding to pair “Jake” with … itself.

The show, starring John Stamos (“Full House,” “Thieves”) as a serial-dating New York publicist, will get a prime spot for its premiere. ABC will debut two episodes of the show in the “Desperate Housewives” slot on Sunday, March 13 (“Housewives” was scheduled for a repeat that night).

After that, the news is less good. ABC will try out “Jake” at 8 and 8:30 p.m. Thursdays, running back-to-back episodes for six weeks and burning through its entire 13-episode order. That hour is one of the toughest on TV, with CBS’s “Survivor,” NBC’s “Joey” and “Will & Grace” and FOX’s “The O.C.” as competition.

The show will get a little bit of a break in its first couple of weeks, as CBS will be broadcasting the NCAA basketball tournament, whose early rounds don’t typically draw “Survivor”-sized audiences, on March 17 and 24. “Joey” and “The O.C.” are likely to be in reruns for at least some of its run as well.

In addition to Stamos, “Jake in Progress” stars Wendie Malick (“Just Shoot Me”) as Jake’s boss, Ian Gomez (“Felicity”) as his best friend, and Rick Hoffman (“Philly”) as a needy artist who latches onto Jake. “Ed” star Julie Bowen is set to appear in the show’s final four episodes as a woman immune to Jake’s charms.

Credit: Zap2It.com