Gushing about the cast's reaction, executive producer Bill Lawrence denies rumor that Courteney Cox and co-stars will be paid less now that the comedy will air on the cable in its fourth season.
- May 11, 2012
AceShowbiz - "Cougar Town" is officially moving to TBS. Following speculation about the acquisition, the cable channel announced on Thursday, May 10 that it has snagged the comedy series from ABC and ordered a 15-episode fourth season which will premiere in early 2013.
Describing the stars' feelings right now, executive producer Bill Lawrence told E! Online, "The cast, they are all over the moon!" He shared, "Not only do they like their job, but the best they could have gotten was 13 episodes on ABC. They are getting a high-profile launch, which goes 15 episodes and TBS bought all the other 60 episodes we made, so they are super excited."
Responding to rumor saying that the cast will be paid less now that the show moves to cable, he is adamant that "there are no pay cuts." To TVLine, the 43-year-old writer further stressed, "We haven't done the budget yet but I can tell you that TBS is paying the exact same license fee that ABC paid... TBS is not doing this rinky-dink. They're doing a big-time marketing [push] and really rallying around the show creatively."
Asked if the move meant ABC was going to cancel the show, Lawrence replied, "No. You have to remember, Paul Lee is both the president of ABC network and the president of ABC Studios. And 'Cougar Town' is worth money in syndication - that's also why we got a 15-episode order." Dishing that TBS will launch "Cougar Town" as a whole new show, he said that he has no hard feelings with the way the Alphabet promoted the comedy series.
Of whether or not the show will get a new title, he said, "Whatever TBS wants. But I doubt it." The co-creator of "Scrubs" is also unsure if the Courteney Cox-starring series will include curses once it airs on the cable as explaining, "I don't know enough about TBS to answer that, but I would love somebody to ask that question at [next week]'s TBS Upfront so I can find out what their rules are."
The third season finale of "Cougar Town" will air Tuesday, May 29 at 8/7c on ABC. It will see a wedding, "a little Travis and Laurie stuff and a giant play" in "Groundhog Day", so Lawrence teased.
