‘Family Man’ Gets Its Chance on ABC

ABC will remove “The Thorns” from its prime-time schedule and will replace it with “Family Man,” a comedy series that was previously turned down by both NBC and Fox Broadcasting.

“The Thorns,” currently airing Fridays at 9:30 p.m., will have is last telecast tonight, the network said Thursday. “Family Man” will begin a limited trial run March 18 in the same time slot. The low-rated “Thorns” may return this summer, according to an ABC spokesman.

“Family Man,” a family comedy executive-produced by Earl Pomerantz for Universal Television, was originally developed for NBC. NBC turned the idea down, so the studio took the project to Fox, which liked it enough to order seven episodes. Then Fox decided not to put them on the air.

“Basically, the show didn’t fit into our line-up--it wasn’t a question of quality,” Fox Broadcasting spokesman Brad Turell said Thursday. “We only have two nights of prime-time programming, and this is an 8 o’clock show. We didn’t have room for an 8 o’clock show. We wish them (ABC) well, and hope it works for them.”

ABC spokesman Jim Brochu said that the network’s decision to air “Family Man” now is unrelated to the continuing Writers Guild of America strike.

“We just decided to try it out in the 9:30 slot in our Friday comedy line-up,” he said. “Comedy has worked well for us in the past, and yes, ‘The Thorns’ wasn’t doing particularly well. And we liked the show.”

Pomerantz, the original producer of NBC’s top-rated “The Cosby Show,” said ABC’s decision came as a surprise. “I just returned from watching spring training in Florida,” he said Thursday. “They paged me in the airport and told me it was going on the air.”

Pomerantz said that “Family Man,” a half-hour comedy starring Richard Libertini and Mimi Kennedy as a husband and wife trying to manage his career as a comedy writer and also raise three children, was based on his own family life and was intended, like “Cosby,” to be a show about the everyday problems of everyday people.

“I really wanted to make a show that people would like at home, rather than a show people would like in the studio,” he said. “In the stories that happened, I wanted to use dialogue that people actually use. I think it is a different kind of a show.”

Pomerantz compared the show to the current so-called “dramedies” such as “Frank’s Place” and “Hooperman,” which blend comedy and drama. “We have a laugh track, but it’s a gentle one,” he said.

Pomerantz lamented that ABC’s last-minute scheduling decision will allow little time to promote the show. “It’s not even listed in TV Guide--we’re going to have to go down to the 7-Eleven and write it in in pencil,” he joked.