| Men in Trees | |
|---|---|
| Format | Romantic comedy-drama |
| Created by | Jenny Bicks |
| Starring | Anne Heche Abraham Benrubi Emily Bergl Seana Kofoed Suleka Mathew Derek Richardson Sarah Strange Cynthia Stevenson Lauren Tom James Tupper John Amos |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 36 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV), 720p (HDTV) |
| Original run | September 12, 2006 – June 11, 2008 |
Men in Trees is an American romantic television dramedy series which premiered on September 12, 2006 on ABC and starred Anne Heche who played relationship coach Marin Frist. The series was set in the fictional town of Elmo, Alaska and concerned Marin Frist's misadventures in relationships. The premise showed at least superficial similarities to the HBO television series Sex and the City (on which series creator Jenny Bicks was a co-executive producer), which also featured a romantically-oriented, female writer. The protagonist's apparent "fish-out-of-water" feeling in a remote, small, Alaskan town can be likened to CBS's Northern Exposure. The protagonists in both series were New Yorkers thrust into small town Alaska societies. Filming for the series was based in Squamish, British Columbia.
Five episodes of the first production season, which were not yet shown on ABC, debuted in New Zealand on the TV2 network in June 2007 and July 2007. The five carryover episodes aired on ABC after the first episode of the second production season, beginning October 19.[1] Men In Trees has been cancelled as of May 4, 2008. Its final episodes aired starting with Wednesday, May 28, 2008.[2]
Contents |
The show first aired on ABC with a preview on September 12, 2006 after the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars.[3] On September 15, 2006 the show moved to Fridays at 9 p.m. ET. From November 30, 2006 until March 2007 episodes aired Thursdays at 10 p.m. The network announced on May 15, 2007 intentions to return the series to Fridays, albeit one hour earlier than its original timeslot, in its fall schedule. Men in Trees was pulled from the air in favor of the new ABC series October Road, which began airing on Thursday, March 15, 2007. After the initial run of October Road, Notes from the Underbelly was supposed to take over, but that has been changed.[4] The Futon Critic and Zap2It.com have each reported that the remaining five Season 1 episodes will air as part of Season 2 in the fall of 2007.[5][6]
Noting the absence of Men in Trees from ABC's schedule since March, series creator Jenny Bicks reported in her blog for ABC that reruns of the show would be shown on ABC beginning in June 2007, continuing throughout the summer. Reruns of the series' first season began airing on ABC on Thursday, June 28.[7]
The series began the Fall 2007 season airing Fridays at 10 p.m. However, due to its inability to hold on to the audience of freshman hit Women's Murder Club and the underperformance of 20/20 at 8 p.m., Men in Trees was moved to the 8 p.m. Friday slot. Five episodes of Men in Trees unscreened in the US premiered on TV2 in New Zealand, and started on Monday, June 25, 2007 with the 18th episode titled "Chemical Reactions". Following the end of the 2008 writers' strike, the show returned on February 27, 2008 in its new timeslot on Wednesdays at 10PM.
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Men in Trees on ABC:
| Season | Timeslot (EDT) | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friday 9.00 P.M. (September 12 - November 10, 2006) Thursday 10.00 P.M. (November 30 - February 15, 2007) |
September 12, 2006 | February 15, 2007 | 2006-2007 | #65 | 8.4[8] |
| 2 | Friday 10:00 P.M. (October 12 - November 2, 2007) Friday 8:00 P.M. (November 9 - December 7, 2007) Wednesday 10:00 P.M. (February 27 - June 11, 2008) |
October 12, 2007 | June 11, 2008 | 2007-2008 | #105 | 5.8[9] |
The series was given a 13 episode order at ABC's May 2006 Upfronts, to debut in the fall of 2006, originally to follow Ugly Betty. After that series was shifted to a lead time slot on Thursdays, Men in Trees eventually followed Friday encore episodes of Grey's Anatomy until November 30, when Trees was moved to follow first-run Grey's episodes. On October 28, 2006 ABC ordered 4 more scripts to be written for the show.[10] ABC then ordered a full season pickup for the show on November 8. It became the seventh new series to be given a full 22-episode order in the 2006-07 season.[11] Men in Trees is among several scripted series affected by the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike. In particular, a total of 14 new episodes were written for the second season, versus an order for 22. Combined with five episodes carried over from the first production season, Men in Trees has 19 completed episodes for its second broadcast season in the United States, and was on hiatus from late December 2007 until it returned on February 27, 2008, taking over for Cashmere Mafia. The series was not aired during the May 2008 sweeps period. On May 4, 2008, ABC announced the official cancellation of the show, and that the final episodes would be broadcast starting on May 28, 2008.
With a pleasant blend of quirkiness and charm, this is an M.I.T. we can all get into.—Alynda Wheat, [12]
Heche is very likable here. She plays some of the same notes she played when stranded with Harrison Ford in Six Days Seven Nights, or playing Amanda in last year's Everwood guest arc, but also crafts a credible character, and slips into her central role comfortably. Heche and Tupper explore a fiery love scene, and Benrubi's big Ben is the cuddliest TV character since Jorge Garcia's Hurley on Lost.—David Bianculli, [13]