Suburgatory Information

Suburgatory is an American sitcom television series created by Emily Kapnek, airing on ABC. The series premiered on September 28, 2011, airing on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30 Central following The Middle. The title is a portmanteau, thought up by former CNN Senior Producer Linda Keenan, of the words "suburban" and "purgatory". On May 10, 2012, the show was renewed for a second season, which premiered on October 17, 2012.

Premise

The series follows George Altman, a single father who decides to get away from New York City to the suburbs so he can give his teenage daughter, Tessa, a better life. However, their move to the suburbs has the daughter wondering if they just entered the world of The Stepford Wives after they see how "perfect" their new locale is, right down to the neighbors who welcome them into the cul-de-sac.

Cast

Main cast

• Jeremy Sisto as George Altman, a single father and architect from New York City, who decides to move upstate to the suburbs wanting a better life for his daughter, Tessa.
• Jane Levy as Tessa Altman, George's daughter, who is less than thrilled about her new suburban surroundings.
• Carly Chaikin as Dalia Oprah Royce, a materialistic, so-called popular girl in school and Tessa's rival. She is known to have a dry sense of humor. Her character is apparently based on Paris Hilton.
• Allie Grant as Lisa Marie Shay, Tessa's best friend and neighbor. She is rather awkward and often very embarrassed by her family.
• Alan Tudyk as Noah Werner, George's best friend, who is a dentist. He often helps George assimilate into suburban culture, having moved out of the city some years earlier.
• Cheryl Hines as Dallas Royce, Dalia's mother and George's girlfriend. She employs Tessa and is a mother figure to her when she needs advice.
• Rex Lee as Mr. Wolfe (guest, episode 1; starring, episode 2"present), the school guidance counselor, who is always in a good mood. He is openly gay, after being inspired by Tessa to come out.
• Ana Gasteyer as Sheila Shay (recurring, episodes 1"13; starring, episode 14"present), George and Tessa's nosy neighbor who lives directly across the street. She is Fred's domineering wife and Lisa's very controlling mother.
• Chris Parnell as Fred Shay (recurring, season 1; starring, season 2"present), Sheila's husband and Lisa's father. He is also Ryan's adoptive father, as it was found out at the end of Season 1 that Ryan was adopted by Sheila.

Recurring cast

• Parker Young as Ryan Shay, the dim-witted football jock and Lisa's often embarrassing older brother. He has had an on-and-off relationship with Tessa. In the first season finale, Lisa discovers that Ryan is adopted, adding to her perception their parents favor him over Lisa.
• Maestro Harrell as Malik, the so-called token black kid of the school. He became good friends with Tessa, while working with her on the school newspaper. He has had an on-and-off relationship with Lisa.
• Gillian Vigman as Jill Werner, Noah's emotionally cold wife.
• Bunnie Rivera as Carmen, Dallas' housekeeper, who is later hired by Noah.
• Abbie Cobb as Kimantha, one of Dalia's friends.
• Kara Pacitto and Katelyn Pacitto as Kenzie and Kaitlin, Dalia's friends, who are also twin sisters.
• Arden Myrin as Jocelyn, an employee at the local country club who is attracted to George.
• Jay Mohr as Steven Royce, Dalia's father and Dallas' ex-husband.
• Alicia Silverstone as Eden, George's girlfriend and the surrogate mother of Noah and Jill's child, Opus. In the season two premiere, it is mentioned that she and George have split.
• Thomas McDonell as Scott Strauss, a college-aged crush of Dalia's who becomes Tessa's love interest for a story arc.
• Evan Arnold as Chef Alan, Mr. Wolfe's boyfriend who works as the chef in the high school cafeteria. He later cheats on Mr Wolfe, with his ex-boyfriend.
• Todd Sherry as Tom, father of the twins Kaitlin and Kenzie.
• Alex Boling as Alex, Tom's best friend
• Malin "?kerman as Tessa's mom, Alex.

Production

The series first appeared on ABC's development slate in October 2010. On January 14, 2011, ABC placed a pilot order, written by Emily Kapnek and directed by Michael Fresco, who also serve as executive producers. The half-hour comedy is produced by Warner Bros. Television.

Casting announcements began in February 2011, with Jane Levy the first actor cast, playing the role of Tessa Altman, a Manhattan teen who has been raised for the last fifteen years by a single father, George. Tessa dreads the idea of living in the suburbs. Next to join the series was Alan Tudyk in the role of Noah Werner, George's college buddy and a dentist who moved to the suburbs some years earlier. Allie Grant then joined the series as Lisa Shay, a socially awkward girl at school who befriends Tessa. Jeremy Sisto and Carly Chaikin followed with Sisto playing George Altman, Tessa's architect father who moves her from Manhattan to the suburbs, and Chaikin playing Dalia Royce, Tessa's neighbor who quickly becomes her nemesis at school. Cheryl Hines was next cast in the role of Dallas Royce, a well-to-do housewife and the mother of Dalia. She tells George that her absentee husband (Jay Mohr) "travels a lot". Rex Lee was the last actor cast, playing Mr. Wolfe, Tessa's clueless high school guidance counselor. He was originally a guest star but was upped to a series regular after the pilot. Saturday Night Live (SNL) alumna Ana Gasteyer plays the Altmans' domineering neighbor, Sheila Shay, whom they vainly try to avoid. Fellow SNL alum Chris Parnell plays Fred, her husband, who toes the line. The Shays have two children: Lisa, who is Tessa's closest thing to a friend, and Ryan (Parker Young).

On May 13, 2011, ABC ordered the pilot to series, to air in the fall of the 2011"12 United States network television schedule. Suburgatory premiered on September 28, 2011 and currently airs on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30 central following The Middle. After initially ordering 11 episodes, ABC picked up Suburgatory for a full season on October 13, 2011. On December 16, 2011, it was announced that Alicia Silverstone would have a recurring role as Eden, a potential love interest for single father George. This marked the third time Silverstone and Jeremy Sisto had worked together, since first working on the 1995 American comedy film Clueless, and the 1995 thriller Hideaway.

On March 23, 2012, ABC announced that the series was renewed for the 2012"2013 television season. It would air after Modern Family, on 9:30/8:30 central timeslot replacing the new series The Neighbors which was originally scheduled to air in that timeslot.

Theme song

The theme song, "Pleasant Nightmare", was written by Jared Faber and Emily Kapnek and is sung by Alih Jey. The theme song is slightly different in episode 22 (the last episode of season 1). In the season 2 premiere, Tessa performs a longer version of the song, which she says her mother wrote.

Location and setting

The series takes place in the fictional town of Chatswin. According to the onscreen map animation displayed in the opening credits, the true location of the town is in southern Westchester County, an affluent suburban county north of New York City. The 914 area code would also indicate it is in Westchester County. In episode 13, George Altman enters his zip-code as 10805, which is a postal code in New Rochelle, New York.

The series takes its title from Suburgatory: Twisted Tales from Darkest Suburbia, a book by former CNN Senior Producer Linda Keenan, based in part on her experiences after she moved from New York City to three affluent suburbs, the first of which was in Westchester County. The book, released on October 11, 2011, thirteen days after the show premiered, is described on the front cover as "The Title behind the ABC Sitcom".

Critical reception

The show has been met with generally positive reviews, with an initial score of 70 out of 100 from Metacritic. "Kapnek manages to make a show that is both satiric and emotionally engaging", said David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle, "two varieties of comedy [that] don't always work well together." On the other end, Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times blasted the show. "[It] begins with a tenuous premise, uses it to leap to an inaccurate dichotomy and supports that with tired, unfunny stereotypes."

Ratings

The debut episode did well, scoring a 3.3 among the 18"49 demos with 9.81 million viewers tuning in. Later episodes of the show have been performing well, with steady ratings so far during its first season. As of January 12, 2012, the show's viewership has averaged 8.7 million.

Season	Timeslot (ET)	# Ep.	Premiered		Ended		TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
			Date	Premiere Viewers (in millions)	Date	Finale Viewers (in millions)
1	Wednesday 8:30 pm	22	September 28, 2011	9.81	May 16, 2012	5.35	2011"2012	#71	7.25
2	Wednesday 9:30 pm Wednesday 8:30 pm (April 3 - 24)		October 17, 2012	7.54	April 24, 2013	TBA	2012"2013	TBA	TBA

Awards and nominations

Suburgatory was nominated for a 2012 People's Choice Award for "Favorite New TV Comedy", but lost to 2 Broke Girls.

Year	Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Outcome
2012	People's Choice Award	Favorite New TV Comedy	Suburgatory
	Critics' Choice Television Awards	Best Comedy Supporting Actress	Cheryl Hines

International broadcasts

The series has been picked up in Canada by Citytv, where it is simulcast with the ABC broadcasts. In Latin America the series premiered on October 31, 2011 on Warner Channel. The show premiered on January 3 in Sweden on Chanel 5. In the Republic of Ireland the show began broadcasting on RT"? Two from March 21, 2012 airing Wednesdays at 19:00. In Spain, it premiered on Cosmopolitan TV on January 13, 2012. The series began airing on GO! in Australia on February 5, 2012. It premiered in Serbia on Serbian HBO Comedy on February 27, 2012, the Serbian name of the show is ?istili?te u predgra"?u. It also premiered in Poland on Polish HBO Comedy, on February 27, 2012, as Podmiejski czy"?ciec (Suburban Purgatory). The show began airing in New Zealand on TV2 on February 14, 2012. In the United Kingdom, Suburgatory started airing on Channel 4's digital channel E4 from 17 July 2012. For Germany, ProSiebenSat.1 has picked up the series and will start airing it on Wednesday nights beginning on August 29. It is also shown in Denmark on TV2 Zulu. In Portugal is aired Monday thru Friday, at 18:30, from November 22, 2012 until December 21, 2012 in RTP2. In Brazil, the show premiered on January 3, 2013 at 3:30 AM in the SBT.