Back to You is an American situation comedy series created and executive produced by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. The series was directed by James Burrows, and starred Emmy Award-winners Kelsey Grammer (Cheers, Frasier) and Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) as squabbling anchors of a news program.

Plot

Chuck Darling (Grammer) and Kelly Carr (Heaton) were co-anchors of Pittsburgh news program WURG News 9 that had great on-screen chemistry, despite constant quarreling off-screen. However, Chuck left to take a job elsewhere. After an embarrassing comment he made resulting in his firing from a large market LA newscast, Chuck has returned to Pittsburgh after 10 years to become anchor on the newscast he originally left. Chuck also learns that he is the father of Carr's 10-year-old daughter. Their daughter, Gracie, turns 11 years old in the episode, "Something's Up There".

Cast and characters

• Chuck Darling (Kelsey Grammer) is the co-anchor at WURG-TV, News 9, and also the former co-anchor of WURG until New Year's Eve 1998 , until he left for a better job, moving through different markets before finally moving to an anchor job in Los Angeles. Ten years later, he made a curse-filled outburst towards a co-worker, Darcy Tanner, which became a massive YouTube sensation. He has now returned to WURG-TV and is once again co-anchor with Kelly Carr. He later finds out he has a child with Kelly named Gracie, a result of a one night stand the night before Chuck left. He and Gracie get along well, and despite the fact that Gracie is oblivious to his paternity, it seems that Chuck has passed on some of his personality traits to his daughter, which includes their mutual dislike for Kelly. He was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut.

• Kelly Marsha Carr (Patricia Heaton) is Chuck's co-anchor, and was formerly until New Years Eve 1996 when he left WURG. As a result of getting drunk, doing a report on drunk driving, and later having sex with Chuck, she now has a daughter with Chuck. When Chuck returned, she wasn't happy, taking every chance to get angry at him. She revealed that her daughter Gracie is in fact Chuck's child.

• Montana Diaz Herrera (real name Sally Lerner) (Ayda Field) was WURG's purportedly Latina weatherwoman until episode 13 when she was fired. Montana isn't the most well educated person, but she will do a lot to make sure people in power like her. She also has a difficulty pronouncing Monongahela. Her name has disappeared from the credits as of episode 10, because in the plot line for episode 13, she was fired. It is revealed her real name is Sally Lerner. She pretended to be Hispanic because most stations "only wanted to hire minorities." She chose the alias Montana because it was where she used to ice skate, and she chose Diaz Herrera only after mistaking it for "Happy Days" in Spanish. It has been alluded that she is Marsh's daughter. Montana/Sally's mother is named Louise Lerner.

• Ryan Church (Josh Gad) is the news director at WURG. He stated in the pilot that he is 26 (and a half) years old, and his birthday falls in the month of March. He also has a crush on Montana, and repeatedly tries to impress her by doing stupid and dangerous things. He formerly ran the station's internet division.

• Gracie Carr (Laura Marano then Lily Jackson) is Chuck and Kelly's daughter, though she was unaware that Chuck is her father until episode 11. She and her father Chuck seem to share many qualities, such as their sense of humor and their allergy to pistachios. She recently turned eleven. Lily Jackson replaced Laura Marano starting with the tenth episode, The Wall of Fame and Gracie reverted to the age of 10.

• Gary Crezyzewski (pronounced "Sure-shwoov-ski") (Ty Burrell) is WURG's field reporter, a position he has held for 12 years. His ambition is to become an anchor, and it has been hinted that he holds a grudge against Chuck because Gary hoped to be the new anchor. He always ends up in awkward and unwanted situations while reporting, which have included, as he explains, "every freeway chase, toxic spill, and record snowfall". He was also seen to have been used as a test subject in a taser demonstration. His name is often mis-pronounced by his co-workers, especially Chuck. Gary is married to a woman named Kitty, and their marriage is described as somewhat antagonistic, but loving. Kitty is often mentioned, and usually described as behaving outlandishly, but not seen on camera as of Episode 13 - much like Maris from Frasier or Vera from Cheers, both programs from Back to You producer Christopher Lloyd. Gary is of Polish descent.

• Marsh McGinley (Fred Willard) is WURG's fairly dim-witted sports anchor. He throws up before the beginning of each show. He also breaks down while reading Casey at the Bat, because his father used that poem to break his stutter. Could possibly be the father of Montana.

Guest stars

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• Adam Busch as Production Assistant
• Bill Macy as Troy
• Regan Burns as Mr. Robbins
• Rick Fitts as David
• Maurice Smith as Stage Manager
• Tia Carrere as Maggie
• Tom Kane as Voiceover Narrator

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• Charisma Carpenter as Brooke
• Paul Butcher as Well-Dressed Kid
• Tricia O'Kelley as Colette
• Jed Rees as George
• James Patrick Stuart as Chad Brackett
• Billy Mayo as Policeman

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Episodes

Production history

Conception

Originally titled Action News, it was reported in January 2007 that Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton were in talks to lead the cast of the series which only had a script commitment with 20th Century Fox Television at the time.DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, The Futon Critic The script was reportedly a hot commodity with numerous networks interested before FOX outbid the competition and gave it a blind thirteen-episode commitment in February 2007. Upon its pick-up, it also became Levitan and Lloyd's first project under their production banner, Levitan-Lloyd Productions. Grammer and Heaton were also confirmed to star in the series in the same month.DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, The Futon Critic It was renamed Back to You in April 2007 due to the fact that Pittsburgh has a real life Channel 4 Action News. The series was officially greenlit on May 11, 2007. James Burrows who has directed all the episodes so far of the show joined the staff as an executive producer in June 2007.

Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Levitan-Lloyd Productions, the series premiered on September 19, 2007. The show aired on Wednesday nights at 8:00/7:00c on FOX, leading out 'Til Death, which features Heaton's former Everybody Loves Raymond co-star, Brad Garrett. The first episode rated a promising 9.44 million viewers for Fox.FOX RENEWS 'DEATH' VOWS, PICKS UP SEXTET, The Futon Critic

On October 24, 2007 the show was picked up for an additional 11 episodes, bringing the total number of episodes to 24.

Also, despite the show's cancellation, and no guarantee of its renewal, Channel 4 in the United Kingdom picked up the show.TV Scoop: New Kelsey Grammer comedy Back To You on Channel 4 in a few weeks time The series premiered in the UK on Wednesday, 11 June, 2008 on More4 at 9.30pm.

Production notes

Back To You was filmed at 20th Century Fox Studios in Los Angeles, California.

Casting

After the first two leads were found, Paul Campbell and Aimee Garcia were originally cast as Ryan Church and Montana Diaz Herrera respectively in February 2007 but the roles were re-cast in April 2007 with Josh Gad and Ayda Field replacing them.DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, The Futon Critic Fred Willard was also cast as Marsh McGinley in February. Casting continued throughout March with Ty Burrell and Laura Marano landing the last two regular spots in the series.DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: TUESDAY, MARCH 13, The Futon Critic2007 FOX PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT GUIDE - COMEDY SERIES, The Futon Critic There was also talk of casting Sung–Hi Lee in a recurring role as Chuck Darling's love interest, but the producers decided in April to go in a different direction.Sung-hi.comShe did appear in the Pilot.

The role of Gracie Carr was re-casted starting the tenth episode, "The Wall of Fame", and is now played by Lily Jackson. Ayda Field was also dropped from the show after the tenth episode. The background used for Ayda Field's credit in the title sequence, a weather map of the United States, is still briefly shown but her image has been replaced by a silhouette of man.

Writer's Strike

Production on the show was halted on November 6, 2007 due to the 2007-2008 Writers' Strike.

The show went on hiatus on November 14 but returned on Tuesday February 26, 2008 at 9:30/8:30c. It aired a new episode that night and another on Wednesday February 27, 2008, the following day, and new episodes began airing weekly, starting Wednesday April 16, 2008. On this day, Back to You moved to its new time slot at 8:30/7:30c, following 'Til Death, and replacing The Moment of Truth. Breaking News - FOX RETURNS SERIES TO PRODUCTION | TheFutonCritic.com

Cancellation

Despite having better ratings than its comedy companion 'Til Death, the series was not renewed by the network on May 9, 2008, while Til Death was renewed. The show is being shopped to other networks. Ironically, CBS was initially interested in the series before it landed at FOX. Heaton is the former star of CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond. The network is hoping to open a new night of comedy beyond its Monday lineup, and a Grammer-Heaton project could be a solid anchor for such an extension. On May 27, 2008, it was announced that Kelsey Grammer had signed on to play the lead in a new ABC sitcom Roman's Empire.Kelsey Grammer Now Part of ABC's 'Empire' - 'Back to You,' 'Frasier' star joins comedy pilot - Zap2itThe Hollywood ReporterKelsey Grammer cast in ABC comedy pilot - Today's News: Our Take | TVGuide.com

Reception

Critical reaction

Back To You received generally mixed reviews, receiving a rating of 58 from Metacritic.

• I'd rather just watch Grammer and Heaton trade barbs in the newsroom. — Entertainment Weekly
• Fox's Back to You is back to TV comedy basics: multiple cameras, live audiences but, mostly, laughs. — Los Angeles Times
• Grammer and Heaton slip easily into characters who won't be easily mistaken for Frasier Crane or Debra Barone, the writing's professional, the supporting cast dependable (and in the case of Fred Willard, another Raymond veteran, dependably hilarious). — Philadelphia Daily News
• You have to admire Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton for holding up their end of the bargain, even if the material in their show, Back to You, is such a drop from "Frasier" and "Everybody Loves Raymond". — Philadelphia Inquirer
• The pilot's plot leads them in a direction where "this just in" becomes an obvious sexual metaphor--some of it is funny, but there's just too much. — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• Absolutely nothing about it is original or seeks to transform the half-hour genre. Still, the fact that it is executed by sure-footed comedy veterans more than makes up for the sin of familiarity. — Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Controversy

On November 14, 2007, FOX aired the episode of Back to You, "Something's Up There", which contained a controversial Polish slur. The slur involved Marsh trying to convince the show's lone Polish-American character, Gary, to go bowling after work by saying: "Come on, it's in your blood, like kielbasa and collaborating with the Nazis."

FOX later apologized on November 20, 2007. They vowed never to air the line of dialogue again in repeats and/or syndicated broadcasts. FOX stated that, "The line was delivered by a character known for being ignorant, clueless, and for saying outlandish things. Allowing the line to remain in the show, however, demonstrated poor judgment, and we apologize to anyone who was offended."

U.S. television ratings

Standard ratings

In the following summary, "rating" is the percentage of all households with televisions that tuned to the show, and "share" is the percentage of all televisions in use at that time that are tuned in. "18-49" is the percentage of all adults aged 18-49 tuned into the show. "Viewers" are the amount of viewers, in million, watching at the time. "Rank" how well the show did compared to other TV shows aired that week.

Unless otherwise cited, the overnight rating, share, 18-49 and viewing information come from Your Entertainment Now. The ranks come from The Programming Insider or Google Groups.

Ratings competition

Back to You currently airs against Wife Swap, on ABC, The Price is Right on CBS, Deal or No Deal on NBC and America's Next Top Model on The CW.

DVD release

On July 16, 2008, it was announced that Back to You would see a DVD release on October 14. It is being labeled as "Season One" instead of "The Complete Series", implying that there is still a chance the show could come back. The DVD includes all 14 aired episodes, and 3 unaired in a 3-Disc set.Back To You DVD news: Announcement for Back To You - Season 1 | TVShowsOnDVD.com

Back To You - Season One was released on Region 1 DVD on October 14, 2008. The three-disc collection includes all 14 episodes from the First Season, plus three unaired episodes.

Back to You was released in Australia on October 22, 2008. It includes all 17 episodes of the first season that were aired on Network TEN. www.sanity.com.au/product/product.asp?sku=2114783 R4 release