'Cougar Town' Moves to TBS

10:07 AM PDT 5/10/2012 by Philiana Ng

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The Courteney Cox comedy will make the move from ABC in early 2013.

ABC

"Cougar Town"

Cougar Town is moving to TBS.

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The cable network has ordered a 15-episode fourth season of the Courteney Cox comedy to begin airing in early 2013. TBS also snagged encore rights to the 61 episodes from the show's three seasons on ABC, allowing it to inch closer to the number needed for syndication.

"Cougar Town is a smart, whimsical sitcom that draws its humor from likable, relatable characters," said Michael Wright, president and head of programming for TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies. "We are thrilled to have Cougar Town moving to the TBS neighborhood as the network continues to expand its slate of original comedy series."

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Castmembers Dan Byrd and Josh Hopkins were cast in pilots this season, but both were in second position to Cougar Town.

Since debuting in 2009, the series has faced an uphill battle amid scheduling jumps. In season two, the half-hour was slotted for a spring return on Monday nights after more than two months off the air, before continuing in its usual 9:30 p.m. Wednesday home. This year, Cougar Town moved to Tuesdays, bowing its third season on Valentine's Day to 4.9 million viewers after nearly nine months off.

Cougar Town is co-created by Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Spin City), who at one point embarked on a tour around the U.S. to promote the show and threw an unofficial TCA cocktail mixer this year, and Kevin Biegel (Scrubs). Cox and David Arquette also serve as executive producers. Cougar Town is produced by ABC Studios.

The half-hour comedy is the latest series to join the TBS slate, which includes new sitcoms Men at Work, Sullivan & Son, Wedding Band and reality competition series King of the Nerds (working title). Sister network TNT rescued Warner Bros. TV's gritty police drama Southland from NBC in 2009. It recently was renewed for a fifth season.