Germany’s ProSieben Falls for ‘New Girl’

COLOGNE, Germany – German commercial network ProSieben has fallen for the New Girl, picking up Fox’s hit sitcom starring Zooey Deschanel for Europe’s largest TV market. ProSieben, which airs U.S. sitcoms including Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, will air the pilot of New Girl in a late night slot Jan. 5 before scheduling the series for a weekly primetime position from Jan.11.

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It’s rare that a German network pounces on a U.S. sitcom in its first season. American comedies can be a tough sell in  Germany and channels typically prefer to wait until a show has proven itself with domestic audiences. But the huge response to New Girl and Fox’s early full-season order for the show, seems to have convinced ProSieben to give the series a try. Even more surprising is the channel’s decision to air the show in primetime.

ProSieben’s (successful) strategy with new U.S. sitcoms has been to first test series in daytime before promoting them to primetime slots.