ABC Family’s ‘Baby Daddy’ Renewed for Fifth Season

ABC Family is bringing Baby Daddy back.

The network on Friday renewed the comedy, starring Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Tahj Mowry, Chelsea Kane, Melissa Peterman and Derek Theler, for a fifth season.

The renewal, which was announced just as production on season four is wrapping ahead of its March 18 season finale, comes as the series has been garnering one-year highs for its winter crop of episodes across adults 18-34 and women 18-34. It ranks as Wednesday’s top original cable telecast among women 18-49 (616,000 viewers and a 1.0).

Read more ABC Family Targeting Older Women Amid Restructuring

Recently nominated for a favorite cable TV comedy People’s Choice Award, the series hails from showrunner Dan Berendsen and ranks as the cabler’s longest-running comedy (and second-longest-running series behind flagship Pretty Little Liars). (Melissa & Joey hit 100 episodes but will only run for four seasons.)

“Comedy is an important part of ABC Family’s makeup,” said Karey Burke, executive vp programming and development at ABC Family. “We’re excited to see where Dan takes these lovable characters and look forward to more great comedy from the cast.”

For ABC Family, Baby Daddy is part of a roster of scripted originals that also includes Chasing Life, The Fosters, Switched at Birth, Young & Hungry, Pretty Little Liars and new additions Recovery Road and Stitchers.

The renewal comes as ABC Family is parting ways with comedy Melissa & Joey, which is wrapping its run after four seasons. The move to renew Baby Daddy comes as ABC Family is plotting a potential network rebranding that could include a new name as it courts older women amid its executive reorganization. Meanwhile, the younger-skewing network has two comedy pilots in the works: Tough Cookie and Kevin From Work, both single-cam.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
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