via press release:
FX COMEDY The League GOES THROUGH EXPANSION
Network Orders 13 Episodes for Season Two
The League’s Season One Finale Tomorrow Night at 10:30 PM E/P Follows
Season Five Finale of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia at 10:00 PM E/P
LOS ANGELES, December 9, 2009 – FX’s freshman comedy The League has been picked up for a second season with an expanded order of 13 episodes from FX Productions, announced Nick Grad, Executive Vice President of Original Programming, FX Networks.
Season two is scheduled to return in late summer of 2010. The first season finale of The League airs tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 10) at 10:30 PM ET/PT, immediately following the season five finale of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia at 10:00 PM.
“We’ve been very pleased with the creative and ratings trajectory of The League and believe it’s an excellent fit with our comedy brand,” said Grad. “Jackie and Jeff Schaffer are incredibly talented producers and the ensemble cast is fantastic. The performance of the show this season is reminiscent of Sunny in its first season.”
Set against the backdrop of a fantasy football league, The League is about friendship, marriage, parenting, and growing up…or refusing to grow up. It was created by the husband-and-wife team of Jeff Schaffer (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld) and Jackie Marcus Schaffer (Disturbia, EuroTrip) who serve as executive producers. The ensemble features Mark Duplass, Stephen Rannazzisi, Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer, Katie Aselton and Jon Lajoie. The series is produced by FX Productions.
“This has been a wonderful experience for me and Jeff,” said Jackie Marcus Schaffer. “Our cast – Mark, Steve, Nick, Paul, Katie and Jon – is made up of some of the most talented young actor-comedians in the business. So much of the credit goes to them.”
Jeff Schaffer added, "FX has been like the coolest girlfriend you could ever have. They get us, laugh at our jokes, and love hearing us talk about football. It's a perfect relationship - and we look forward to going steady with them for a long time."
Episode five of The League (12/3) was the second highest-rated of the season, ahead of the premiere and behind episode two. Through five episodes, the series is averaging 1.06 million viewers and 863,000 Adults 18-49. Compared to year ago time period, The League has grown +44% among Adults 18-49, +65% in Adults 18-34, and +107% in Men 18-34. The delivery of Adults 18-34 (680,000) are +61% higher than the first season of Sunny (419,000), and +16% more in Adults 18-49 (Sunny season one, 747,000).
In tomorrow’s season finale of The League (10:30 PM), “The Shiva Bowl,” perennial league champion Pete (Duplass) battles it out with perennial loser Andre (Paul Scheer) in the fantasy league title game. The guys try to hide the Shiva Trophy from their high school classmate - the actual Shiva. Taco (Jon Lajoie) finally gets a "real person job." The episode was written by Jeff Schaffer & Jackie Marcus Schaffer and directed by Jeff Schaffer.
Leading into The League finale tomorrow at 10:00 PM is the fifth season finale of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. In “The Gang Reignites The Rivalry,” the Paddy’s team is once again eligible to compete in Flipadelphia – a city wide flip cup tournament – following their ten-year ban. Now all they have to do is instigate their old rivals, who have since grown up, to enter to competition. The episode was written by Dave Chernin & Charlie Day and directed by Randall Einhorn.
FX is raising the stakes in comedy. In addition It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and The League, the network will debut the new animated series Archer on Thursday, January 14 at 10:00 PM ET/PT, and Louie, starring stand-up comedian/actor Louis C.K. in the spring. FX has ordered ten episodes of Archer and 13 of Louie. FX previously ordered seasons six and seven of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, with season six scheduled to launch next summer.
FX Productions co-produces the Emmy® and Golden Globe® award-winning Damages (with Sony Pictures Television), the critically acclaimed hit drama Sons Of Anarchy (with Fox 21.), the upcoming drama series Justified (with Sony Pictures Television) starring Timothy Olyphant scheduled for March premiere, and recently ordered drama Lights Out (with Fox Television Studios) starring Holt McCallany. FX Productions is the sole production entity of FX comedy series It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, The League, Archer and Louie.
FX is the flagship general entertainment basic cable network from the Fox Networks Group. Launched in June of 1994, FX is carried in more than 96 million homes. The diverse schedule includes a growing roster of critically acclaimed and award-winning original series; an established film library with box-office hits from 20th Century Fox and other studios; and an impressive roster of acquired hit series. For more information about FX, visit our web site at www.FXnetworks.com.
Source: The Nielsen Company, Live+Same Day (000s)
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I don’t know what to make of the League. There’s some decent laugh out loud moments, but overall it’s just very mediocre. Not sure I’ll be checking out season 2.
Once upon a time, FX was such a great network! And by “once upon a time”, naturally, I mean when it aired reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer! But starting in January, Logo and MTV will be airing Buffy reruns, which means they are clearly the better networks! FX is going down, down, down, down!
I predict that ratings for “Damages” will be terrible again, and it’s all because they gave up Buffy reruns! Meanwhile, I hear the ratings for “Sons of Anarchy” were great! Did you know that SoA creator Kurt Sutter used to work for The Shield creator, Shawn Ryan?! And did you know that Shawn Ryan used to work for the Man himself, Joss Whedon?! These are not coincidences at all!
Dollhouse! Dollhouse! Dollhouse! Dollhouse rules! “The League” drools! Dollhouse!
Regardless of the sarcasm, thanks JBF! I didn’t know viacom had the rights to Buffy now. Makes sense for MTV.
I havent watched The League, but it had good retention out of Sunny right? Always Sunny is the only FX show I watch now, gotta give Sons of Anarchy a try.
Has anyone ever found JBF to be funny? The only comments I’ve read of their are crazy. Are they MEANT to be funny, or just weird?
I am a fan of this show. There are laugh of loud moments and in todays sit com landscape that is very rare.
nkinsey, I have always found JBF amusing. And LOL funny on a number of occasions. Perhaps you think he/she is serious?
Great show…the dude who plays Taco is hilarious
Imo this show is great very funny. The pilot ep was good but things get even better only ep I thought was a bit of a miss was ep 3 but even that ep had good laughs. That shows how good the series is that even a miss ep has laughs. You guys should check it out if you haven’t seen it.
JBF used to have side splittingingly funny, satirical comments but now he/she just kind of says dumb things such as his/her post above
As for the League, its been a really enjoyable show so far glad it got renewed
It is true! Buffy is coming to LOGO and MTV wow….here is the link http://www.sitcomsonline.com/blog/2009/12/buffy-vampire-slayer-coming-to-logo-and.html
I can’t believe people are hating on FX. The network has arguably the best drama on TV in Damages, and two of the top 5 sitcoms.
The League is such garbage.
Not a big shock. Though I didnt find The League as funny as Testees, its a good fit to be paired with Sunny again next fall, and its better than Sunny doubling up. I guess FX figures that The League can improve so I hope it does. If Louie and Archer do well next spring then maybe FX can have those as their annual spring comedies.
I figured JBF was trying to be funny. But every comment they’ve left hasn’t been funny at all. That’s why I asked if he was supposed to just sound crazy, since he never is funny.
Hey, Joss’ Biggest Fan, isn’t it funny that Joss’ former employees are able to make shows people actually want to watch, and he hasn’t been able to do that since the 90′s? I think it’s very funny.
The League is low rent absolute hilarity! Great pairing for Sunny to take that block to an hour…
I can’t watch FX shows until they start filming them in HD!
THIS SHOW IS ABSOLUTELY A SMASH HIT, ANYONE THAT DOESNT GET IT WILL NEVER GET IT, I AM IN MANY FANTASY LEAGUES AND THIS SHOW IS HOME RUN ITS VERY REAL AND TRUE TO LIFE, ITS MOSTLY SUTTLE HUMOR THAT YOU SHOULD GET IF YOU HAVE THE FRIENDS THAT GO THRU THINGS LIKE THE SHOW ILLUSTRATES, I CAN WATCH THIS AND SEE PEOPLE I AND MY FRIENDS CAN RELATE TO ITS A SMASH HIT
The League is awesome, the finale was hilarious. Its just like hanging with my own friends. To get the show though, you gotta have friends and it helps if you actually play fantasy football. Glad they picked it up for another season. Also, JBF, not funny. Sorry!