'Gaffigan,' left, and 'Impastor' Courtesy of TV Land
Both series will return for second seasons as part of the cable network's single-camera comedy push.
TV Land's reinvention is working.
The Viacom-owned cable network has renewed rookie single-camera comedies The Jim Gaffigan Show and Impastor for second seasons, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
"We’re really proud of these shows that represent the new TV Land," TV Land exec vp development and original programming Keith Cox said. "They have quality writing and great casts, and we’re excited to move on to season two for both."
For family comedy Gaffigan — based the lives of husband and wife duo Jim and Jeannie Gaffigan — the road to renewal was a long one. The show was originally developed for NBC and filmed two pilots for CBS before it moved to TV Land with a series pickup. The deal also included a second window on Comedy Central, where Gaffigan has been a featured stand-up performer. The series has been averaging 4 million total viewers when factoring in premiere nights on both the network and sibling Nick at Nite.
Impastor, which stars Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum as a lowlife who hides out in a small town by conning the residents into thinking he's their newly hired gay pastor, hails from CBS Television Studios. The series, created by Christopher Vane (Wings) has been pulling 2.8 million total viewers over multiple broadcasts per week. Vane, Rosenbaum, Eric and Kim Tannenbaum (Two and a Half Men) and Rob Greenberg (How I Met Your Mother) exec produce. (TV Land will air a catch-up marathon on Sunday starting at 1 a.m., featuring the first eight episodes — all uncensored.
For TV Land, the renewals help cement the cabler's reinvention toward single-camera fare that started with Darren Star's Sutton Foster comedy Younger. In addition to Gaffigan and Impastor, TV Land also has freshman comedy Teachers in the can as well as George Lopez comedy Lopez set for 2016. On the pilot side, I Shudder in the works. The cabler has one by one disposed of its multicamera fare, including its first original scripted series, Hot in Cleveland, along with The Soul Man and more as it courts younger viewers.
