Hank (2009 TV series)

Hank (originally titled Awesome Hank and PRYORS) is an American sitcom which ran on ABC from September 30, 2009, to November 4, 2009.[1] The series was created by Tucker Cawley and is about a Wall Street executive who loses his job and reconnects with his small-town family.[2] Hank originally aired on Wednesday nights in the fall season and starred Frasier actor Kelsey Grammer. The series was produced by McMonkey Productions and Werner Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Hank
Title screen depicting the series' cast
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Tucker Cawley
Starring	Kelsey Grammer David Koechner Melinda McGraw Jordan Hinson Nathan Gamble
Composer	Matter Music
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10 (5 unaired in the U.S.)
Production
Executive producers	Tucker Cawley Kelsey Grammer Mike Clements Tom Werner
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	McMonkey Productions Werner Entertainment Warner Bros. Television
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	ABC (episodes 1-5) Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (episodes 6–10)
Original release	September 30 – November 4, 2009

Premise

Hank Pryor (Kelsey Grammer) is a high-powered business executive. He lives with his wife, Tilly (Melinda McGraw), their daughter, Maddie (Jordan Hinson) and their son, Henry (Nathan Gamble). The big life is great for them until Hank is suddenly released from his CEO job and has his family relocate from New York City to the small southern town of River Bend, Virginia. Life is not all too grand now with having to live in the same zip code as Tilly's family, but for Hank, it's starting small to become big.

Cast

• Kelsey Grammer as Hank Pryor – a Wall Street CEO who loses his job
• Melinda McGraw as Tilly Pryor – Hank's wife for 19 years
• Jordan Hinson as Maddie Pryor – Hank and Tilly's 15-year-old daughter
• Nathan Gamble as Henry Pryor – Hank and Tilly's son
• David Koechner as Grady Funk – Tilly's hillbilly brother

Episodes

A total of 10 episodes of Hank were filmed and five have been aired, but on November 11, 2009, ABC said it had "no immediate plans" to air the others.[3]

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Production code	U.S. Viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	Andrew D. Weyman	Tucker Cawley	September 30, 2009	2J5341	8.336[4]
A legendary entrepreneur in the sports retail world, Hank Pryor, and his wife, Tilly, have been living the high life in New York City. That is until Hank is forced out of his CEO job and has to downsize and move his family back home to the small town of River Bend, Virginia.
2	"Yard Sale"	Kelsey Grammer	Bill Martin & Mike Schiff	October 7, 2009	2J5302	6.446[5]
Hank gets back into business by testing his entrepreneurial skills with a neighborhood yard sale.
3	"Drag Your Daughter to Work Day"	Andrew D. Weyman	Tucker Cawley	October 14, 2009	2J5301	6.153[6]
When Hank tells Maddie that she needs to get a job like he used to have at her age, he ends up having to prove what he said was true by taking a job alongside her at the mall.
4	"Relax, Don't Do It"	Andrew D. Weyman	Jackie Filgo & Jeff Filgo	October 21, 2009	2J5303	5.775[7]
Hank finds it challenging to "do nothing" while unemployed and is the ultimate over-achiever in his roles as a house-husband as well as a hunter
5	"Hanksgiving[8]"	Andrew D. Weyman	Jackie Filgo & Jeff Filgo	November 4, 2009	2J5308	5.093[9]
Hank's worst holiday nightmare comes true when his mother-in-law comes to visit for the first annual suburban Pryor Family "Hanksgiving".
6	"Got It[8]"	Kelsey Grammer	Ilana Wernick	January 15, 2013 (SBT)[10]	2J5304	N/A
Hank has had it with Tilly's annoying habit of saying "got it, got it, got it," but is afraid to discuss the issue directly with her, so he recruits his ever-so-subtle brother-in-law, Grady, to approach her about the problem.
7	"Hank's Got a Friend"	Andrew D. Weyman	DJ Nash	January 22, 2013 (SBT)[10]	2J5305	N/A
Hank gets more than he bargained for when he finds a friend in suburbia.
8	"The Pryor Name"	Andrew D. Weyman	Steve Skrovan	February 2, 2013 (SBT)	N/A	N/A
Hank gears up for his first big meeting since his career 'downsized'.
9	"Tree House"	Andrew D. Weyman	Tucker Cawley & DJ Nash	January 29, 2013 (SBT)[10]	N/A	N/A
Henry helps with a tree house, while Maddie is skipping her chores.
10	"Dog"	Gail Mancuso	Bill Martin & Mike Schiff	February 19, 2013 (SBT)[10]	N/A	N/A
When Henry chooses a grizzled old hound for a pet, Hank realizes he has a lot in common with the doddery old dog.

U.S. ratings

Episode Number	Episode	Rating	Share	Rating/Share (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	Rank (Timeslot)	Rank (Night)
1	"Pilot"	5.4	9	2.2/7	8.46	4	10
2	"Yard Sale"	4.4	7	1.6/5	6.72	6	14
3	"Drag Your Daughter to Work Day"	4.2	7	1.6/5	6.24	6	14
4	"Relax, Don't Do It"	3.9	7	1.5/5	5.84	6	13
5	"Hanksgiving"	3.6	6	1.4/4	5.33	7	13
6	"Got It"	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
7	"Hank's Got a Friend"	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
8	"The Pryor Name"	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
9	"Tree House"	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
10	"Dog"	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

Reception

The show received negative reviews from critics, scoring a 36/100 in Metacritic, with viewers agreeing with the critics, scoring it at a 4.1/10.[11] The Los Angeles Times has noted "There's nothing here you couldn't imagine from the premise, but there's also nothing wrong with what's here: McGraw is a good foil for Grammer, and Grammer is good at what he does."[12] The New York Post panned the show: "Hank is one of the worst new (or old) comedies of this or many other seasons".[13]

Cancellation

Hank was officially cancelled on November 11, 2009 amidst low ratings and bad reviews.[3] A total of ten episodes of the series have been produced, leaving five episodes unaired. ABC stated that they had no immediate plans to air the remaining episodes. Special programs and reruns of comedy shows aired in its place.[3] In a December 2009 interview with Jay Leno, Kelsey Grammer admitted that he had initially called Warner Bros. to ask that the show be cancelled because it was too unfunny.[14] The unaired episodes have since aired in the UK on BT Vision and in Croatia on Doma TV.

References

1. Futon Critic Staff. "ABC Sets First Wave of Fall Premieres", TheFutonCritic.com, June 9, 2009.
2. Schneider, Michael (2009-01-06). "Kelsey Grammer to star in ABC pilot". Variety. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
3. Andreeva, Nellie (2009-11-11). "ABC Cancels 'Hank'". Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2009-11-14. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
4. Robert Seidman (2009-10-01). "TV Ratings, Glee rises to a 3.3, Criminal Minds to a 3.8; Eastwick drops to a 2.3 in finals". Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2014-05-14.
5. Robert Seidman (2009-10-09). "Wednesday Broadcast finals: Modern Family, Cougar Town, Glee, Criminal Minds tick up in finals; Old Christine down a tick". TV By The Numbers. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
6. Seidman, Robert (2009-10-15). "Wednesday broadcast finals: Glee, The Middle, Jay Leno tick up, CBS comedies, Mercy, L&O:SVU tick down". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
7. Robert Seidman (2009-10-22). "TV Ratings, Broadcast finals: Glee, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Criminal Minds tick up; Mercy, Old Christine, SVU, Eastwick tick down". Retrieved 2010-03-11.
8. Robert Seidman (30 October 2009). "ABC's November Sweeps Programming to Include 'Hank', 'The Forgotten', and 'Eastwick'". TVbytheNumbers.com. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
9. Robert Seidman (2009-11-05). "TV Ratings, Wednesday Broadcast finals: Law & Order: SVU, Criminal Minds repeat were up a tick". Retrieved 2010-03-11.
10. SBT: Hank: Episodios
11. Hank at metacritic.com
12. Lloyd, Robert. "'Hank' and 'The Middle'", Los Angeles Times, September 30, 2009.
13. Stasi, Linda. "Back to them", New York Post, September 30, 2009.
14. http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/hank-kelsey-grammer-canceled-sitcom/

External links

• Hank at IMDb
• Hank at TV.com