Hank (2009 TV series)
Encyclopedia
Hank is a comedy television series which ran on ABC
from September 30, 2009, to November 4, 2009. 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. Hank originally aired on Wednesday nights in the fall season
and starred Kelsey Grammer
. The series was produced by Good Humor Television and from Warner Bros. Television
.
) 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
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.
, Kelsey Grammer admitted that he had initially called Warner Bros.
to ask that the show be cancelled because it was too unfunny. The unaired episodes have since aired in the UK on BT Vision
and in Croatia on Doma TV
.
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from September 30, 2009, to November 4, 2009. The series was created by Tucker Cawley
Tucker Cawley
Tucker Cawley is an American television comedy writer and producer, best known for writing episodes for Everybody Loves Raymond. He has also written for Men of a Certain Age, and created the ill-fated Kelsey Grammer sitcom Hank.-Career:...
and is about a Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
executive who loses his job and reconnects with his small-town family. Hank originally aired on Wednesday nights in the fall season
2009–2010 United States network television schedule
The following is the 2009–2010 network television schedule for the five major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 2009 through May 2010. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new...
and starred Kelsey Grammer
Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
. The series was produced by Good Humor Television and from Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
.
Premise
Hank Pryor (Kelsey GrammerKelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
) is a high-powered business executive. He lives with his wife, Tilly (Melinda McGraw
Melinda McGraw
Melinda Leigh McGraw is an American actress. She has starred in movies such as Albino Alligator , Wrongfully Accused , and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps , and is also known for her television performances on The Commish, The X-Files and Mad Men.-Early life:McGraw was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, to...
), their daughter, Maddie (Jordan Hinson
Jordan Hinson
Jordan Danielle Hinson is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Zoe Carter on the Syfy series Eureka....
) and their son, Henry (Nathan Gamble
Nathan Gamble
Nathan Gamble is an American child actor who made his feature film debut in Babel , for which he was nominated for a 2007 Young Artist Award....
). The big life is great for them until Hank is suddenly released from his CEO job and has his family relocate from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to the small southern town of River Bend, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. 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 GrammerKelsey GrammerAllen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
as Hank Pryor - a Wall Street CEO who loses his job - Melinda McGrawMelinda McGrawMelinda Leigh McGraw is an American actress. She has starred in movies such as Albino Alligator , Wrongfully Accused , and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps , and is also known for her television performances on The Commish, The X-Files and Mad Men.-Early life:McGraw was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, to...
as Tilly Pryor - Hank's wife for 19 years - Jordan HinsonJordan HinsonJordan Danielle Hinson is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Zoe Carter on the Syfy series Eureka....
as Maddie Pryor - Hank and Tilly's 15 year old daughter - Nathan GambleNathan GambleNathan Gamble is an American child actor who made his feature film debut in Babel , for which he was nominated for a 2007 Young Artist Award....
as Henry Pryor - Hank and Tilly's son - David KoechnerDavid KoechnerDavid Michael Koechner is an American comedian, musician, and character actor. Koechner began studying improvisational comedy in Chicago at the ImprovOlympic, under the teachings of Del Close, before joining the Second City Northwest...
as Grady Funk - Tilly's hillbillyHillbillyHillbilly is a term referring to certain people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas of the United States, primarily Appalachia but also the Ozarks. Owing to its strongly stereotypical connotations, the term is frequently considered derogatory, and so is usually offensive to those Americans of...
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.Series overview
| Seasons | Episodes | Season Premiere | Season Finale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | September 30, 2009 | November 4, 2009 | |
Episodes
| # | Title | Viewers | Original Airdate | Code |
|---|
US ratings
| Episode Number | Episode | Rating | Share | Rating/Share Nielsen Ratings Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States... (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 has been critically panned, scoring a 37/100 in Metacritic, with viewers agreeing with the critics, scoring it at a 4.2/10. 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." The New York Post panned the show: "Hank is one of the worst new (or old) comedies of this or many other seasons".Cancellation
Hank was officially cancelled on November 11, 2009 amidst low ratings and bad reviews. 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. In a December 2009 interview with Jay LenoJay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
, Kelsey Grammer admitted that he had initially called Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
to ask that the show be cancelled because it was too unfunny. The unaired episodes have since aired in the UK on BT Vision
BT Vision
BT Vision is a hybrid IPTV-digital terrestrial television service provided by BT Group in the United Kingdom which was launched in December 2006...
and in Croatia on Doma TV
Doma TV
-Airing currently:* Anna und die Liebe * En nombre del amor * Gipsy Heart * La usurpadora * Rosalinda * Teresa -Coming soon:...
.