ABC gives reprieve to "According to Jim"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The ABC network on Wednesday gave a reprieve to its veteran family sitcom "According to Jim," starring James Belushi, announcing that the show would return to prime time for a seventh season.

The series was presumed to have been canceled after it failed to make the programming schedule unveiled by the Walt Disney Co.-owned network in May at the start of the "upfront" advertising market.

But an ABC spokeswoman said the network has belatedly ordered 18 new episodes of "According to Jim" for the 2007-2008 season. The Web site for Television Week reported it will air as a mid-season replacement on the network.

Set in Belushi's hometown of Chicago, the series stars the younger brother of the late "Saturday Night Live" icon John Belushi as a stubbornly macho but affable middle-class family man, raising three kids with his feisty wife, Cheryl, played by Courtney Thorne-Smith.

The show has declined considerably in the ratings since its debut in the fall of 2001, averaging about 6.6 million viewers a week to rank 105th among all prime-time series in households last season.

While ABC has caught fire with several hourlong dramas and "dramedy" series in recent years, including "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," the network has struggled to build a successful comedy bloc and is facing a dearth of fresh sitcoms for the coming season.

Another long-running family sitcom on ABC, "George Lopez," ended up on the chopping block after six seasons.

Reuters/Nielsen