''Accidentally on Purpose'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

television series created by

Claudia Lonow Claudia Lonow (born January 26, 1963) is an American actress, comedian, television writer and producer. She is best known for her portrayal of Diana Fairgate on ''Knots Landing'' (1979-1984, 1993). Early life and education Lonow was born Claud ...

, that ran on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from September 21, 2009, to April 21, 2010, during the 2009–10 season. The series stars Jenna Elfman,

Jon Foster Jon Foster (born August 3, 1984) is an American actor and musician. His films include the drama ''The Door in the Floor'' (2004), the horror film '' Stay Alive'' (2006), the thriller '' Brotherhood'' (2010), and the drama ''Rampart'' (2011). Fos ...

Ashley Jensen Ashley Jensen (born 11 August 1969) is a Scottish actress and narrator. She was nominated for an Emmy for her role on the television series '' Extras'', in which she appeared from 2005 to 2007. She was a cast member of the ABC series '' Ugly ...

Nicolas Wright Nicolas Wright (born March 23, 1982 in Montreal, QuebecCBS biography of ...

Grant Show Grant Alan Show (born February 27, 1962) is an American actor best known for his role on ''Melrose Place'' as Jake Hanson, which he played from 1992 to 1997. Since 2017, Show has portrayed tycoon Blake Carrington in the soap opera reboot ''Dyna ...

, and

Lennon Parham Lennon Kathleen Parham (born October 26, 1975) is an American actress and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. With frequent collaborator Jessica St. Clair, she created and co-starred in NBC's ''Best Friends Forev ...

and was produced by BermanBraun and

CBS Television Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the o ...

. It was based on the book of the same name by Mary F. Pols. On May 18, 2010, CBS cancelled the series after one season.

Plot

''Accidentally on Purpose'' follows Billie ( Jenna Elfman), a San Francisco movie critic in her 30s. Billie meets Zack (

), an aspiring chef in his 20s, at a local bar and they have a

one-night stand A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...

. She soon finds out that she is pregnant, and decides to keep the baby. She must simultaneously deal with her boss and ex-boyfriend, James (

), who finds himself jealous of Zack. Before the story began, she had hoped that James would ask her to marry him, but he told her that he was not ready because he was married once before. Thanks to this unexpected arrival, Billie and Zack have agreed to live together platonically, since the only place that Zack has called home is his van. While Billie receives encouragement and advice from her

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

best friend Olivia (

) and her conventional, younger, married sister Abby (

), she also has to deal with Zack's freeloading friend Davis (

Nicolas Wright Nicolas Wright (born March 23, 1982 in Montreal, QuebecCBS biography of ...

), among others, when they start turning her place into a frat house, leaving Billie to question whether she is living with a boyfriend, a roommate, or a second child to raise.

Theme song

The

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the show is "Birds of a Feather", written by David Fagin of the indie-rock band The Rosenbergs. The song is on their album ''Department Store Girl''.

History

On November 3, 2009, CBS ordered an additional five episodes of the series, bringing the total to 18. In early 2010 CBS moved ''Accidentally on Purpose'' to Wednesday nights from Mondays, to accommodate the midseason return of ''

Rules of Engagement Rules of engagement (ROE) are the internal rules or directives afforded military forces (including individuals) that define the circumstances, conditions, degree, and manner in which the use of force, or actions which might be construed as pro ...

'' and the cancellation of ''

Gary Unmarried ''Gary Unmarried'' is an American sitcom created by Ed Yeager, which ran on CBS from September 24, 2008, to March 17, 2010. The series focuses on a recently divorced couple (Jay Mohr and Paula Marshall) sharing custody of their kids while starting ...

''. However, after the ratings slipped CBS elected not to renew the series and on May 18, 2010, made the cancellation official; the cancellation was part of CBS' decision to eliminate all of its Wednesday night comedies in favor of trying a Thursday-night block.

Critical reception

''Accidentally on Purpose'' received mixed reviews, scoring a 50/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, while scoring a 6.2/10 with viewers. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', in a review of the show's first episode, called Grant Show's performance "graceful" and said Elfman is as "funny as the script allows, in that broad, robo-comic way you may remember from ''

Dharma & Greg ''Dharma & Greg'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1997, until April 30, 2002, for 119 episodes over five seasons. The show starred Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as Dharma and Greg Montgomery, a ...

''." The series had an average of eight million viewers per episode while airing on Mondays after '' How I Met Your Mother'', but fell to an average of 5.5 million of viewers per episode while airing on Wednesdays after ''

The New Adventures of Old Christine ''The New Adventures of Old Christine'' (often shortened to simply ''Old Christine'') is an American sitcom television series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine Campbell, a divorced mother doing her best to keep pace with those around her ...

'', which was also canceled in 2010.

Cast

* Jenna Elfman as Billie Chase *

as Zack Crawchuck *

as Olivia Hollenbeck *

Nicolas Wright Nicolas Wright (born March 23, 1982 in Montreal, QuebecCBS biography of ...

as Davis *

as James *

as Abby Chase *

Pooch Hall Marion "Pooch" Hall, Jr. (born February 8, 1976) is an American television and film actor known for his role as Derwin Davis, the football player on the sitcom '' The Game'', and as Ricky in the 2011 film ''Jumping the Broom''. He also played th ...

as Ryan *

David Sutcliffe David Sutcliffe (born June 8, 1969) is a Canadian-American retired actor. He is known for playing Christopher Hayden on the television series ''Gilmore Girls'' and Detective Aidan Black on the television series ''Cracked''. Early life Sutcliffe ...

as Brian *

Larry Wilmore Elister Larry WilmoreThe name Elister L. Wilmore is given at This matches the birth date and birthplace for "Larry Wilmore" at (born October 30, 1961) is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actor. He served as the "Senior Black Corresp ...

as Dr. Roland *Bryan Cuprill as Nick *

Michael Rapaport Michael David Rapaport (born March 20, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. Beginning his career in the early 1990s, he has made over 100 appearances in film and television. His film roles include ''True Romance'' (1993), '' Higher Learning ...

as Sullivan "Sully" Boyd *

Matthew Glave Matthew Glave (born August 19, 1963) is an American actor best known for his roles in ''The Wedding Singer'', '' Picket Fences'', '' Baby's Day Out'', '' ER'', '' Stargate SG-1'', ''Army Wives'', '' Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce'', and '' Angie ...

as Officer Marion Ravitz

Crew

– Writer *

Lloyd Braun Lloyd Braun (born 1958) is an American media executive. He is the founder and CEO of Whalerock Industries, a Los Angeles based media and technology company. Early life and education Braun was born in New York, the son of Merna and David Braun ...

– Executive Producer *

Gail Berman Gail Berman (born August 17, 1956) is an American producer and television executive. She is co-owner and founding partner of The Jackal Group, a production entity formed in partnership with Fox Networks Group. The Jackal Group develops and produ ...

– Executive Producer *

Jack Rudy Jack Rudy is an American tattoo artist notable for his reinvention of the 'Black and Gray' style of tattooing, realistic portraits, and single-needle use. He is considered to be one of the top tattoo artists in the world. Career After leaving ...

– Music Supervisor

Episodes

References

External links

*
Mary F. Pols' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Accidentally on Purpose (Tv Series) 2009 American television series debuts 2010 American television series endings 2000s American romantic comedy television series 2010s American romantic comedy television series 2000s American sitcoms 2010s American sitcoms CBS original programming English-language television shows Pregnancy-themed television shows Television shows based on books Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in San Francisco