The network has informed the cast and the crew of the family comedy starring Tia Mowry-Hardrict that the show won't be renewed for a fourth season.
Three seasons has been the longest a Nick at Nite original series has run, matched by the block's first original comedy, See Dad Run, though Instant Mom produced more episodes, 65, to See Dad Run's 50.
With Instant Mom going away and no originals in the immediate pipeline, it is thought that Nick at Nite is putting its original scripted programming efforts on pause, however, it is currently unclear whether the move will be permanent as there had been projects in various stages of development.
There has been a programming shift since the Viacom restructuring earlier this year when TV Land was moved from the group overseen by Doug Herzog to Nickelodeon chief Cyma Zarghami's kids and family group. While the first season of Instant Mom ran on Nick at Nite, the second on Nick at Nite and and the recently closed NickMom, the third season was moved to sister network TV Land, where it is currently airing, with the series finale slated to premiere in December 2015.
"This schedule change is only specific to Instant Mom," a Nickelodeon spokesperson said.
The scheduling decision is a bit surprising. While TV Land has a lot more original comedies than Nick at Nite, the vast majority of them are part of the network's push into edgier, single-camera shows that would not be a good fit for a traditional multi-camera family sitcom like Instant Mom, designed to go well with such popular entries in the genre as Everybody Loves Raymond and George Lopez whose repeats run on Nick at Nite.
There has been a lot of cross-pollination between TV Land and Nick at Nite since the Viacom realignment, with TV Land original series like The Jim Gaffigan Show and Impastor getting reruns on Nick at Nite.
Instant Mom is a multi-camera, scripted half-hour series starring Tia Mowry-Hardrict (Sister Sister) as Stephanie, a party girl who trades in Cosmos for carpools when she marries the more traditional Charlie (Michael Boatman, Spin City), who already has three kids. Instant Mom follows Stephanie as she struggles to maintain some sense of her fun-loving, slightly irresponsible life while managing being a full-time stepmom. Sheryl Lee Ralph (Moesha) stars as Stephanie's mother Maggie, and rounding out the cast are Charlie's three kids played by Sydney Park (CSI: NY), Tylen Jacob Williams and Damarr Calhoun. Instant Mom is executive produced by Howard Michael Gould, Aaron Kaplan and Regina Hicks.
The series is currently rolling out on Nickelodeon channels worldwide, including on Nickelodeon UK & Ireland/HD, Nicknight (Germany) and Nickelodeon Australia & New Zealand.
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