LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- FX is sticking by its struggling comedy "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," as the cable channel has ordered a 13-episode second season of the series.
Fellow newcomer "Starved" however wasn't so lucky, as the network confirmed it will not return for a second go-around.
Both comedies failed to match FX's summer primetime average (1.17 million viewers) with "Philadelphia" coming the closest at 1.14 million on average for its seven-week run ("Starved" averaged 1.05 million).
Nevertheless, FX executives were said to be pleased with "Philadelphia's" high concentration of adults 18-49 - all despite a little-publicized move to Tuesdays at 11:00/10:00c just two weeks into its run.
"We didn't have the largest marketing budget for the comedies to begin with, and what we had, we split between two shows," FX chief John Landgraf told Daily Variety. "In that respect, 'Sunny' didn't get its own real launch. But we love the show and think it's only going to get better."
As for "Starved," Landgraf said: "The show had a lot of fans, so it was tough to choose. Ultimately, we felt that we're just not in a position to spread our resources. We launched our dramas one at a time, and launching two like we did this summer just didn't work out as well."
While no return date was given, "Philadelphia" is expected to bow its second season this summer. Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Michael Rotenberg, Nick Frenkel and John Fortenberry are the executive producers.
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