Out of Practice

Out of Practice
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Joe Keenan Christopher Lloyd
Starring	Christopher Gorham Ty Burrell Stockard Channing Paula Marshall Jennifer Tilly Henry Winkler
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	22 (8 unaired)
Production
Running time	22–24 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 19, 2005 (2005-09-19) – March 29, 2006 (2006-03-29)

Out of Practice is an American situation comedy that was originally broadcast on CBS from September 19, 2005 to March 29, 2006. With producers Joe Keenan and Christopher Lloyd (Frasier's producers) at the helm, the show was about a family of five doctors who had little in common and usually did not get along. CBS officially cancelled it on May 17, 2006, at its upfront presentation.

Premise and cast

Ben Barnes (played by Christopher Gorham) is the youngest son and central character. As a marriage counselor and the only non-physician, the rest of his family sees him as a lesser doctor. His wife left him in the pilot episode.

Ben's father, Stewart Barnes (Henry Winkler), is a gastroenterologist who is happy to be free from the influence of his ex-wife, Lydia Barnes (Stockard Channing in her third sitcom starring role following Stockard Channing in Just Friends and The Stockard Channing Show), a status-conscious cardiologist and mother of their three children.

Ben's brother, Oliver Barnes (Ty Burrell), is a self-centered plastic surgeon and committed womanizer. Their sister, Regina Barnes (Paula Marshall), is a lesbian E.R. doctor, who like Oliver, is infatuated with attractive women. She is addicted to the action found inside an ER. Crystal, Stewart's girlfriend and receptionist (Jennifer Tilly), is a source of frustration and awkwardness for all except Stewart.

Timeslot

Rumors of cancellation circulated after midseason replacement The New Adventures of Old Christine opened in the show's time slot in March 2006. In an interview, however, Burrell asserted that "[w]e're going on hiatus from the air for two months, but we're coming back in March with all-new shows."^[1] Two more episodes were shown on Wednesday, March 22, and Wednesday, March 29, at 8 ET/PT.

Until early June, the CBS Website stated that the unseen episodes would be shown at a later date (presumably during summer 2006), but the website now lacks any mention of the show. These episodes may be shown online on CBS' new Innertube website, as interviews with cast members regarding the show are available there.

In early July 2006, it was announced that Channing was nominated for an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy Award for her work on Out of Practice.

Episodes

Episode #	Title	Original Airdate	Production Code
1	Pilot	September 19, 2005	101
2	"We Wanna Hold Your Hand"	September 26, 2005	102
3	"And I'll Cry If I Want To"	October 3, 2005	103
4	"The Truth About Nerds and Dogs"	October 10, 2005	104
5	"Brothers Grim"	October 17, 2005	105
6	"The Heartbreak Kid"	October 24, 2005	106
7	"Key Ingredients"	November 7, 2005	107
8	"The Wedding"	November 14, 2005	108
9	"Thanks"	November 21, 2005	109
10	"Guilt Trip"	November 28, 2005	110
11	"New Year's Eve"	December 19, 2005	111
12	"Yours, Mine or His?"	January 9, 2006	112
13	"Model Behavior"	March 22, 2006	113
14	"Hot Water"	March 29, 2006	114
15	"You Win Some, You Use Some"	Unaired	115
16	"Doctor of the Year"	Unaired	116
17	"Restaurant Row"	Unaired	117
18	"Losing Patients"	Unaired	118
19	"Doctors without Bidders"	Unaired	119
20	"If These Floors Could Talk"	Unaired	120
21	"The Lady Doth Protest Too Much"	Unaired	121
22	"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do and Do and Do"	Unaired	122

International airings

On April 2008, the show was broadcast on Comedy Central Poland (3 episodes a week). The series was also shown in Australia, at 6:30pm Saturdays from October 2006; however the series attracted low audience shares, and was consequently taken off after five weeks. It reappeared in mid-2007 in a late-night timeslot, where it completed its run.

Syndication

As of December 2009, the show is being broadcast on Universal HD. The show's full 22 episodes are available to view as part of Netflix's and Amazon's streaming service.

References

1. ^ [1]

External links

• Out of Practice at the Internet Movie Database