If you’re anything like me, you probably woke up Tuesday looking forward to a new episode of MTV’s Underemployed. It’s the network’s latest scripted series following a bunch of recent college graduates struggling to find themselves in these tough economic times. It’s charming, witty, funny, sexy, melodramatic and everything I look for in a fun series.
Unfortunately, Underemployed is not on Tuesday nights anymore. With no warning other than a change on the show’s official website and a Monday morning post on the show’s Facebook page, the series has been moved to Saturday nights at 8pm. The first seven episodes aired Tuesdays at 10pm, but starting on December 8, the show moves to its new night.
This is obviously a bad sign. It’s true the show has underperformed, even by MTV standards. The first seven episodes have averaged about 500,000 viewers, which is less than one-third of MTV’s hit scripted shows like Teen Wolf and Awkward. It’s also less than The Inbetweeners, a remake of a British comedy that MTV just cancelled after one season. When a show’s ratings are lower than a show that just got canceled, it’s also not a good sign.
There are still five episodes left in Underemployed‘s first (and most likely, only) season, and hopefully MTV won’t do any more of this scheduling trickery.
The real tragedy is that no one is watching a show that is demographically similar to HBO’s critically-acclaimed Girls, the only difference is that Underemployed is actually good and not a self-absorbed, narcissistic exercise in seeing how many times Lena Dunham can put her name in the credits.
Underemployed got off to an amusingly unique start as Reviva returned home to reveal to her ex-boyfriend that she was nine months pregnant with their child he didn’t know about. The story then morphed into a tale of young adults being dropped into the deep end of life as they must get jobs and settle down to raise a family, the only problem is they’re still young and care-free. Infidelity abounds while their friends also adapt to their new lives. Sophia is a newly-out lesbian, Daphne gets a front-row seat to how ruthless the corporate world can be, and Miles is just trying to have fun, sleep with as many women as possible, and get paid for his looks.
Underemployed is a fun gem of a series that’s worth checking out. Yes, there are only five episodes left this season, and yes, it’s being banished to Saturday nights, and yes, it will probably be canceled the day after the finale airs. But all of the episodes are on MTV’s website, most other shows are ending for the winter break and Underemployed is worth checking out.
So get yourself an early Christmas present and watch Underemployed while you still can.
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(Image courtesy of MTV)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
