| Genre: | Comedy drama |
| Creator: | Jenny Bicks |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 36 |
| List Episodes: |
|
| Runtime: | 4548 minutes |
| Network: | ABC |
Men in Trees is an American romantic comedy-drama television series starring Anne Heche as relationship coach Marin Frist, which premiered on September 12, 2006, on ABC. The series is set in the fictional town of Elmo, Alaska, and concerns Marin Frist's misadventures in relationships. The premise showed at least superficial similarities to the HBO television series Sex and the City (on which series creator Jenny Bicks was a co-executive producer), which also featured a romantically oriented female writer. The protagonist's apparent "fish-out-of-water" feeling in a remote, small Alaskan town can be likened to CBS's Northern Exposure. The protagonists in both series were New Yorkers thrust into small town Alaskan societies. Filming for the series was based in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada.
Five episodes of the first production season, which had not yet been shown on ABC, debuted in New Zealand on the TV2 network in June and July 2007. The five carryover episodes aired on ABC after the first episode of the second production season, beginning October 19, 2007.[1] Men In Trees was cancelled on June 11, 2008. Its final episodes aired that summer as a burn-off.[2]
The show first aired on ABC with a preview on September 12, 2006, after the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars.[3] The show initially aired on Fridays at 9 pm. ET. From November 30, 2006, until March 2007 episodes aired Thursdays at 10 pm. The network announced on May 15, 2007, it would move to Fridays at 10pm for its second season. ABC held off five episodes for its second season.
Noting the absence of Men in Trees from ABC's schedule starting in March 2007, series creator Jenny Bicks reported in her blog for ABC that reruns of the show would be shown on ABC beginning in June 2007, continuing throughout the summer. Reruns of the series' first season began airing on ABC on Thursday, June 28.[4]
The series began the fall 2007 season airing Fridays at 10 pm. However, due to its inability to hold on to the audience of freshman show Women's Murder Club and the underperformance of 20/20 at 8 pm, Men in Trees was moved to the 8 pm Friday slot. Following the end of the 2008 writers' strike, the show returned on February 27, 2008, in its new timeslot on Wednesdays at 10pm.
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | DVD release date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | TBA | |||
| 2 | 19 | TBA | |||
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by[5] | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|
Season 2, consisting of 19 episodes, first premiered in New Zealand on the TV2 network on June 25, 2007 with "Chemical Reactions".[6] Season 2 premiered on ABC on October 12, 2007 with the first produced episode of Season 2.[7]
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Men in Trees on ABC:
| Season | Timeslot (ET) | Season premiere | Season finale | TV season | Rank | Viewers (in millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | Friday 9.00 P.M. (September 12 November 10, 2006) Thursday 10.00 P.M. (November 30 February 15, 2007) | September 12, 2006 | February 15, 2007 | 20062007 |
| 8.4[8] |
| 2 | Friday 10:00 P.M. (October 12 November 2, 2007) Friday 8:00 P.M. (November 9 December 7, 2007) Wednesday 10:00 P.M. (February 27 June 11, 2008) | October 12, 2007 | June 11, 2008 | 2007-2008 |
| 5.8[9] |
| Episode # | Title | Air date | Rating | Share | 18-49 | Viewers | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | September 12, 2006 | 8.0 | 13 | 3.7 | 12.1 | |
| 2 | "Power Shift" | September 15, 2006 | 5.3 | 10 | 2.2 | 8.02 | |
| 3 | "For What It's Worth..." | September 22, 2006 | 5.5 | 10 | 2.5 | 8.21 | |
| 4 | "Sink or Swim" | September 29, 2006 | 4.7 | 8 | 2.2 | 6.92 | |
| 5 | "Talk for Tat" | October 6, 2006 | 4.8 | 8 | 1.9 | 7.11 | |
| 6 | "The Caribou in The Room" | October 13, 2006 | 5.1 | 9 | 2.2 | 7.15 | |
| 7 | "Ladies Frist" | October 20, 2006 | 4.4 | 8 | 1.6 | 6.16 | |
| 8 | "The Buddy System" | October 27, 2006 | 4.5 | 8 | 2.2 | 6.86 | |
| 9 | "The Menaissance" | November 10, 2006 | 4.3 | 7 | 1.9 | 6.35 | |
| 10 | "New York Fiction (1)" | November 30, 2006 | 8.0 | 13 | 4.0 | 11.85 | |
| 11 | "New York Fiction (2)" | December 7, 2006 | 5.9 | 10 | 2.7 | 8.28 | |
| 12 | "The Darkest Day" | January 11, 2007 | 6.9 | 11 | 3.6 | 10.26 | |
| 13 | "History Lessons" | January 18, 2007 | 7.3 | 12 | 3.7 | 10.70 | |
| 14 | "Bed, Bat & Beyond" | January 25, 2007 | 7.7 | 13 | 3.9 | 10.98 | |
| 15 | "Take It Like a Man" | February 1, 2007 | 7.3 | 12 | 3.9 | 10.64 | |
| 16 | "Nice Girls Finish First" | February 8, 2007 | 7.1 | 12 | 4.1 | 10.90 | |
| 17 | "The Indecent Proposal" | February 15, 2007 | 7.6 | 12 | 4.1 | 11.21 |
| Episode # | Title | Air date | Rating | Share | 18-49 | Viewers | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "A Tree Grows In Elmo" | October 12, 2007 | 4.9 | 9 | 2.0 | 7.05 | ||
| 2 | "Chemical Reactions" | October 19, 2007 | 4.4 | 8 | 1.7 | 6.42 | ||
| 3 | "No Man Is An Iceland" | October 26, 2007 | 4.6 | 8 | 1.7 | 6.51 | ||
| 4 | "I Wood If I Could" | November 2, 2007 | 4.1 | 7 | 2.0 | 7.41 | ||
| 5 | "The Girl Who Cried Wolf" | November 9, 2007 | 4.4 | 8 | 1.5 | 6.16 | ||
| 6 | "Nice Day For A Dry Wedding" | November 16, 2007 | 4.5 | 8 | 1.6 | 6.40 | ||
| 7 | "Sea Change" | November 23, 2007 | 3.8 | 7 | 1.5 | 5.57 | ||
| 8 | "Sweatering it Out" | December 7, 2007 | 4.2 | 7 | 1.3 | 5.97 | ||
| 9 | "Charity Case" | February 27, 2008 | 4.0 | 7 | 1.7 | 5.66 | ||
| 10 | "Sonata in Three Parts" | March 5, 2008 | 4.0 | 7 | 1.6 | 5.74 | ||
| 11 | "Home Seized Home" | March 12, 2008 | 4.1 | 7 | 1.7 | 5.62 | ||
| 12 | "Read Between the Minds" | March 19, 2008 | 4.0 | 7 | 1.6 | 5.89 | ||
| 13 | "A Tale of Two Kidneys" | March 26, 2008 | 4.0 | 7 | 1.5 | 5.61 | ||
| 14 | "Get a Life" | April 2, 2008 | 3.7 | 6 | 1.5 | 5.50 | ||
| 15 | "Wander/Lust" | April 16, 2008 | 4.4 | 7 | 1.6 | 6.11 | ||
| 16 | "Kiss and Don't Tell" | April 23, 2008 | 3.8 | 6 | 1.5 | 5.21 | ||
| 17 | "New Dogs, Old Tricks" | May 28, 2008 | 3.7 | 6 | 1.6 | 5.31 | ||
| 18 | "Surprise, Surprise " | June 4, 2008 | 3.3 | 5 | 1.4 | 5.25 | ||
| 19 | "Taking the Lead" | June 11, 2008 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 4.51 |
The series was given a 13 episode order at ABC's May 2006 upfronts, to debut in the fall of 2006, originally to follow Ugly Betty. After that series was shifted to a lead time slot on Thursdays, Men in Trees eventually followed Friday encore episodes of Grey's Anatomy until November 30, when Trees was moved to follow first-run Grey's episodes.On October 28, 2006, ABC ordered four more scripts to be written for the show.[10] ABC then ordered a full season pickup for the show on November 8. It became the seventh new series to be given a full 22-episode order in the 2006-07 season.[11] Men in Trees was among several scripted series affected by the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike. In particular, 14 new episodes were written for the second season, versus an order for 22. Combined with five episodes carried over from the first production season, Men in Trees had 19 completed episodes for its second broadcast season in the United States and was on hiatus from late December 2007 until it returned on February 27, 2008, taking over for Cashmere Mafia. The series was not aired during the May 2008 sweeps period. On May 4, 2008, ABC announced the official cancellation of the show and said that the final episodes would be broadcast starting on May 28, 2008.