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Melissa & Joey is an American sitcom television series starring Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence that aired for four seasons between 2010 and 2015 on ABC Family (now Freeform). The series follows local politician Mel Burke (Hart) and Joe Longo (Lawrence), whom Mel hires to look after her niece Lennox Scanlon (Taylor Spreitler) and nephew Ryder Scanlon (Nick Robinson) after a Ponzi scheme leaves Joe broke.
The series was picked up originally for a pilot and season one containing 12 episodes – this premiered August 17, 2010. Then, due to the success of the show, ABC Family renewed it for 18 more episodes on October 8, 2010, which premiered June 29, 2011. The series was renewed by ABC Family for a second season of fifteen episodes, which began airing on May 30, 2012, and ended on August 29, 2012.[2] During the second season, Melissa & Joey ranked as cable TV's #1 telecast at 8 o'clock across target audiences 18–34, 18–49 and 12–34 demographics.[3][4]
On August 17, 2012, ABC Family renewed Melissa & Joey for a third season,[5] set to premiere on May 29, 2013.[6] On May 28, 2013, ABC Family announced that the third season would be expanded by 20 episodes, and that the show had also been renewed for a fourth season, bringing the series total to 100 episodes.[7]
The show proved to be quite successful for ABC as, in its third season, it established a 13-week high in total viewers, an eight-week high in viewers between the ages of 18–34 and 18–49 and a 15-week high in female viewers between the ages of 12–34.[8] During the fourth season, the show reached a milestone of 100 episodes for syndication purposes but declined in the ratings.[9][10] Along with most ABC Family shows, the declining number of viewers watching Melissa & Joey occurred in tandem with a general trend of reduced numbers of TV network subscribers.[11][12][13] Looking to marginalize these declines, the show accelerated the availability of its episodes to non-provider-authenticated ABC Family subscribers with Hulu Plus to three weeks post broadcast.[14] On February 9, 2015, ABC Family announced its decision to end the series after four seasons.[15] The series finale aired on August 5, 2015.[16]
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