BOB Saget says he still can’t believe his new sitcom, “Surviving Suburbia,” premieres tonight on ABC — just two months after it was dropped by The CW.
“It’s a miracle. There’s no small way to describe it,” he says. “It was in place at The CW, and after shooting around six episodes we were told our destiny had changed.”
The “destiny” to which Saget refers was The CW abruptly ending its Sunday-night programming deal with MRC, producers of “Surviving Suburbia.”
“MRC said, ‘We’re going to keep going,’ so we just kept going without a course,” Saget says.
“[Producers] Michael Hanel and Mindy Schultheis said they had something ‘interesting and exciting’ and that turned into an genuine affection from ABC.”
“Surviving Suburbia” marks a homecoming of sorts for Saget, who starred concurrently on ABC’s “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” from the mid-’80s to the mid-’90s.
On his new show, Saget stars as Steve Patterson, a slightly bitter suburban dad with a wife (Cynthia Stevenson) and two kids (a teenage son and a young daughter).
“[Series creator] Kevin Abbott was like, ‘You’re going to be me — living in the suburbs, married and older now. At some point you want to provide for your wife and kids and be left alone,’ ” Saget says.
“We’re trying to portray the world I live in in real life,” he says. “When my neighbor waves, it makes me happy — as long as we don’t have to speak.”
“Surviving Suburbia” marks Saget’s first starring sitcom role since one season of The WB’s “Raising Dad,” which ended in 2002. He’s kept busy doing standup, the occasional guest-starring role (“Law & Order: SVU“) and providing the voiceover narration for CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother.”
He and Stevenson will be in the audience of tonight’s “Dancing With the Stars” (which leads into “Surviving Suburbia” at 9:30).
“Tom [Bergeron] will give us a shout-out so we can do as much cross-promotional pimping as possible,” he says.