Watch out, Greenwich: Fox Renews "The Mick" for season 2

l-r, Sofia Black-Delia, Jack Stanton, Carla Jimenez,
Thomas Barbusca, Scott MacArthur and Kaitlin Olson
in Fox's comedy The Mick

This morning, in advance of the usual barrage of renewals and cancellations in May, Fox announced a season 2 pickup for its midseason comedy The Mick, a show of faith in Kaitlin Olson and her "bad aunt" sitcom.

No word yet on whether The Mick will be on Fox's fall schedule, or will be held, like this year, until after the World Series or beyond for a midseason debut.  Stay tuned!

Below, Fox's full announcement:

“THE MICK” RENEWED FOR A SECOND SEASON ON FOX

 An All-New Episode Airs Tonight on FOX Hit comedy THE MICK, starring Kaitlin Olson, has been renewed for a second season, it was announced today by David Madden, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company.

“From the earliest stages of development, all of us at FOX had enormous faith in THE MICK, and it hasn’t disappointed,” said Madden. “Kaitlin is a fearless comedic force, and the rest of the cast has just proven to be phenomenal. John and Dave Chernin have a very clear vision of what this show is, and they execute on that vision each week to perfection. We really couldn’t be happier with THE MICK, and we’re so thrilled to renew the series for a second season.”

On tonight’s all-new episode of THE MICK, “The Baggage,” airing 8:30-9:00 ET/PT, on FOX, Mickey’s (Kaitlin Olson) unwanted suitors team up to thwart her new romance. Meanwhile, Sabrina (Sofia Black-D’Elia) and Alba (Carla Jimenez) teach Ben (Jack Stanton) a lesson in responsibility.

Delivering an average Multi-Platform audience of eight million viewers, THE MICK is a comedy about an unapologetic degenerate (Kaitlin Olson) who suddenly finds herself stuck raising her spoiled niece (Sofia Black-D’Elia, “The Night Of”) and nephews (Thomas Barbusca, “Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life”; newcomer Jack Stanton) in affluent Greenwich, CT. It’s pretty much everything she never wanted. Regardless, she’s determined to rise to the occasion and transform these little monsters into honest, hard-working, decent members of society – something she knows absolutely nothing about.

The series also stars Carla Jimenez (“Last Man Standing”) and newcomer Scott MacArthur. Produced by 20^th Century Fox Television, THE MICK was created/written by John Chernin (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) and Dave Chernin (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”). The Chernin brothers, Nicholas Frenkel (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) and Oly Obst (“Barely Famous”), along with Randall Einhorn (“Nurse Jackie,” “The Office”), who directed the pilot episode, are executive producers. Kaitlin Olson is a co-executive producer on the series.

“Like” THE MICK on Facebook at facebook.com/TheMickFOX/.

Follow the series on Twitter @TheMickFOX and join the discussion at #TheMick.

See photos and videos on Instagram @TheMickFOX. All episodes of THE MICK are available on FOX NOW, Hulu and On Demand.

To watch episodes on FOX NOW, visit http://fox.tv/watchlthemick.

The Mick picked up for 4 additional episodes: Fox at the TCA part 2

l-r, Thomas Barbusca, Sofia Black D'Elia,
Jack Stanton and Kaitlin Olson in The Mick

Another announcement from Fox this morning:  new comedy The Mick, starring It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Katlin Olson, has been picked up for an additional 4 episodes, bringing this season's total to 17.

Fox touts the show as the "#1 New Comedy of the Season," which is a dubious claim to make about a show that has aired only 3 times, especially when some new shows such as ABC's American Housewife and Speechless have been pumping out popular installments since early fall.  Still, Fox brags that The Mick's special Jan. 1 "preview" of its pilot eipsode scored the season's highest-rated new comedy debut in Adults 18-49 in more than 15 months on any network.  Combining multiple platforms, The Mick's audience grew 35% to 11.6 million viewers, tying Lethal Weapon as Fox's highest-rated series premiere of this season (not too hard a feat, compared to underperformers like Pitch and The Exorcist, however.)  And in its regular time period premiere on Jan. 3, The Mick was Fox's highest-rated Tuesday entertainment telecast of the season.

The next all-new episode of The Mick will also air in a special time slot -- as Fox gives a special boost to this deserving comedy by running it on Sunday, January 15, following the sure-to-be-popular, first-ever hour-long episode of The Simpsons.

The show's creators Dave and John Chernin, director Randall Einhorn, and stars Kaitlin Olson, Carla Jimenez, Scott MacArthur, Sofia Black-D'Elia and Thomas Barbusca appeared today on a TCA panel in Pasadena, where we learned that the show has two episodes yet to film of its original 13-episode order, plus now four additional shows -- extra weeks that will stretch The Mick's season closer to those magic mid-May days when the network will make its decisions about pickups for the fall.