TBS, MTV Acquire 'New Girl'

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Twentieth Century Fox Television’s New Girl has been acquired by basic cable networks TBS and MTV, the distributor said Tuesday.

The show, which stars Zooey Deschanel, will debut in cable syndication next fall. Both networks have picked up the show for five years.

New Girl has been on the market for several months, with Twentieth throwing a party in support of it and ABC’s Last Man Standing at NATPE in Miami last January. No broadcast deal is in place yet.

Season four of New Girl, created by Liz Meriwether, debuts Sept. 16 on Fox. The show was the biggest comedy hit of the 2011 TV season, but it’s fallen back to earth a bit since. Still, it appeals to younger viewers and performs well in DVR playback.

New Girl is produced by Chernin Entertainment in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Meriwether, Dave Finkel, Brett Baer, Jake Kasdan, Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope are executive producers.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.