How can we tell Fox's decision to cancel Pittsburgh-set "Back to You" was a surprise? The network's publicity department sent out Wednesday's season finale for review, something they wouldn't have done if they knew the show was toast.

In a phone interview today, "Back to You" executive producer Steven Levitan said he'd been assured as recently as Friday morning that the show would be picked up. Friday night they were told the show had been canceled.

"We were surprised, but not shocked," he said. "Nothing surprises me with [Fox Broadcasting] anymore."

Levitan conceded that "Back to You" was never a good match for Fox, something TV observers have been saying since first seeing "Back to You" a year ago.

"We've been on the wrong network from the start," he said. "We got talked into it. That was our blunder."

While in development, CBS and ABC had also expressed interest in airing "Back to You."

"Fox had the better deal and lots of big promises they didn't keep," Levitan said. "And the one person who didn't bid on it was Kevin Reilly at NBC, and then he came over to run Fox."

Levitan and the Fox studio, which produced the show for sister-company Fox Broadcasting, are now shopping the series to other networks, particularly CBS, where it would seem to be a natural fit.

"It's always a long shot, but they took 'JAG' from NBC and that turned out to be a hit for them for years," he said, "so it's not unprecendented. But it is a long shot."

(Although ABC is poised to pick up NBC's "Scrubs," there's corporate financial incentive for ABC to do so: ABC's sister-studio produces "Scrubs." That sort of connection doesn't exist in the "Back to You"-to-CBS scenario.)

Although I've had my issues with some aspects of "Back to You," I've enjoyed the show more than I haven't, not because of the Pittsburgh connection, but because it's just a good comedy with two hugely talented stars in the leading roles. I hope CBS will seriously consider giving the show another chance.

Levitan acknowledged that "Back to You" is probably a more expensive show to produce than its lower-rated lead-in, " 'Til Death," which did get renewed, but he said Fox Broadcasting executives never asked them to reduce the show's expenses.

"Back to You" was hurt by pre-emptions during the writers' strike and Fox's decision to move the show to different time slots and never air more than five episodes consecutively.

"We were on a network that appealed to a different kind of people than we're aiming for," Levitan said. "Fox has a lot of people who tune in for 'American Idol' and then they tune out."

In its place, Fox will announce Thursday it has picked up a sitcom called "The Inn" from "Back to You" writer and Washington, Pa., native Abraham Higginbotham. Levitan said he thinks the network saw "The Inn" as more compatible with "'Til Death" than "Back to You."

"I'm very happy for him. In fact, we helped him with his show, so if it's gonna go to somebody, I'd rather it go to him," Levitan said.

"Back to You" goes out on a high note Wednesday (8:30 p.m., WPGH) with a strong, consistently funny episode about news anchors Chuck Darling (Kelsey Grammer) and Kelly Carr (Patricia Heaton) telling their newsroom colleagues that Chuck is the father of Kelly's daughter, Gracie (Lily Jackson). Their plan is complicated when the station unveils a new promotional campaign with a tag line that becomes a dirty joke with the revelation about Gracie's paternity.

Levitan said the recent recasting of Gracie was the network's call.

"They thought [the first actress] was 'too TV,'" he said, reluctantly, not wanting to hurt the actresses' feelings. "I think the new girl we have is really great and the old girl was really great."

As for the decision to dump weathercaster Montana (Ayda Field), Levitan said they initially cast an Hispanic actress in the part but replaced her the week of filming the pilot last year. He said Field is not Hispanic and producers always intended to reveal Montana wasn't a minority either, which came out in her swan song episode last week.

"Basically, we were having trouble writing for that character," he acknowledged of the decision to phase her out. Their intent was to make the new station manager, Ginger Ko (Suzy Nakamura), a series regular.

"The network really wanted us to bring in another minority character," he said. "We love Ayda, but our cast was a little homogeneous. ... All these changes came from the network, and we did everything they asked us to do, sometimes begrudgingly, but sometimes we thought if we don't do it, it will give them an excuse not to pick us up."

CBS will announce its fall schedule Wednesday, although CBS executives could ponder picking up "Back to You" beyond this week.

"If we had been on Monday nights on CBS at the start, we'd be in a different place right now," Levitan said. "We have bruised shins from kicking ourselves about this all weekend."

Meanwhile, a fan campaign to save the show has begun with a petition and discussion about the campaign on a message board. Here's a link to the campaign site.

In a nod to last year's "Jericho" nuts campaign, fans plan to send bottled water to CBS executives, encouraging them to pick up "Back to You." On last week's episode of the sitcom, the new WURG station manager slashed the budget, including bottled water.

UPDATE: Deadline Hollywood Daily reports a fan memorial was erected outside the Fox studios in L.A. Series star Kelsey Grammer stopped by for a visit.