Rachel Dratch's Imaginary Mary Is Getting Four Episodes Cut Before the First Even Airs

The new ABC series Imaginary Mary seemed like a promising addition to their midseason line up, unless you look at that terrifying creature that’s the center of the show’s premise for even five seconds. Issues with the CGI for the titular character Mary have slowed down production, and may be threatening the future of the show.

Starring Jenna Elfman as Alice, the series follows her as freaks out when her childhood imaginary friend Mary pops up during a stressful moment in her life—meeting her boyfriend’s three kids. That sounds like something she should see a doctor about, especially because the furry, negative Mary, voiced by Rachel Dratch, advises her to assault people. Deadline reports that tweaks had to made to Mary’s animation, because it either wasn’t working or everyone was screaming and running at the sight of her. Consequently, the original order for the show has had four episodes cut, going from thirteen to nine.

This could be a bad sign for the series, which was created by The Goldbergs team of Adam F. Goldberg and David Guarascio, and does not yet have a premiere date, though it was pegged as a midseason show. When ABC picked it up, the pilot was praised for its “seamless blending of live-action and CGI animation,” but it may just be a more difficult technique to maintain for a full season order.