It sucks but fuck it. Bob's still being awesome on Breaking Bad and I'm sure he's got plenty of other stuff cooking. He was probably too good for it anyway.
It sucks but fuck it. Bob's still being awesome on Breaking Bad and I'm sure he's got plenty of other stuff cooking. He was probably too good for it anyway.
Third Deadline update
NBC:
Comedy:
OUTSOURCED & PERFECT COUPLES & THIS LITTLE PIGGY: The frontrunners and sure bets. "NBC had good comedy development, and these are the 3 half-hours they're high on." "Most likely to go." "I hear they love Outsourced" and it's the "No. 1 hottest comedy". Outsourced newly sending out feelers to start staffing and will probably land a series order soon. Word of caution on Piggy. While the ABC Studios-produced pilot had been very hot from early on, some say it may be cooling off a bit as NBC brass is not sure how the family comedy about adult siblings would fit with its brand of hip, workplace/relationship half-hours.
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS: Looking for a showrunner for the potential series. The script was well-liked, and testing went well. Now it's "cooling down" but "still in the mix".
NEXT: Jeff Gaspin's favorite so far. Paul Reiser's semi-autobiographical comedy came out OK. Reiser has 7 backup scripts written -- which is an advantage. "Looks good". "Very very good chance".
THE ADAM CAROLLA SHOW: "Pretty cold". "Isn't dead, but a dark horse."
NATHAN VS. NURTURE: Doesn't look very promising. "Good but not great". "Not at the top of the list".
THE STRIP: "That's cold".
THE PINK HOUSE: Not likely to go. "Cold". "Won't happen".
BEACH LANE: After a major recasting, with Nick Thune replacing Patton Oswalt, the pilot came out OK and is described as "funny." It has a good shot but there are "a lot of problems". The network likes, even loves, Matthew Broderick "but they don't like the pilot so much". So NBC may try to develop another project for him.
ABC:
MR. SUNSHINE: The Matthew Perry starrer "looks good" for a pickup. "Hot".
UNTITLED SHANA GOLDBERG-MEEHAN: This comedy came out well and screened great. "They like". A top contender for a series order.
WRIGHT VS. WRONG: The Debra Messing comedy had early buzz and still looks good going into the screenings.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE: The Leah Remini starrer is somewhere between "hot" and "like". "Has a shot".
WHO GETS THE PARENTS?: Some people like, some don't, this Jane Kaczmarek and Adam Arkin-starring comedy.
FRESHMAN: ABC didn't like the first cut but still had hopes for the project, ordering major reshoots. Word is the Sarah Chalke comedy set in Washington DC and executive produced by Arianna Huffington still didn't wow 'em at the network. "Question mark".
SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT: Hired comedy veterans Jay Scherick and David Ronn as showrunners. There have been rewrites, and the pilot with Mary Steenbergen and Don Johnson is yet to be screened.
HAPPY ENDINGS: "Hot". Hasn't screened yet.
UNTITLED DANA GOULD: Not a perfect pilot but has potential. "They like".
AWKWARD SITUATIONS FOR MEN: A maybe. "In the mix". Star Danny Wallace is getting good buzz but the pilot as a whole not so much.
HOW TO BE A BETTER AMERICAN: Not looking good. "They don't love". "Dead".
FUNNY IN FARSI: Not going. "That's dead".
FOX:
TRAFFIC LIGHT: Fox's favorite half hour. It’s been a solid green light for this Israeli import throughout pilot season. One of 3 comedy frontrunners.
KEEP HOPE ALIVE: "Hot". Greg Garcia’s new comedy is the 2nd frontrunner after the original pilot was partially recast and reshot.
WILDE KINGDOM: The 3rd of Fox's top comedy pilots is this Mitch Hurwitz/Jim Vallely single-camera half hour starring Will Arnett and Keri Russell. Lionsgate TV, which stepped in after Sony TV pulled out at the pilot order stage, might end up with its first traditional series on a broadcast network. Chances "look really good".
SECURITY: Good buzz for the workplace comedy starring Christian Slater
TAXMAN: Started heating up a bit after a so-so testing aside from strong marks for star Martin Short. "They like Marty but don't like rest of it very much". This is a pet project of Imagine principal Ron Howard who reportedly met with Fox brass about it recently.
MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED: "Highest testing pilot" but hasn’t generated a lot of buzz at the network.
STRANGE BREW: Some say Max Mutchnick's and David Kohan’s pilot came in better than expected after being converted from multi- to single-camera. Others say it's cold.
THE STATION: Cold.
NIRVANA: Dead.
CBS:
MIKE & MOLLY: The Chuck Lorre-produced pilot is pretty much on the air after a great taping and a greet screening. Some wonder why because "the premise is depressing - two fat people". (Cruelty, thy name is pilot season...)
TEAM SPITZ: This Rob Riggle starrer looks very strong despite the last-minute recasting of Bob Odenkirk with Kurtwood Smith. Everybody loves Riggle in it.
TRUE LOVE: Network likes this ensemble relationship comedy. "Not hysterically funny". But chances look very strong.
BLEEP MY DAD SAID: The Twitter-based sitcom starring William Shatner also looks very strong and had a great testing. "Good buzz".
LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER: The comedy from How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas went through rough patches in table read and filming, including last-minute rewrites. It hasn't screened yet but CBS brass might opt to give the project more time for tweaking -- the way they did with the original Big Bang Theory pilot.
HITCHED: Latest news is that it doesn't look good and is "ice cold".
OPEN BOOKS: Not much buzz on the pilot as it shot very late.
This is kind of a bummer, most of the ones that sounded good seem like they're not going to be picked up, and the stuff that NBC is going with sounds terrible.
Fingers crossed for "Wilde Kingdom" and Riggle's show anyway.
Alas, this is the epitaph of every pilot season. I felt the same way reading through the updates. Maybe we'll be surprised during upfronts, he said optimistically/naively?Originally Posted by BillBrasky
It's all conjecture and agent spin. Nobody knows anything about anything. But your positive thoughts are much appreciated, so please keep having them! Thanks!
Dave, thank you. I can't imagine it's much fun to live inside this echo chamber of conjecture and agent spin.
It's just really disheartening. There's a show created by the guys who did "Reno 911", a show produced by the guy who created "Newsradio", and a show starring the star of "Better Off Ted" with a pilot directed by Jim Burrows, and this is what NBC chooses to go with? A "Friends" ripoff, a show based on a movie from 4 years ago, and a show that ABC didn't want? NBC seemed to be going in such a great direction with their comedies, with "Parks and Rec" and "Community"- this just seems like a step backward. I think they're making a big mistake if they don't give "The Strip" or "Beach Lane" a shot.
Yeah, I just don't see those other shows fitting with NBC's "brand" at all. Say what you will about NBC, but more often than not they have the best comedies on network TV. Just judging by past work and the premises, The Strip and Beach Lane are definitely the only two that seem like they could fit on the channel. I mean, Perfect Couples? That sounds like the show ABC would have picked up pre-Modern Family.
4th update:
NBC's Outsourced today started making firm offers to writers. A series pickup for the ensemble comedy set in India is considered just a formality now.
Another NBC comedy pilot, This Little Piggy, continues to cool off. It had been in the frontrunner group with Outsourced and Perfect Couples.
Outsourced officially got picked up to series.
"Outsourced" is a comedy where the Midwest meets the exotic East in a hilarious culture clash. The series centers on the all-American company Mid America Novelties that sells whoopee cushions, foam fingers and wallets made of bacon -- and whose call center has suddenly been outsourced to India. Todd Dempsy (Ben Rappaport, off-Broadway's "The Gingerbread House") is the new company's manager who learns that he's being transferred to India to run the operation.
Overwhelmed, Todd discovers that his new staff needs a crash course in all things American if they are to understand the U.S. product line and ramp up sales from halfway around the world. But as strange as America seems to his eclectic sales team, Todd soon realizes that figuring out India will be more than a full-time job. Rizwan Manji ("Privileged"), Sacha Dhawan (BBC's "Five Days II"), Rebecca Hazlewood (BBC's "Doctors"), Parvesh Cheena ("Help Me Help You"), and Anisha Nagarajan (Broadway's "Bombay Dreams") also star as members of Dempsy's off-shore team; Diedrich Bader ("The Drew Carey Show") and Jessica Gower (Network Ten's "The Secret Life of Us") additionally star.
"Outsourced" is produced by Universal Media Studios. Robert Borden ("The Drew Carey Show" and "George Lopez") is executive producer/writer. Ken Kwapis ("The Office") developed the project through his company, In Cahoots, and serves as executive producer/director. Alex Beattie serves as co-executive producer.
http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2010/...20100507nbc01/
let's hope they pick up at least 2 more comedy series.
http://weblogs.variety.com/on_the_ai...bc-gossip.html
But chatting with multiple folks today, it's clear that Matthew Perry's "Mr. Sunshine" (Sony) is pretty much a done deal, scoring high in screenings. Should the Alphabet net opt to bring comedy back to Tuesday (where the broadcast nets are completely devoid of laffers), Perry's star power could serve as a 9 p.m. tent pole in place of the departing "Lost."
Also getting high marks on the laffer side: Ensemble friends laffer "Happy Endings" (Sony/ABC Studios), which is single-cam (like "Mr. Sunshine"). "It Takes a Village" (ABC Studios) also has some fans.
From the Hollywood Reporter.
http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.co...for-fall-.htmlCBS: Among comedies, "Bleep My Dad Says" (aka "Shit My Dad Says") seems to be an easy bet with William Shatner in the title role. Executives are said to like "HIMYM" creators' Carter Bays and Craig Thomas' "Livin' on a Prayer." Multicamera comedies "True Love" and Chuck Lorre's "Mike and Molly" have mixed reviews, but one can't ever count out Lorre at CBS.
Fox: Among comedies, Greg Garcia's comedy "Keep Hope Alive" and male-friendship comedy "Traffic Light" are the frontrunners, with the Mitch Hurwiz/Will Arnett comedy "Wilde Kingdom" still having an outside chance if not deemed too smart for the room.
NBC: Among NBC's comedies, "This Little Piggy"and Paul Reiser's semi-autobiographical "Next" are the top contenders, with "Friends With Benefits" and "Perfect Couples" on the second tier. Matthew Broderick's "Beach Lane" is the dark horse, with sources saying the network may decide to pick up the show and retool it for midseason.
ABC: On the comedy side, Matthew Perry's "Mr. Sunshine" is looking the strongest. After that things get speculative, with "Wright vs. Wrong," "Happy Endings," "It Takes a Village" and "Who Gets the Parents" getting mixed remarks.
I know these lists are generally BS, and i'm really hoping for the best with The Strip, but sheesh! This is discouraging now. Beach Lane as mid season??? Wilde Kingdom as an outside shot? What looked like one of the most promising developmental slates for comedy is just bumming me out now.
"Too smart for the room"? Certainly wouldn't want that, FOX!
Last edited by Gern Blanston; May 7, 2010 at 5:25 PM.
I'm glad you guys are here to set me straight about not listening to these articles. They are seriously bumming me out. I saw The Strip and really enjoyed it. Lame...
I can't even remember the last time NBC had a midseason show. They generally stick with whatever they put on in the fall, even if it's not working that well. Last season, they picked up a midseason sitcom called "100 Questions" or something like that, and they're going to be showing the few episodes that were produced of it during the summer.
And FOX now is not the FOX of 5 years ago when "Arrested Development" was on the air. Back then they actually cared about putting decent programming on from time to time. Nowadays it's all music/dance shows, "Glee", and Seth McFarlane cartoons.
I'm bummed, I was really looking forward to upfront week, and now it looks like it's going to be a shitfest. It looks like the best we can hope for at this point is that Rob Riggle's show gets picked up (and even that's not going to have Bob on it).
Parks and Recreation was midseason last year. While they probably brought it to Season 2 mainly due to Greg Daniels/Amy Poehler, it shows that NBC will keep something even if it doesn't get great ratings/critical reception at first. Good thing they kept it. I imagine Lorne Michaels/Matthew Broderick would be a similar pairing that NBC would want to stay in business with. So, I guess that's a plus?
Yeah, I forgot about "Parks and Rec" premiering in April, but I think there were extenuating circumstances there. Didn't they have to wait to start production on it until after Amy had her baby? (I think she had her baby around October/November the previous year). I don't think it was really a true midseason pickup. And like you said, there was a lot of press for it beforehand, being from the producers of "The Office" and starring one of the most popular stars of SNL- I don't think there was ever any doubt that NBC was going to keep it on the air for a while and that they had a vested interest in it.
I was just saying it's rare that they announce a show at the upfronts as a midseason show and then it actually ends up airing midseason. A couple of years ago, there was a show written by Paula Pell starring Chris Parnell that was announced as a midseason replacement; I think it ended up airing on Bravo. And then last season was that "100 Questions" show. "Parenthood" wasn't originally supposed to be a midseason show; it was delayed because Maura Tierney got cancer and she had to be replaced.
And if a show does end up premiering midseason, it usually doesn't do well- the last couple of examples I can think of are "Sons of Tuscon", which FOX already cancelled, and that "Welcome to the Captain" show on CBS that didn't last very long either.
I'm just afraid that if they aren't happy with "Beach Lane" now, it's going to be hard to "retool" it so that it can air later down the road sometime.
Yeah, that's really true. I just hope that the team of Lorne Michaels/Marci Klein (the last sitcom they produced together was 30 Rock) has enough influence to give it the best treatment at the network.
And, you never know. The Office started out as a midseason show, and that seemed to turn out pretty well. Or, NBC could Andy Barker, P.I. it and put all 6 episodes online before it airs. What a bumbling move that was for such a great show.
NBC Inadvertently Reveals Fall Schedule Shoo-Ins on Twitter
not exactly reliable, but interestingNBC hasn't decided which four new shows it'll pick up for the fall season. But the network has chosen its six favorites, and registered the shows' Twitter handles. Obviously, someone on the internet noticed. TV Addict reports that, by systematically going through the names of the pilots the network was considering, they were figured out NBC's six favorites. Meet @NBCBeachLane, @NBCTheCape, @NBCTheStrip, @NBCChase, and @NBCRockfordFiles, and @NBCKindreds. MovieLine introduces us to the possible shows:The Cape: From Tom Wheeler, this scripted drama centers on a retired cop who becomes a superhero to rebuild his image.
Kindreds: David E. Kelly's drama about an ex-patent lawyer (Kathy Bates) and her quirky legal team.
The Rockford Files: A remake of the '70s series starring Dermot Mulroney and Beau Bridges.
Beach Lane: A comedy starring Nick Thune (who replaced Patton Oswalt) as an irresponsible millionaire who runs a struggling small-town newspaper with the help of a celebrity journalist (Matthew Broderick).
Chase: Jerry Bruckheimer's drama about a "crucial fugitive apprehension team comprised of U.S. Marshals that tracks down the nation's most notorious criminals."
The Strip: A multicam comedy from Reno 911 co-creators/stars Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant about a former child star who now runs a Hooters-type restaurant.
Yeah, that probably doesn't mean anything, because there's one for The Pink House and pretty much every other NBC pilot too. They probably just went ahead and reserved all of them just in case.
I went ahead and made a friend request to Beach Lane and The Strip (the accounts are currently private so you have to request the ability to follow). I doubt NBC is this savvy, but maybe someone will see which shows get Twitter friend requests as some kind of way to gauge audience interest. Can't hurt in any case.
The president of NBC Entertainment was interviewed by the Hollywood Reporter.
Highlights:
http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.co...-upfront-.htmlTHR: “Outsourced” seems like a perfect fit for Thursday nights.
Bromstad: It really does. It tested great. It’s smart and has that originality we always look for. When it’s a passion project of (showrunner) Ken Kwapis, we feel very good about those auspices.
THR: You already have your other Thursday night comedies picked up. If you pick up more comedies, you’re presumably going to open another block somewhere.
Bromstad: Right. We just got in our final comedy today. We have to get in all of our testing. We have to figure out if we have enough to open a third hour of comedy.
THR: Some say "Beach Lane" is a potential dark horse for midseason...
Bromstad: All those conversations are still ongoing. We need some time to look at these.
It annoys me to hear that Outsourced could land on Thursdays. Even with The Office not as good as it once was, the Thursday night comedy block right now is the best they have ever had. It would be a shame if one of their shows would get moved just to fill the space with some mediocre looking new show. Unless, they really do the third hour of comedies on Thursday, which i'm not entirely sure about. As long as it doesn't disrupt the current 2 hour block on Thursdays, i'll be OK with it.
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