http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/02/fall-tv-comedy-pilots.html
>> A group of friends all get fired on the same day.
>> A halfway home for troubled cops.
>> A Wall Street executive loses his job and has to reconnect with his small-town family.
Laughing yet?
Those are a few loglines for next falls TV pilots. The comedy pilots.
Networks are looking at recessionary ideas for their new half-hours, with several projects embracing family themes and avoiding office settings. (Network-by-network details below.)
CBS Waiting to Die is a buddy comedy about two simple guys who are happy with their life, no matter how bad it might look from the outside. Foxs Two Dollar Beer is about a blue-collar couple in Detroit who deal with the reality of their long-standing roots in this community slowly becoming less relevant as the rest of the world passes them by.
Ha-ha-ha-hee-hee ... oh-oh, oh man. Thats just too much.
Groups of single, perky young people seem to be waning. No more friends with benefits; theyre friends with unemployment benefits.
The creative upside is that networks that rushed back to formulaic police and medical procedurals for their fall drama pilots seem to have ordered some refreshingly nontraditional-sounding comedies. Yet the police-show resurgence is getting some play here too (there are, bizarrely, four comedies in development about police officers or security guards).
Office-based shows seem less popular this time -- network executives likely figure viewers do not wish to be reminded of their workplace (or lack thereof) during a recession.
In another assumption-busting move, there are plenty of single-camera comedies, accounting for nearly 40% of comedy pilots despite the traditional multicamera sitcom generally performing better in the ratings.
Below is your comedy pilot guide. Turns out, its tougher to say something vaguely witty about comedy loglines than dramas, so I'll leave the wisecracks to you. Icons indicate Recession Theme, Family Based, Distressed Modern Woman, Workplace, Single Camera, if it's a Fairly Unique Idea and if there are Cops (yes, Defamers suspect cop has returned).
CBS 2009 comedy pilots
CBS
Multicamera comedies are CBS' specialty, and the network has several family and female-centric sitcoms in development here. The Mitch Hurwitz/Jason Biggs title is bound to garner some consideration.
Good Girls
From the people who brought you: "Friends," "Punk'd"
Logline: Centers on two women and childhood friends who are trying to reinvent themselves after making some youthful mistakes
Accidentally on Purpose
From the people who brought you: "The War at Home," "Angel"
Logline: Based on the autobiographical novel about a San Francisco movie critic who finds herself pregnant after a fling with a much younger man and the unconventional family that ultimately comes from this mistake
Waiting to Die
From the people who brought you: "Less Than Perfect"
Logline: Buddy comedy about two simple guys who are happy with their life -- no matter how bad it might look from the outside
Big D
From the people who brought you: "That '70s Show"
Logline: NYC couple moves to his hometown of Dallas, where his Southern-belle mother makes life complicated for his East Coast wife
The Fish Tank
From the people who brought you: " 'Til Death"
Logline: A teenager finds himself living the dream when his parents give him the house to himself five days a week
Untitled Mitch Hurwitz
Starring jokester Jason Biggs
From the people who brought you: "Arrested Development"
Logline: Comedy about a family that "loves too much"
Tick Tock
From the people who brought you: "The War at Home"
Logline: Centers on an unconventional single mom in her 30s who decides to focus all of her energy on finding love.
At Last
From the people who brought you: "Friends"
Logline: About Lucy and James, in their mid-30s, who decide to get married but realize they have a lot of baggage, friends, ex-lovers, etc.
The Karenskys
Starring jokesters Mather Zickel, Sasha Alexander, Jack Thompson, Annie Potts
From the people who brought you: "Malcolm in the Middle"
Logline: A woman who returns to her hometown when her husband's job relocates them and is reunited with her large, eccentric family, the Karenskys
ABC
ABC has a little bit -- heck, a fair amount of -- everything. "This Might Hurt" challenges the notion that the depths of medical humor may not be fully explored after years of Scrubs, while "No Heroics" sounds interesting and challenging to pull off. "An American Family" easily wins the prize for best comedy pilot logline. But isn't the whole "cougar" thing getting tired?
Funny in Farsi
From the people who brought you: "According to Jim," "3rd Rock From the Sun"
Logline: Based on a memoir by Firoozeh Dumas about an Iranian-born girl's experiences growing up in Newport Beach in the 1970s
Untitled Jeff Strauss
From the people who brought you: "The War at Home," "Reba"
Logline: Examines marriage and parenthood seen through the eyes of three couples
The Law
Starring jokester Cedric the Entertainer
From the people who brought you: "Carpoolers," "Las Vegas"
Logline: Reserve police officers for the LAPD balance their full-time off-duty lives with the excitement of being weekend cops
Canned
From the people who brought you: "Reaper," "Samantha Who?"
Logline: Ensemble comedy about a group of friends who all get fired on the same day
Untitled Anita Renfroe
Starring jokester Anita Renfroe
From the people who brought you: "Arrested Development," "Two and a Half Men"
Logline: A parenting show centered around the thought that family comes first, by any means necessary
Untitled Kelsey Grammer
Starring jokester Kelsey Grammer
From the people who brought you: "Two and a Half Men," "That '70s Show"
Logline: A hot-shot Wall Street executive loses his job and is forced to reconnect with his small-town family
Planet Lucy
From the people who brought you: "My Boys"
Logline: Based on Fiona Neill's book "Slummy Mummy," it centers on an endearing, disaster-prone Everywoman who gives up an impressive professional career to be a stay-at-home mom raising three kids
Cougar Town
Starring jokester Courteney Cox
From the people who brought you: "Scrubs"
Logline: Courteney Cox stars as a newly single 40-year-old mother with a 17-year-old son
No Heroics
From the people who brought you: "Will & Grace"
Logline: About a group of superheroes with less-than-formidable powers who hang out at a bar; based on the British format
Let It Go
Starring jokester Lauren Graham
From the people who brought you: "Will & Grace," "Two and a Half Men," "Arrested Development"
Logline: Self-help guru who teaches women how to "let it go" but ultimately fails to follow her own advice when her perfect boyfriend leaves her
(whew .... just a second ... taking a breather ... okay, let's continue ...)
Untitled Tad Quill
From the people who brought you: "Scrubs," "My Name Is Earl"
Logline: Two friends embark on a very different life -- one with a new baby and one with a newly empty nest.
An American Family
Starring jokesters Ed O'Neill, Sofia Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet
From the people who brought you: "Just Shoot Me," "Frasier"
Logline: Three families living in the same suburb -- a traditional family comprising a working dad, a stay-at-home mom and three kids; another that includes a 60-year-old man who becomes a stepfather after marrying a Colombian single mom who is 30 years his junior; and a gay couple who have just adopted a Vietnamese baby -- through the eyes of a Dutch documentary maker
Threesome
From the people who brought you: "Family Guy"
Logline: A guy in his 30s who hasn't quite grown up finds himself torn between his needy best friend and the newfound love of his life and her teen kids
This Might Hurt
Starring jokesters Josh Dean, Hayes MacArthur, Vanessa Lengies, Missi Pyle, Tom Amandes, Alex Meneses, Claire Coffee
From the people who brought you: "Samantha Who?"
Logline: Medical comedy revolves around a multi-specialty private practice in which a pediatrician, an internist and an OB-GYN all operate under the same roof
The Middle
Starring jokester Patricia Heaton
From the people who brought you: "Committed"
Logline: The story of a middle-class Midwestern family seen through the eyes of the mother
NBC
NBC loves the lone camera. Its highest-rated comedies "The Office" and "30 Rock" are single-cam, and the network is search for shows that will fit the style of its Thursday block. They're just not looking for very many.
Off Duty
Starring jokesters Bradley Whitford, Romany Malco, Bonnie Sommerville
From the people who brought you: "Upright Citizens Brigade"
Logline: Single-camera buddy comedy about cops who can't leave their job at the station
Unt. Jon Pollack
From the people who brought you: "30 Rock"
Logline: Single-camera comedy about a powerful woman in the high-stakes world of hedge funds
Untitled Justin Adler comedy
From the people who brought you: "Arrested Development"
Logline: Family show with adult siblings
100 Questions for Charlotte Payne
From the people who brought you: "Psych"
Logline: Ensemble comedy about a young woman navigating life and the world of dating with friends in New York
State of Romance
From the people who brought you: "Bonfire of the Vanities" (the book, not the movie)
Logline: Modern-day "Pride and Prejudice" set in Chicago
Community
From the people who brought you: "Acceptable TV"
Logline: "Stripes" in a community college
FOX
Two Dollar Beer
From the people who brought you: "Mind of the Married Man," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"
Logline: Set in Detroit, a blue-collar couple and their extended family and friends deal with the reality of their long-standing roots in this community slowly becoming less relevant as the rest of the world slowly passes them by
The Station
From the people who brought you: "Tropic Thunder"
Logline: A covert CIA operative and his workmates are embedded in a South American country and must navigate their mission to install a new dictator in this banana republic with its own unique set of challenges
Sons of Tuscon
From the people who brought you: "Malcom in the Middle"
Logline: In the spirit of "Slums of Beverly Hills," a charming but misguided hustler is hired by three young brothers with considerable resources to act as their "father" while their real one serves time in prison for a white-collar crime
Boldly Going Nowhere (pilot to be reshot for fall consideration)
Starring jokesters Ben Koldyke, Tony Hale
From the people who brought you: "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"
Logline: A high-concept comedy about what happens day to day on an intergalactic spaceship helmed by a rogue captain
Cop House
From the people who brought you: "Prison Break"
Logline: Set at a halfway house for troubled cops
Save Us Then the Whales
From the people who brought you: "Aliens in America"
Logline: Single-camera comedy set at a politically incorrect nonprofit organization
Sincerely, Ted L. Nancy
Starring jokester Kevin Sussman
From the people who brought you: "Paranormal State"
Logline: Centers on a regular guy (Sussman) who, after suffering through too many faulty products and customer service mishaps, decides to take on the corporations by writing letters that avenge consumer frustrations
Walorsky
Logline: In the tone of "Bad Santa," an ex-cop-turned-security guard patrols a mall in Buffalo. When assigned a young idiot partner, he is forced to grudgingly get involved with the people who he is assigned to protect
Absolutely Fabulous
Starring jokesters Kristen Johnson, Kathryn Hahn
From the people who brought you "Arrested Development" and "Two and a Half Men"
Logline: Based on the British series about a substance-abusing mother-daughter duo.
