UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers 
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‘The Great Gatsby’ Starts With $5.4M … 
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Cannes: Bruno Wu & Pierre-Ange Le Pogam Kick Up Angel … 
UPDATE: Amazon Studios Begins Pilot Pickups; … 
Bruce Rosenblum Bids Classy Goodbye 
RATINGS RAT RACE UPDATE: ‘American Idol’ Hits … 
UPDATE: ‘Iron Man 3′ Box Office Crosses $1B … 
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Upfront Market: Will Auto Makers Subsidize TV … 
Cannes: Thief Makes Off With $1M+ In Chopard Jewelry Meant … 
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‘Scandal’ Finale On Small Screen And Onstage At … 
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SPOILER ALERT! NBC’s ‘The Office’ Finale 
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EXCLUSIVE: In its first major comedy buy this season, CBS has handed out a pilot production commitment to a multi-camera comedy from Bill Lawrence and Greg Malins. With its great pedigree, coming from Scrubs and Cougar Town creator Lawrence and former Friends and How I Met Your Mother executive producer Malins, the project became an instant hot commodity when it hit the market but I hear it went straight to CBS, which bought it on the spot. Lawrence and Malins will write together the untitled workplace comedy. (The two are keeping plot details under wraps.) Warner Bros. TV, where Lawrence and Malins are under overall deals, is producing with Lawrence’s Doozer production banner. Malins, Lawrence and Doozer president, former NBC head of comedy Jeff Ingold, are executive producing. Malins is slated to serve as showrunner. (Lawrence is running Cougar Town for one more season.) This marks the first sale for Lawrence since he moved from longtime home ABC Studios to WBTV in June with a rich, long-term deal. It also marks his return to the multi-camera genre where he co-created with Gary David Goldberg ABC’s hit Spin City before moving on to create the single-camera Scrubs and co-create with Kevin Biegel another single-camera comedy, ABC’s Cougar Town. Malins has been sought after for development this season. In addition to the comedy with Bill Lawrence, he is also expected to co-write an half-hour project with another WBTV-based top writer-producer, Greg Berlanti. It is yet to be taken out to the networks. Malins has strong ties to CBS. In addition to his stint as an executive producer on the CBS/20th TV How I Met Your Mother, Malins also serves as a consulting producer on the network’s hot new comedy series Two Broke Girls, from WBTV. Lawrence is with ICM, Malins with WME. Comedies continue to be red-hot this pitch season, commanding bigger commitments than their drama counterparts. Along with the Lawrence/Malins comedy, a Sony half-hour project produced by Will Gluck recently landed a pilot production commitment at NBC. And a new comedy project from Breaking In co-creator Adam F. Goldberg helped Sony secure a 13-episode renewal of the previously canceled Breaking In at Fox.
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Bill Lawrence does not create hits. Spin City, Scrubs, Cougar Town: not hits. And unfunny to boot. But for some reason his shows get renewed despite their low ratings (even though he constantly complains about network “mistreatment”).
I think he has some sort of deal with the devil.
clearly this person has no sense of humor…
My all-time fave comedy is Scrubs. The only other time I’d laughed this hard in a comedy was with Friends back in the day.
Bill Lawrence has talent, and I can’t wait for this new show from him.
REPEAT: LAWRENCE DOES NOT CREATE HITS.
Scrubs lost the huge viewership from Thursday night leadin and sank soon after. the only reason it lasted so long is that NBC stunk and had nothing else. But its last several years were horrible ratings! It’s like being a “C-” in a field of “F.” Doesn’t make the “C-” suddenly worthy.
Cougar Town loses huge viewership from Modern Family every time.
And Spin City was a co-creation with Gary David Goldberg – the far more talented of the two.
When will people learn??
Jealous much? And come on, Scrubs and Cougar Town are FUNNY! They just may not be your particular taste.
You MUST be kidding. “CT” is, I think, the best ensemble in a comedy series today. (If not the best, certainly top 3.) The show’s always funny.
If you like Cougar Town, you’re going to love… everything bright and shiny.
You have been asked to leave show business.
There’s nothing wrong with not liking his particularly brand of comedy, but to call them “not hits” is a bit of a stretch. Are they Modern Family, 2.5 Men, or other very strong comedies? No, but they do well enough and that’s all that is needed before being pushed into syndication.
I’m with Miffy. Maybe someday Bill Lawrence will make a comedy that’s actually funny. He’s the luckiest mediocre writer in Hollywood — and that’s saying a lot.
Well, Miffy, you nattering nabob of negativism: Spin City – 1996 to 2002; Scrubs – 2001 to 2010; Cougar Town – 2009 to present. So, what is your definition of a hit?
Bill is one of the greats. His shows are hilarious and his sets are hands down the best to work on. My real concern here is that that was the best picture they could find of him.
Kinda disappointed this will be a multi-camera comedy. Would rather see him doing a single-camera one.
He’s already done two straight single-camera ones. Nice to see him getting back to the “Spin City” style for variety. Also he clearly loves the format as you can see from the “Scrubs” multi-cam tribute episode and that “Nobody’s Watching” pilot.
Scrubs is such a non-hit having lasted on the air for nearly a decade and syndicated to every cable channel at once for the last five years. That’s not a hit. That’s JACKPOT.
Nobody would ever want to get into business with a guy who created Scrubs cause they might actually get their show into the black instead of planning their “Save Our Show” internet campaign.
Great, two more white guys writing scripts about white people.
Yep. Thx.
pssst. most of us are white. getting most of us to watch is the game. hate the game not the player.
Right, they shouldn’t pickup two talented white writers’ show to help diversity. Stop complaining and write a funny script. Also, the post doesn’t even mention what the show’s about.
Yeah, cuz the show is probably all about black people.
Scrubs actually handled race in the most honest and unforced way I’ve ever seen on television. They didn’t ignore the issue and openly embraced it in a way that was authentic and (I thought) very funny. That and the fact that Lawrence actually hired a black person (Angela Nissel) and let them grow as a writer and contribute meaningfully to the show makes him alright in my book even if CT is not my cup of tea.
Pssst…white guys still rule in Hollywood!
Great news! Greg is the absolute funniest writer I’ve ever worked with. Awesome!
They spelled my name right! They spelled my name right!
EPIC WIN.
Scrubs has not yeilded profits to speak of..Spin City same thing ..ask DreamWorks ..Cougar Town..it will syndicate Scrubs Light and the participants will not make ant any money because with ABC license fees Tge deficit will be too large..Bill is a Truck Driver who makes a good living but will never make anyone including himself Rich
This is flat-out crazy. I know Bill. And like him or not, the man is very, very, very, very rich. His t-shirts are worth more than your car.
Claiming a guy who has created hundreds of network episodes over the past couple decades has made no money off it is about as ignorant as one can get about the entertainment business.
It is not even possible for that to happen.
this is the funniest thing i’ve ever read
All great shows w the former two having very successful runs.
let’s see if he can come up with something a little more interesting the “Cougartown”. My god we hit bottom creatively with that show.
Come on–cougartown is hilarious– and please scrubs was creatively unique–maybe too smart for some.
Why are some people haters…Bill is a generous person–who mentors young writers and gives to many causes. Launching a comedy and keeping it on air takes talent-not luck.
Jealous much? Bill Lawrence is incredibly talented and ridiculously funny. Cougar Town makes my friends and me laugh hard every week. Incidentally, Bill hires not only many minority writers but many women as well. And I’m pretty sure he is very very rich.
If Bill isn’t super rich, how did he afford to pay off ABC into letting me work on Cougar Town? Think before you type, people.
Bill’s a great guy. I owe a lot to him. So much so that even a few putzes too scared to use their own name on deadline get my goad. Is that a real term? I dunno. All I know is that I’m the catbird seat over here at Cougar Town and I’m getting ramen for lunch. Also, the BBC’s “Sherlock” is really excellent and everyone who appreciates great writing should watch the first episode. Nikki should publish a story that’s just “watch Sherlock if you haven’t, it’s really good.” I’d love to see the hatey comments on that one.
I don’t understand the negativity toward these guys. Both are accomplished and Bill has done the near impossible. I don’t know either of them too well. I’ve only met them both in passing, but I respect that they get shows on the air. I also thought Scrubs was pretty darn good.
I’ve worked with Greg Malins and was impressed every day with how funny he is and how well he treats his staffs. It’s rare when talented, funny, writers also have the skill set it takes to effectively run a show and manage people. Malins is the real deal. I’ve also had the pleasure of working with Jeff Ingold who I found to be an absolute delight. His notes were good and his attitude was even better. Unlike most executives, he approaches things from a “I don’t know what will work, but here’s my opinion” perspective that is refreshing. And true story: Jeff Ingold is insanely funny.
Greg Malins is insanely funny in an every day life kind of way. The kind of funny that is required to keep a show relatable and entertaining, and thus long lasting and successful. But it’s the efforts that he puts into each of his shows, whether he’s running it, consulting for it or creating it, that always boggles my mind because dreamers this creative and eccentric don’t usually possess the work ethic that it absolutely takes to do this job. He’s been a super star force behind all the game changing shows (Friends, Will & Grace, he even worked on Dream On, you remember, one of the first cable sitcoms to show people naked) so it’s funny to me that almost all of the above posts are about Bill Lawrence, and whether you love him or hate him, find him funny or tired, or that two white dudes are making a show. Watch out for any show that Greg Malins is a part of. He knows successful, laugh out loud multi cam like the Kardashians know athletes and branding. He will be taking up a big part of your DVR’s memory next year. He’s the best.