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EXCLUSIVE: Rebel Wilson’s CBS comedy pilot Super Fun Night is getting what every busted pilot dreams of but very few can accomplish — a second chance. I’ve learned that ABC is close to a deal to re-pilot the project, written by and starring Bridesmaids standout Wilson and executive produced by Conan O’Brien. It follows three nerdy female friends, one played by Wilson, on their “funcomfortable” quest to have “super fun” every Friday night.
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I hear that the comedy, originally written as multi-camera for CBS, will now be reworked as single-camera, the predominant comedy format at ABC. ABC topper Paul Lee has spoken about his desire to build a block of edgy young ensemble comedies around Happy Endings, and Super Fun Night, along with newbie Don’t Trust The B—-, which will be paired with Happy Endings in the fall, could be used for that. Super Fun Night is produced by Warner Bros TV and O’Brien’s studio-based Conaco Prods. O’Brien, Jeff Ross and David Kissinger executive produce, with Wilson serving as co-executive producer. The CBS version also was executive produced by Ted Cohen & Andrew Reich, who signed on as showrunners for that pilot only. It is unclear whether any other cast members from the CBS pilot besides Wilson would make the transition to the ABC one. The original pilot starred Jenny Slate and Edi Patterson as the other leads opposite Wilson.
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Super Fun Night was one of the talked-about pilots after the upfronts, with several networks looking at it. There is an unusually high level of activity for passed-over broadcast pilots this season. USA Network is seriously considering picking up Fox comedy Rebounding, while Lifetime is doing the same with ABC dramedy Devious Maids.
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Devious is in serious contention at lifetime but it’s doubtful they can make budget work without cutting cast my friend at abc studios told me. And Rebounding isn’t going to happen at usa. Just an ok pilot and deemed too depressing by hireups. Fox tv was trying to force deal just like they forced FBC to make pilot in first place.
Seems silly to change the format, an example of single-cam snobbery. There are tons of single-camera comedies like this. There are basically no smart multi-camera comedies. Why not make a smart studio-audience comedy for people who liked SEINFELD, FRIENDS and FRASIER and know that single-cam is no substitute?
i could not agree more, i hate single camera shows and most of the really popular shows are multi camera comedies. Why change it!
I would argue that HIMYM, 2BG, TAAHM, M&M and TBBT are popular because they’re on CBS, not because they’re multi-cams- what’s the highest rated non- CBS multi-cam? Last Man Standing? Which was getting mid to high 1′s in the demo at the end of the season…
It’s not like anything on CBS will get a lot of viewers though (at least by its own standards). CBS has had a lot of flop comedies lately, even a flop single-cam comedy, WORST WEEK. A comedy doesn’t need to be great to be a hit, but it needs to have something viewers aren’t getting from every other show. Other networks look at CBS and mistakenly think that any piece of crap multi-cam will draw an audience, so they pick up mostly crappy ideas that show their contempt for the genre (WORK IT, I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER). It doesn’t work that way. Even CBS’s hits are often their better shows (like BBT and HIMYM) and the other networks aren’t going to have a hit multi-cam until they make a good one. When they do make a good one, it’ll be a hit.
i could not disagree more, multi-cam comedies blow like nothing else and laugh tracks are for really OLD people so they know when to laugh and clap like seals… thank DOG this will be a single cam comedy
when people talk of single camera snobbery… it’s comments like like Jason’s that they’re talking about. You seem like a genius Jason except that shows like ‘The Big Bang Theory’ among others prove you wrong… BBT isn’t for “old people” and I laugh and clap when it’s funny which I never do when I watch ‘Parks & Rec”.
You clap at the tv? You know they can’t see or hear you, right?
I was responding to the statement above me that said “laugh and clap”… yes I’m aware… but as for your statement since they can’t hear me… should I not laugh? Should I watch TV and not feel anything at all… id.
Big fan of “Parks & Rec”, “Modern Family”, and “30 Rock”. But also a fan of “3rd Rock”, “Seinfeld”, “Cheers” and “Taxi”. If it’s funny, it’s funny. Multi can be done well (not Lorre) and rate well.
This decision makes sense for reasons that have much more to do with making the show work than with snobbery. The script read as single-cam. Multi-cam wouldn’t work for the script’s humor, which skews way more awkward than broad and slapstick.
The problem is the networks’ belief that “broad and slapstick” is the only kind of jokes that work in front of an audience. If anything it’s the opposite. Sophisticated comedy works better in front of an audience (SEINFELD, FRASIER) because the audience forces the writers to write funny, not just room-funny. So instead we get a mix of single-cam comedies that aren’t funny enough and multi-cam comedies that are too broad and slapsticky.
I think it’s becoming more of a network preference to only deal with one type of comedy or another. ABC only has 2 out of 8 comedies that are multi-cam, so it would make sense for them to want to convert this title (especially if its going to be sandwiched between “Happy Endings” and “Don’t Trust the B”).
You answered your own question—there are no smart three-camera comedies, so why would a series with potential want to tar themselves with the “Grandma’s show” brush?
It’s sort of a Moneyball thing. There are tons of “edgy” single-cam shows about young people and most of them aren’t popular (HAPPY ENDINGS isn’t). There are basically no shows, except maybe Big Bang Theory and HIMYM, serving the audiences who loved FRIENDS and SEINFELD and don’t think single-cams are the same thing (because they’re not). So ABC is converting this show from something that could stand out to something that’s the same as all the other shows that young people haven’t really embraced. If there are no smart multi-cams on now, the solution is to make one and get the audience that wants them, not put on another cookie-cutter single-camera comedy,
Stop using the word “edgy” it means nothing it’s a cliche and nobody cares if it’s “edgy” or not. Just make it funny that always works.
Amen! And smart, clever multi-camera comedies drew bigger audiences for a reason. Many of those viewers, including demographically desirable ones, would appreciate the next generation’s Seinfeld if the networks stopped fixating on edginess, worried more about quality & allowed the creators to bring that about.
The next generation’s Seinfeld is Curb Your Enthusiasm, and people seem to be liking that fine, single camera and all.
that’s cuz it’s Larry Freaking David just like Seinfeld, LD is funny not regardless the number of cameras but there’s only one LD.
As an australian I deeply apologize for inflicting Rebel Wilson upon you in the US. For what it’s worth, we tried to destroy her, but she escaped out the back door and found asylum in your strange lands.
I literally just spilled tea all over my desk, laughing so hard after reading this comment
This made my morning.
Agreed – they should keep it as a multi-cam
I disagree. First of all, Frasier was incredibly lame. Second of all, the problem is the scene interruption by laughter, and the fact that shooting on set can’t compete with shooting on location.
Sometimes a set is better than going out on location. Like on SEINFELD, when Kramer describes his fight with a mugger much funnier than they ever could have staged it. A multi-cam is like a play and a single-cam is like a movie, and plays have fewer (and more artificial) sets than movies, but the best ones have the advantages of iconic set design and the energy of performing before a live audience. Anyway, multi-cam and single-cam are completely different styles and one isn’t a substitute for the other; FRIENDS would suck as a single-cam and M*A*S*H would suck as a multi-cam, but networks today don’t seem to get that there are any artistic advantages to multi-cam, live-audience shows. Hence all the bland single-cams that would have more life and energy with an audience and less location shooting.
That was a seriously great assessment.
OMG! I am sooooooo in love with Rebel! She is hilarious and steals every scene she is in. Ever since she appeared in Bridesmaids she is cropping up everywhere and ABC would be stupid not to work with her! I’m sick of only ever seeing models on TV – bring on the real people!
Nice try, Rebel Wilson.
I’m glad they’re giving this another shot. Of all the half hour comedies from last season, this sounded like one of the few I or any of my friends (mostly 22-30 range) would watch. I hope they keep Jenny Slate for it also.
Never seemed right for CBS anyway, but I’d like to see it as multi-cam as written. Nice to see it get another chance.
If only “Oh Fuck, It’s You” could luck out as well.
read “oh fuck, it’s you” retitled it “oh fuck, it’s bad”
Multi-cams haven’t died (it seems) because of camera count.
They’ve been dismissed because of “quality.”
(Big Bang Theory/Mike and Molly/How I Met Your Mother/Two and a Half Men still seem to function.)
Maybe the “multi” IS a dying breed. But as long as bad shows are offered up (in Pilot offerings), maybe it’s a destiny.
Younger readers/commentators (-30 y.o.) would be good to hear from here.
Sorry for the footnote, but “Multis” seem to capture a better “live” feel (even when edited), no?
I’m in my early twenties, and pretty much everyone I know dislikes the multi-cam format. With the exception of just two (HIMYM, Big Bang Theory), I don’t know anyone that watches anything multi-cam.
Is there anything wrong with the format? Absolutely not. But very few young people thing multi-cam is the way to go. At LEAST get rid of the laugh tracks. They’re obnoxious.
A studio audience on a sitcom isn’t a laugh track, any more than Jon Stewart’s studio audience. If viewers don’t understand that BIG BANG THEORY is a play performed in front of an audience, that has to be their problem, not the show’s (I think most viewers do understand that; it’s mostly executives and critics who are less sophisticated about studio audience laughter).
Yeah, all multi-cams are sweetened. Not a one of them hasn’t gone without SOME sweetening — not in years.
It’s clearly not young viewers who have turned against multi-cam. They’re watching them constantly on Disney and Nick, and BIG BANG THEORY reruns are huge with young viewers. Even SEINFELD is and half the technologically out of date. The dismissal of multi-cam comes from 30-and-up performers and writers, who find it uncool, and then from executives, who associate single-cam with “edgy.” But there’s just no evidence that the younger generations are falling out of love with live-audience comedy, or they wouldn’t be watching Jon Stewart, let alone Sheldon Cooper. The “ZOMG laugh tracks are lame” crowd is really an older crowd.
Sticking to shows currently on the air, and just going by quality and not ratings: Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, Parks And Rec, Girls, Veep, Community, The Office, Eastbound And Down, Modern Family, and Happy Endings are all one camera shows. Two And A Half Men, Big Bang Theory, Whitney, Two Broke Girls, Mike And Molly, Last Man Standing, and Rules Of Attraction are one camera.
Which club would you rather be a member of?
The first club, mostly, but most of those shows aren’t as good as the great multi-camera comedies (MODERN FAMILY is lazy and gooey-sentimental writing compared to what the same writers did on FRASIER when they had to earn their laughs from an audience). Besides, even if this were a golden age of single-cam comedy (it isn’t) that wouldn’t do away with the need for good studio-audience comedies, which can do things single-cam simply can’t duplicate.
This the one with Alan Ritchson, Thad from Blue Mountain STATE? Keep it mult-cam it works. WTF? why change what works
Thad was AWESOME! Miss him, and the show!
rebel wilson = major star!!! … better not loose her
i doubt les moonves will let super fun night go to another network or any show go to another network. he would not want the embarrassment if it became a hit elsewhere. as for devious maids, this seems likely if they can make that show less expensive. there are something like 14 series regulars and having seen that pilot and the testing, it makes sense to pick her up. it’s very good and testing was solid. rebounding on other hand is depressing and surprisingly bland. and why would usa want to launch their comedy brand with someone else’s reject?
I watched the pilot and Edi Patterson is the BEST thing about it!!!!!
Any news for Gotham (ABC)?
My primary reason for disliking & avoiding multi-cams is simple. I can’t stand the annoying canned laughter, it’s very distracting. I would never watch Super Fun Night on CBS but being reworked as a single cam on ABC means I’ll likely check it out when it premieres.
Was she one of the “women” in Work It?
The majority of Rebel Wilson’s work in Australia was single camera, so I think this move only plays to an existing strength. I think CBS got scared when Wilson said the word ‘c**t’ and the studio audience roared with laughter.. But they should have embraced the Rebel because she’s clearly the best young female writer/performer w
A good setup along with good characters should still make for a good show whether you have one camera shooting it or a hundred.
I was at the taping of this pilot. It’s incredibly funny and the three leads had amazing chemistry together. I really hope they don’t recast. Edi Patterson is one of the funniest actresses out there and she is fantastic in this part!!! Rebel Wilson has a unique voice and I can’t wait to see future episodes. Fingers crossed!
I saw this taping and was shocked when CBS passed. I’m glad it might get a second chance. It was so hilarious and there was major chemistry between the three leads. I hope they keep Edi Patterson, she’s one of the funniest actresses working today and is perfect in her role. As a young woman, I find Rebel’s voice refreshing. Really hope this goes!!!
The problem with multi-cam comedies is that the jokes suck. I’m sorry, but the guy who clapped at Big Bang Theory sounds like the biggest moron. The reason he doesn’t laugh at single camera shows is that there is no loud sound telling him where to laugh, since he needs a cue to know what a joke is.
You know, with all the goofy expressions, bug-eyed overacting, “comedy” music, looking at the camera, etc., single-cam comedies can’t really be accused of trusting us to get a joke.
Look, smart jokes are smart, dumb ones are dumb; but the BIG BANG THEORY viewer is clearly more sophisticated than the viewer who doesn’t understand why the studio audience is there and mistakenly thinks it’s only to tell morons when to laugh.
Yeah, but also Big Bang Theory is really bad. Like, embarrassingly bad. Like, Two and a Half Men-level bad. Shows like that are only on the air now because of same-time compromise viewing, which is a method in decline. There will probably always be a place for it, but once the networks realize how to make money off the shows people will actually seek out, live and live+7 ratings will be dead.