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EMMYS: Comedy Series Handicap

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday September 18, 2011 @ 10:22am PDTTags: 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards, 30 Rock, Glee, Modern Family, Outstanding Comedy Series, Parks and Recreation, The Big Bang Theory, The Office

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s 2011 Emmy coverage. Here’s his scorecard assessing the Outstanding Comedy Series race.

Glee (Fox)
Ryan Murphy Prods w/ 20th Century Fox TV
Why It Was Nominated: Well, of course they had to nominate it. Love it or hate it, Glee remains the rare broadcast comedy that carries as much style as it does substance. It remained true even through a polarizing second season when the online community and critics consistently took the show to task for devolving into a parody of itself. Call it Sophomore Implosion Syndrome. But it’s still undeniably energetic and often imaginative.
Why It Has To Win: Unlike last year, it would be a monumental upset were Glee to take the prize this time. But the TV academy can surprise you. Voters are notorious for lagging a year or so behind the curve. While it’s something of an apples-and-oranges measure when compared with the rest of the category competition, Glee remains a technically flawless production, a fact that can’t be minimized at a time when series steeped in song and dance continue to pack ‘em in.
Why It Can’t Possibly Win: It wasn’t just fans and critics fueling the Season 2 backlash. It’s also been the industry itself, directed at both the show and at showrunner Ryan Murphy for his perceived arrogance amid its charmed early life. One comedy producer also noted, “Between the 3D concert movie and the (Glee Project) series (on Oxygen) and everyone talking about it endlessly, they got annoyingly ubiquitous real fast. I mean, if Glee wins, the sound of retching will prove deafening.” That probably doesn’t bode well. READ MORE »

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EMMYS: Comedy and Drama Series Have Become Primetime’s Great Divide

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday July 14, 2011 @ 2:12pm PDTTags: 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards, 30 Rock, Boardwalk Empire, Dexter, Emmy Comedy Series, Emmy Nominations, Friday Night Lights, Game of Thrones, Glee, Mad Men, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, The Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife, The Office

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s Emmy coverage.

Nominations released this morning for the 63rd Primetime Emmys continued to demonstrate the intriguing trend of broadcast dominating comedy series and cable the drama side, to the point of near-exclusivity. No cable series broke through in the Outstanding Comedy race. The last time that happened was 2005, which coincidentally was also the most recent year that all four major nets, NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox, each landed at least one best comedy series nom apiece, as they did this time. (That last fact is sure to please the Big 4, which just signed a new eight-year, $66 million deal with the TV Academy to carry the Primetime Emmy Awards through 2018.) Last year, HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Showtime’s Nurse Jackie both cracked the list, while in ’09 the group included HBO’s Entourage and Flight of the Conchords as well as Showtime’s Weeds. This time, however, it was a broadcast sweep with NBC’s 30 Rock and The Office, first-timers Parks and Recreation and The Big Bang Theory as well as Fox’s Glee and ABC’s defending champ Modern Family.

In the Outstanding Drama Series race, meanwhile, the superiority was almost equally absolute on the cable/satellite side, with HBO freshmen Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones and Emmy maiden Friday Night Lights from DirecTV joining AMC’s three-time champ Mad Men and Showtime’s annual nominee Dexter to give non-broadcast hours five of the six slots. Only CBS’ The Good Wife prevented a clean sweep. It’s the first time that broadcast has claimed just a single nominee in any major Emmy series category. (Last year, The Good Wife was joined in the category by departing ABC series Lost.) Read More »

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EMMY ANALYSIS: New Drama Series, Overlooked Comedies, ‘Friday Night Lights’, Jimmy Fallon And ‘SYTYCD’ Make A Splash

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday July 14, 2011 @ 8:34am PDTTags: Boardwalk Empire, CBS, Emmy Nominations, Friday Night Lights, Game of Thrones, HBO, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Mad Men, Mildred Pierce, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, So You Think You Can Dance
Nellie Andreeva

63rd Primetime Emmy Nominations
HBO’s new dramas Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones made a big showing in their first Emmy races, Friday Night Lights received a great sendoff for its final season, Modern Family solidified its position as the undisputed comedy king, The Big Bang Theory and Parks and Recreation landed first best series noms, and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and So You Think You Can Dance broke into the major categories at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. On the heels of its Golden Globe and SAG wins, Prohibition-era extravaganza Boardwalk Empire netted an impressive tally of 18 Emmy nominations — including best drama series, best actor (Steve Buscemi) and best director (Martin Scorsese) — second only to the drama series that has dominated awards races for the past four years, AMC’s Mad Men, which had 19 noms. HBO led the network pack with 104 nominations, followed by CBS, which was the most nominated broadcast network with 50 noms, NBC with 46, PBS with 43, and this year’s host of the Primetime Emmy ceremony, Fox, with 42. HBO’s miniseries Mildred Pierce was the most nominated program overall with 21 mentions, including one in the newly consolidated best movie/miniseries category.

In its final Emmy hurrah, high school football drama Friday Night Lights earned its first best series nomination for its final season on DirecTV, along with the second consecutive best actor and best actress noms for stars Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton. In the best drama series category, Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones and FNL joined returning nominees Mad Men, Dexter and The Good Wife, which was once again the sole representative of broadcast TV in the top drama series category. Game of Thrones took a spot occupied by another genre series last year, HBO’s vampire drama True Blood, while notable omissions in the best drama series field include AMC’s high-profile new entries The Walking Dead and The Killing as well as FX’s Justified, all considered strong Emmy contenders, though the last two landed acting noms for stars Mireille Enos and Timothy Olyphant, respectively, and standout supporting players Michelle Forbes (The Killing), with her co-star Joel Kinnaman overlooked, and Margo Martindale, Walton Goggins and Jeremy Davies (Justified). Left out in the cold were Showtime’s drama Shameless and HBO’s Treme, as the TV Academy continues to show little love for Treme co-creator David Simon.

Following its complete dominance of the awards races following its best comedy series win at last year’s Emmy Awards, ABC’s Modern Family was once again the top comedy dog with 17 nominations, including best comedy series as well as acting nominations for the entire adult cast of the show, all of whom submitted themselves as supporting: last year’s winner Eric Stonestreet, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen and Ed O’Neill, who was surprisingly left off last year’s nominee list. With no new comedy series making a big splash this past season on broadcast or cable, Emmy voters took a second look at series that had been passed over for best series recognition in the past. Both NBC’s Parks and Recreation and CBS’ The Big Bang Theory landed their first best comedy series nominations this year for their third and fourth season, respectively, but NBC’s offbeat sophomore Community and its cast were once again overlooked. Both Parks & Rec and Big Bang already had had lead actor nominations for stars Amy Poehler and Jim Parsons, who won for best comedy actor last year. Both are back in Emmy contention this year. However, Poehler’s co-star Nick Offerman was snubbed, while in another Emmy gain for Big Bang, Parsons is facing fellow star Johnny Galecki, who earned his first Emmy nomination. Joining Modern Family, Parks and Recreation and Big Bang in the best comedy series category are last year’s nominees Glee, The Office and 30 Rock.

It wasn’t a strong year for new broadcast series, so it is not surprising that none broke the best series categories. But three actresses from freshman sitcoms — Melissa McCarthy of CBS’ Mike & Molly, Martha Plimpton of Fox’s Raising Hope as well as Laura Linney of Showtime’s The Big C, which just started airing its second season — made the cut for best actress in a comedy series, where they will compete against returning nominees Tina Fey of 30 Rock, Poehler and last year’s winner Edie Falco of Nurse Jackie, though Showtime’s medical dramedy failed to repeat as best series nominee. Read More »

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EMMYS: Deadline/TVline Comedy Races

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Saturday June 18, 2011 @ 8:42pm PDTTags: 30 Rock, Christopher Lloyd, Community, Dan Harmon, Emmy Lead Comedy Actor, Emmy Lead Comedy Actress, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Jenny Bicks, Joel McHale, Linda Wallem, Liz Brixius, Liz Brixius and Linda Wallem Nurse Jackie, Michael Schur, Modern Family, Nurse Jackie, Parks and Recreation, Raising Hope, Steve Carell, The Big Bang Theory, The Big C, The Middle, The Office, Ty Burrell

Here’s is the Deadline/TVline assessment of 2011 Emmy comedy races:

Deadline/TVline: 2011 Comedy Series Overview
Competition for Emmy nominations among this year’s Outstanding Comedy Series contestants is no laughing matter. The showdown between two 20th Century TV hits … Read More »

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‘Parks And Recreation’ Town Getting Book Treatment Via NBCUniversal & Hyperion

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday June 14, 2011 @ 1:07pm PDTTags: Amy Poehler, Books, NBC, Parks and Recreation

Here’s a novel concept: NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products Group and Hyperion Books are teaming to publish Pawnee: The Greatest Town In America, a book “written” by Amy Poehler’s character Leslie Knope on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. Pawnee, … Read More »

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EMMYS: 2011 Comedy Series Overview

By NELLIE ANDREEVA AND MICHAEL AUSIELLO | Monday June 13, 2011 @ 1:40pm PDTTags: 30 Rock, Chuck, Community, Cougar Town, Eastbound & Down, Emmy Comedy Series, Entourage, Episodes, Family Guy, Glee, Hot in Cleveland, How I Met Your Mother, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Modern Family, Nurse Jackie, Outstanding Comedy Series, Parks and Recreation, Primetime Emmy Awards, Raising Hope, The Big Bang Theory, The Big C, The Middle, The Office, United States of Tara, Weeds

Competition for Emmy nominations among this year’s Outstanding Comedy Series contestants is no laughing matter. The showdown between two 20th Century TV hits is more intense than ever, with Modern Family showrunners Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd trying to score their second consecutive Emmy win, while Glee executive producer Ryan Murphy is hoping to edge them out. That is, if one or more of a duo of up-and-comers — Community or Parks and Recreation — don’t act as spoilers. Then again, past Emmy stalwarts 30 Rock or The Office could resurface. Or Showtime’s bold, female-skewing dramedies Nurse Jackie or newbie The Big C might seize the spotlight. And don’t rule out the possibility of CBS’ The Big Bang Theory finally scoring a nod in its fourth season, or How I Met Your Mother receiving recognition in its sixth. And then there are the underdogs. As The Middle’s co-showrunner Eileen Heisler (with DeAnn Heline) says about ABC’s Wednesday night lineup, “We’re really grateful to Modern Family for bringing attention to family shows. We’ve benefi tted from their success, but I think it takes a little longer for people to realize the next door neighbor in The Middle is edgy and wry.”

If Modern Family does repeat, no ABC sitcom has managed that feat since Taxi more than 30 years ago. Of course, NBC’s won three years running. And Frasier took home a record five in succession between 1994 and 1998. So it can be done. But that doesn’t mean Modern Family’s Christopher Lloyd thinks it’s a shoo-in. “Among certain segments of the blogosphere who first anointed the show that everybody is supposed to be watching, there’s another rush to declare that it stinks now. And then there will be others who’ll want to say ‘I told you so’ when it wins again.”

There’s general agreement it would take a miracle for any freshman broadcast network comedy to crash this year’s top comedy series’ Emmy party, with the possible exception of Fox’s Raising Hope. Though there’s a sliver of daylight for a newbie cable show like The Big C, despite the fact it’s a dramedy. Cable continues to make inroads in the comedy series categories, evidenced by Showtime’s Nurse Jackie capturing eight Emmy nominations last year, including one for top comedy; with Showtime’s Weeds as well as HBO’s Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm landing series nods in recent years. This year, TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland has Emmy buzz. But only one cable comedy has ever won: HBO’s Sex and the City in 2001.

Here’s our assessment of the chances for this year’s comedy series in alphabetical order:

30 ROCK
Although the NBC hitcom’s three-year winning streak ended last year (done in by ABC’s freshman breakout, Modern Family), it remains an industry darling — with good reason. While not as consistent as its earlier seasons, its comedy quality never seems to wane. So, without ever actually going away, it could be primed for a comeback. But the show, which celebrated its 100th episode this season, may also be mistakenly placed in the “been there, done that” category, even with red-hot writer/producer/actress/author Tina Fey at the helm (the recent Tracy Morgan scandal notwithstanding). But if the Academy revisits NBC’s quirky workplace comedies, they just might opt for the newer Parks and Recreation or Community.

THE BIG BANG THEORY
As popular as this CBS smash is, it has yet to be Emmy nominated despite originality in its scripts and ensemble. Kudos to the producers for broadening the cast this season and stepping up the romance for Mayim Bialik’s and Melissa Rauch’s roles, especially after Jim Parsons was acknowledged as last year’s Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winner for nerd-chic hilarity. If you’re going to vote for a Chuck Lorre show this year, this one’s decidedly less baggage-laden than Two and a Half Men, which lost its Sheen.

THE BIG C
With lead Laura Linney considered a shoo-in for an Emmy nod, a side effect is that her show’s chances of breaking into the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy race likely increases as well. Question is, did they increase enough? Is the TV Academy ready to honor a dark comedy centering on a woman’s battle with cancer? Perhaps it’s time. If so, there could be two Showtime noms in this category for the first time, assuming Nurse Jackie repeats. Says showrunner Jenny Bicks, “It’s not going to be an easy fight for us.”

CHUCK
Forever floating on the renewal bubble (it will live on for a fifth and final short season of 13 episodes next season), Chuck has a well-earned reputation as The Little Show that Could. But, plucky as it is, the unlikely spy yarn remains a significant Emmy long-shot. Besides, NBC already has a couple of potential sleeper contenders at the ready in Parks and Recreation and Community.

COMMUNITY
What is arguably NBC’s most innovative comedy shoots high creatively but has yet to land commensurate ratings. Critics, however, have been quick to sing the show’s praises, perhaps loudly enough to help get it noticed by Emmy voters. Remember when Fox’s Arrested Development used critical praise to trump low viewership? Showrunner Dan Harmon likens Community’s comedy to “Krispy Kreme — we just have to get it into people’s mouths.” Or, in the case of Academy voters, into their DVD players.

COUGAR TOWN
In its second season, the wine-soaked “Friends for grownups” really came into its own as an ensemble comedy rather than just a Courteney Cox vehicle. And it’s even poking fun at the icky title that long ago ceased to have anything to do with the series premise. Nonetheless, it’s probably not ABC’s Wednesday night show with the most heat in this comedy category because of Modern Family.

EASTBOUND & DOWN
This back-to-fi rst-base comedy about a washed-up baseball player enjoys the prestige of HBO and the marquee value of Will Ferrell as a producer. But it’s perhaps too raunchy for older TV Academy voters. Given that producer-star Danny McBride says this forthcoming third season will be its last, Eastbound & Down likely will strike out Emmy-wise.

ENTOURAGE
After landing nominations in the top comedy category for three years running, HBO’s Hollywood insider send-up didn’t make the cut the last go-round. If shut out again, it’s because Academy voters have moved on from an aging series that returns for its shortened eighth and final season on July 24th. It didn’t help when news leaked out in May that HBO pulled it from broadcast syndication by Warner Bros Domestic TV.

EPISODES
If the television industry’s insiders love anything more than laughing, it’s laughing at itself (see 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm). And there’s been buzz about how this Showtime Brits-out-of-water comedy reinvented Matt LeBlanc. But, even if he might, the series probably doesn’t have a high enough profile yet to garner an Emmy nod.

FAMILY GUY
In 2009, the Fox show that wouldn’t die became the first animated series in nearly half a century to win an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. But it was shut out the very next year. So expect the next TV Academy recognition for Family Guy around 2060. One question mark is whether the toon’s unique in-your-face way of campaigning for Emmy helps or hurts to sway voters. Then again, this is the comedy series category.
Read More »

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Ratings Rat Race: ‘Office’, ‘Bones’ Finales Up From Last Year, All Other Closers Down

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 20, 2011 @ 10:18am PDTTags: Bones, Grey's Anatomy, Parks and Recreation, Private Practice, Ratings Rat Race, Rules of Engagement, The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, The Office, TV Ratings, Wipeout
Nellie Andreeva

The suspense surrounding Michael Scott’s successor as boss on The Office boosted the season finale of the veteran NBC comedy series (3.8/10), which was up 12% from last season’s finale and ranked as the highest-rated scripted show of the night in adults 18-49. The hourlong finale of Parks and Recreation (2.2/6) was flat with last year’s season ender at 8:30 PM. (NBC aired Office reruns in the 8 PM hour.)

The penultimate results show of this season’s American Idol (6.2/19) was flat with the fast national for last week’s show (it was down 5% from the final but is expected to rebound again in the finals this afternoon.) The season finale of Bones (3.2/8) was even with last week and up 14% from the dramedy’s season finale last year. Bones edged the season finale of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy in total viewers (10 million vs. 9.6 million). Fox once again dominated the night in 18-49 and total viewers.

Grey’s Anatomy (3.4/9) was down a whopping 34% from last season, with the season finale of Private Practice (2.5/7) down 22%. Both were the series’ lowest-rated finales ever but were actually up two tenths each from last week. Wipeout (1.7/5) at 8 PM was flat.

The CBS series also posted declines vs. last year in their season finales. Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘The Office’ Drops Without Carell, ‘American Idol’ Up

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 6, 2011 @ 2:30pm PDTTags: 30 Rock, American Idol, Bones, Community, Nikita, Outsourced, Parks and Recreation, Ratings Rat Race, Steve Carell, The Office, TV Ratings, Wipeout
Nellie Andreeva

Apologies for not filing a rating story earlier, it was a pretty big busy morning in TV news today. With the final ratings for last night in, here are the biggest highlights:

NBC’s The Office (3.5/10 in 18-49) was down 17% from last week’s episode, which marked the departure of star … Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: Will Ferrell Lifts ‘The Office’, ‘Paul Reiser’ Bombs, ‘Nikita’ Rises

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday April 15, 2011 @ 10:04am PDTTags: 30 Rock, American Idol, Bones, Community, Nikita, Outsourced, Parks and Recreation, Ratings Rat Race, The Office, The Paul Reiser Show, The Vampire Diaries, Will Ferrell, Wipeout
Nellie Andreeva

Will Ferrell’s debut on The Office (3.9/11 in 18-49, 7.7 million viewers) last night gave a boost to the NBC comedy, which was up 15% from its most recent original March 24 in 18-49. The ratings gains carried over to Parks and Recreation (2.6/7, 5.2 million), up 8% for its best numbers in almost three months; 30 Rock (2.2/6), up 16%; and Outsourced (1.7/5), up 21% from last week, when it had a repeat as lead-in. But things were far less uplifting in the 8 PM hour. Community (1.4/5, 3.5 million) was down 22% in 18-49 from its last original March 24. Then there was the premiere of The Paul Reiser Show (1.1/3, 3.3 million) at 8:30 PM. It was down a whopping 48% from the January debut of Perfect Couples in the time slot to rank as NBC’s lowest-rated in-season comedy series premiere ever.

Fox’s American Idol (6.1/19, 21 million) matched its fast-national rating from last week (the reality juggernaut always goes up in the finals). At 9 PM, Bones (3.7/10, 11.9 million) was up 16% from last week to log its highest 18-49 rating in two months. It as also the second-most-watched program of the night behind Idol. Fox easily won the night in all measures. Read More »

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NBC Renews Comedies ‘The Office,’ ‘Parks And Recreation’ And ‘Community’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday March 17, 2011 @ 12:45pm PDTTags: Community, NBC, Parks and Recreation, renewal, The Office
Nellie Andreeva

All of NBC’s returning Thursday comedies will be coming back next year. The network today renewed veteran The Office (sans Steve Carell), Parks and Recreation (with Rob Lowe) and Community for next season. They join 30 Rock, which was given … Read More »

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‘Parks & Recreation’ Showrunner: Rob Lowe Ain’t Going Anywhere

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday March 10, 2011 @ 9:28am PSTTags: Charlie Sheen, PaleyFest, Parks and Recreation, Rob Lowe, Two and a Half Men
Nellie Andreeva

At last night’s Parks and Recreation panel at the PaleyFest moderated by TVLine’s Michael Ausiello, the show’s co-creator/showrunner Mike Schur laughed off speculation that co-star Rob Lowe could be leaving Parks to replace Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men. Per TVLine, he first suggested that several other Parks … Read More »

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TV TEASER: Spoof ‘Parks & Rec’ Promo

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday January 19, 2011 @ 11:40am PSTTags: Parks and Recreation, Rob Lowe, TV, TV Video, Video
Nellie Andreeva

The cast of NBC’s Parks & Recreation is marking the return of the comedy series on the air after a 5-month hiatus with a spoof on FunnyOrDie featuring a funny (and profane) co-star Rob Lowe. Season 3 of Parks & Recreation premieres tomorrow night. Here is the clip:

… Read More »

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TCA: NBC’s ‘Parks and Recreation’ Basks in Pre-Comcast Critical Glow

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday January 12, 2011 @ 7:35pm PSTTags: Amy Poehler, Greg Daniels, Michael Schur, Parks and Recreation, TCA, Television Critics Association

From Ray Richmond, who is contributing to Deadline Hollywood’s TCA coverage:

You really can’t blame the production team behind the Amy Poehler NBC comedy Parks and Recreation for feeling pretty good about itself these days, having survived something of a … Read More »

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TV TEASER: NBC’s ‘Parks And Recreation’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday January 6, 2011 @ 1:00pm PSTTags: Parks and Recreation, Video
Nellie Andreeva

Here is a four-minute preview of the upcoming third season of NBC’s underrated comedy Parks and Recreation. After some great momentum in the second half of last season, the show was left on the bench for fall and is finally rejoining the schedule on Jan. 20 when NBC launches its … Read More »

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NBC Shakes Up Midseason Schedule, Puts 6 Comedies On Thursday & Renews ’30 Rock’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday November 15, 2010 @ 12:15pm PSTTags: 30 Rock Renewal, Chase, Community, Law & Order:LA, NBC, NBC Midseason Schedule, NBC Scheduling, NBC Scheduling Changes, Outsourced, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Perfect Couples, The Office, TV
Nellie Andreeva

With its entertainment lineup largely underperforming this fall, NBC is making wholesale changes for midseason with moves on every night, including a rarely-seen on broadcast TV 10-11 PM comedy block for an all-comedy Thursday. Additionally, the network  has given one of those Thursday comedies, 30 Rock, an early renewal for next season, the Emmy winning series’ sixth. It also represents a vote of confidence for the series, which is entering uncharted territory with a Thursday 10 PM slot midseason assignment. In addition to a 3-hour comedy block on Thursdays, which will include Community at 8 PM, followed by new series Perfect Couples, The Office, Parks & Recreation, 30 Rock and Outsourced, NBC’s other major scheduling moves for midseason include shifting Parenthood to Mondays, Law & Order: Los Angeles to Tuesdays, Chase to Wednesdays and Law & Order: SVU to 10 PM on Wednesday. “The goal for our mid-season schedule was to keep us in original programming throughout the season and launch several promising new shows, said NBC’s EVP planning and scheduling Mitch Metcalf. “We were looking to add more comedy to our schedule and we believe the best way to do so is to expand our already successful Thursday night.” When NBC gave new Thursday comedy Outsourced a full-season order last month, it became clear that the network wouldn’t be able to contain its half-hours within its established Thursday 8-10 PM block as it also had Parks & Recreation and new entries Perfect Couples and Friends with Benefits on deck for midseason. The network brass explored the possibility of opening a second comedy night but reportedly felt it was not the right time to do so. And, unless it was to go on an assault against CBS’ Monday and ABC’s Wednesday comedy blocks the way CBS did against NBC on Thursday this fall or to bump established Tuesday performer The Biggest Loser, NBC had no real opening for a second comedy night. As for its new all-comedy Thursday, the network already flirted with the idea last spring when it launched comedy reality series The Marriage Ref at 10 PM and in May when it scheduled hourlong comedy Love Bites in the hour. (After a production start delay, the anthology series is now in production for a late spring launch). But airing half-hour comedies at 10 PM on broadcast TV has been very rare and has not fared well so far. However, a 10 PM comedy block is very common on cable TV with such series as HBO’s Entourage and Comedy Central’s South Park. Read More »

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‘Parks & Rec’ Writer Inks Deal With UMS

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday August 18, 2010 @ 1:56pm PDTTags: Parks and Recreation, Single-Camera
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Parks and Recreation writer-producer Alan Yang has signed a two-year overall deal with Universal Media Studios, the studio behind the single-camera NBC comedy. Under the pact, Yang will continue on Parks & Rec while also developing new projects for UMS. WME-repped Yang has several feature projects in the works, … Read More »

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TCA: Early Launch For 2 NBC Series; NBC Brass Talk ‘Office’, Robert Greenblatt, Piers Morgan

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday July 30, 2010 @ 10:40am PDTTags: Alexandra Cunningham, America's Got Talent, Jeff Gaspin, NBC, NBC Angela Bromstad, NBC Development Deals, NBC Executive Session, Outlaw, Parenthood Season 2, Parks and Recreation, Prime Suspect Pilot, Rob Lowe, Robert Greenblatt, TCA, The Office
Nellie Andreeva

At the top of NBC’s executive session, NBC Uni TV Entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin announced that a couple of series will premiere early behind the final episodes of America’s Got Talent. The second season of Parenthood will launch on Sept. … Read More »

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3 Arts & Untitled Talk Management Merger

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday July 21, 2010 @ 4:12pm PDTTags: 3 Arts, 30 Rock, Daniel Day-Lewis, Erwin Stoff, Keanu Reeves, Madonna, Managers, Parks and Recreation, Production, Robert Pattinson, The Office, Tina Fey
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Management/production companies 3 Arts and Untitled Entertainment are in merger talks. I’m not certain they are going to join forces, but they are exploring it seriously. The potential mix of assets of the two companies is intriguing. 3 Arts — run by Erwin Stoff, Michael Rotenberg, Howard Klein, David … Read More »

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