Does FOX Have the Best Comedy Development? Part 4

Don’t Worry, They’re Still Trying Broad Comedies

This season, FOX tried to air some more broadly-appealing comedies in Grandfathered and The Grinder, to try to balance out their niche comedies, such as Family Guy and The Last Man On Earth. It didn’t work, but they are still trying to make it work due to the fact that they gave both new sitcoms full backorders and new time slots. It has been made clear that FOX has not given up on the broader comedy style yet, based off the premises of a few of their shows currently in development. Let’s take a look:

·      Sugarland is a single-cam that is said to be about a pair of friends who work for difficult managers and are trying to keep their home life and work life separate. Produced by 20^th Century Fox. That’s all the material that has been released about its content, so it should be interesting to see how it works out considering it already has a put pilot commitment.

·      Think Like a Man is a script that FOX has received for a TV adaptation of Steve Harvey’s book, which was later turned into a film. As quoted from The Futon Critic, it shows four parts of romance: “newly married, moving in, breaking up and hooking up”. Sounds a little bit like Life in Pieces to me, personally, and also has kind of an iffy title, and a Sony production company name attached (not FOX-produced). I don’t like its chances as much as Sugarland’s, though Steve Harvey’s name as an executive producer may help.

·      Untitled Chernins Project is a single-cam that will be about a hard-working, industrial woman who moves to a rich neighborhood in Connecticut in order to raise her spoiled nieces and nephews after their parents left the country after being caught doing unspecified illegal things. Maybe not that broad of a comedy, but I thought it fit best in this category. The plotline sounds intriguing to me. It is produced by 20^th Century Fox, and has a penalty attached to the script if FOX decides not to order a pilot.

·      Untitled Daley & Goldstein Project is a single-cam that is about a group of adults trying to save their town after a teenage gang starts to ruin it. It has a script with a penalty attached and is produced by 20^th Century Fox. Does it sound interesting to me? No. But I don’t need to like a show in order for it to be worthy of making the air, so who knows.

·      Untitled Elizabeth Beckwith Project is said to be semi-autobiographical as a workplace comedy set in Las Vegas in the 1970s, where presumably the son works for the dad. I heard every episode will start with a Patton Oswald voiceover saying, “Back in the 70s…”—wait, no, that’s The Goldbergs in the 80s. Interesting enough, both The Goldbergs and this one are produced by Sony. Looks like FOX is looking into getting into the blast-from-the-past comedy genre? Anyways, this one has just a script and I grouped it in with the broad comedy list for lack of better option.

·      Weird Like Us is a single-cam that depicts children rebelling against their beekeeping, anti-mainstream parents by “going mainstream”. It is produced by NBC Universal Television, and has a script.

What do you think of these broader comedies? Do some have more potential than others? Do any look like they can top Grandfathered or The Grinder’s already-fractional ratings? Let me know in the comments below!

Does FOX Have the Best Comedy Development?--Part 2 of 6

Trying To Find The Empire Of Comedies

Along with sports comedies, FOX has a second theme that seems to be reoccurring throughout their development slate: music. With Empire being the huge hit it is (at least now), and Lee Daniels

planning a sister series drama in Star, FOX now seems to want to make some comedies based around music—not in a Galavant style, though, don’t confuse music-based comedy with a musical comedy like Galavant. In addition, they will have a couple of hours more of their schedule to fill midseason through the ending of American Idol. So, let’s see what they have:

·      Belles & Whistles is a single-cam that depicts a dad who moves to Nashville to pursue his musical dreams after being fired from his job as an engineer in Silicon Valley, California. So, if you watch Empire and Nashville but wish they were funnier, maybe this is for you? It’s from 20th Century Fox but does not yet have a put pilot commitment.

·      Eat Pray Thug is a single-cam that depicts an Indian-American rapper, Ambudkar, who still lives with his parents in Queens, New York. It’s in a better position than Belles & Whistles, as it has bells and whistles attached to the script (meaning there is a penalty they have to pay if they don’t order a pilot—like my pun?). It’s produced by 20th Century Fox. Looks like a solid attempt to diversify broadcast TV even more.

·      Front Man is another single-cam, and is about a person the opposite of the one in Belles & Whistles. This protagonist is starting to realize that he won’t be a success in music, and instead starts to sing in a local wedding band. Warner Brothers is the major production company behind it, and Elizabeth Banks is directing the pilot. Speaking of the fact that it has a put pilot commitment, so far its chances are greater than the other two listed above.

FOX next season will have Empire on Wednesday (and maybe Star), but Empire won’t be on all season long. Additionally, there’s a hole in the schedule left by American Idol, and maybe picking up one or two of these comedies could be a smart idea. You can definitely tell that they are trying, at the very least, and the storylines seem promising. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!