Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here. Hercules, being possessed of all those godly virtues of his, had two stories ready and waiting for me when I returned to the Labs last night from a full night of carousing at the bachelor party of a dear friend. Unfortunately, I'm not the spry youth I once was, and I suffered a nearly complete systems shutdown postparty. As a result, these two stories are going up a bit late. Doesn't matter, though, since they're both so darn good. Here's the first time I think Herc has brought a new spy in from the cold. Enjoy!!
By far the most interesting item in the Mount Olympus mailbox this week came from a new spy who says he (or she), at the invitation of some NBC pals, got to see some “after-hours” pilot screenings in Burbank.
Says the spy: “What I didn't expect was that I wouldn't be seeing -shows- at all. This was more like An Evening At the Outtakes. NBC went for the cheap and shot only pieces of pilots. Not one of the hourlong shows had a complete episode. The closest thing was maybe 35 minutes worth of show. From the way it looked, each production company must have done their own thing. Some shot scenes that weren't connected at all. Some shot the first half of an episode and let it go. Were I one of the official suits, I'd have a hard time telling you if some of these shows were worth watching. Just when I started to get interested, the things were over.”
The spy offered specific comments on seven of the 20 NBC pilots (or pilot-pieces) screened. Two of these (“Cursed” and “Deadline”) were already covered by Moriarty’s Great Glass Teat summary on Wednesday, so I added the Teat’s comments where appropriate.
Here’s what our new spy was willing to talk about:
DOG YEARS
THE PITCH: Sitcom, from Carsey-Werner (“Third Rock From the Sun”), about a woman and her talking dog.
THE BUZZ: Poor. Will the dog be funnier than the talking cat on “Sabrina?”
COAX SPY: “The only real stand-out was a stand-out for strange instead of good. You know those commercials that Budweiser ran during the Superbowl? The talking dog bit? Imagine a whole show built around that and you've got Dog Years. The technique looked pretty Babe-level, but the attitude was more Alf.”
CURSED
THE PITCH: Sitcom, from Mitch Katlin and Nat Bernstein (1997’s “The Gregory Hines Show”), about a man (“Wings” vet Steven Weber) who has a curse placed upon him following a disasterous blind date.
THE BUZZ: Fair to poor.
MORIARTY’S GGT: “We might see (it).”
COAX SPY: "Cursed had an idea that could have been clever, but it'll have to be a lot better than what I saw.”
DEADLINE
THE PITCH: Drama, from Dick Wolf and Robert Palm (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”), about a reporter (Oliver Platt) who solves crime with a team of students.
THE BUZZ: Good.
MORIARTY’S GGT: “The one sure bet is DEADLINE, a new show from Dick Wolf that stars Oliver Platt. They didn't even shoot a pilot for this... just some scenes. The script rocks, and anyone who likes LAW & ORDER is going to love this show.”
COAX SPY: “Deadline was nothing but a few random scenes, the shortest of the already short crew. But hey? Who's going to argue with that team? Everyone assumed it would be on the schedule.”
THE FIGHTING FITZGERALDS
THE PITCH: Sitcom, from Edward Burns (“The Brothers McMullen”), about three brothers living with their widower father.
THE BUZZ: Fair to good.
COAX SPY: “There was some talk about "The Fighting Fitzgeralds" by Edward Burns looking like a winner, but it was one of the few I didn't see.”
NEWS FROM THE EDGE
THE PITCH: Hourlong science fiction comedy, from Silvio Horta (“Urban Legend”) and Gina Matthews (“Popular”), about people who make their livings dealing with the paranormal.
THE BUZZ: Good.
COAX SPY: “News From The Edge is the only Sci-Fi outing in NBC's pipeline. Even though it was in the drama list, it was more of a comedy and it was the only show that had a pilot that actually seemed like a complete story. Loved what I saw -- funnier than anything on the comedy list and surprisingly good looking production --but I'm not sure how this thing would translate week after week (could you watch an hour of Men in Black each week?).”
SHERMAN’S MARCH
THE PITCH: Hourlong romantic comedy-drama, from John Scott Shepherd and Scott Winant (“thirtysomething,” “My So-Called Life,” “Cupid,” “Get Real”), set at an ad agency.
THE BUZZ: Good.
COAX SPY: “Sherman's March is another show I'd like to see completed. Completely character-driven, but the characters were cool. What's there is quirky and reminds me of thirtysomething without the whining.”
TITANS
THE PITCH: Drama, from Spelling TV (“Beverly Hills 90210”) and Chuck Pratt, about the rich and powerful in Beverly Hills.
THE BUZZ: Poor.
COAX SPY: “At the bottom of the heap was yet another Spelling soap. This was the one show I was -glad- didn't last a full hour.”
OUR FABULOUS NEW COAX SPY SUMS IT UP: “You know, NBC does know what a comedy looks like, right? They've got Friends. They've got Frasier. They used to have Seinfeld. So how come this new batch looks more like they were aiming at Jessie and Suddenly Susan?
“Okay, so right now it looks like NBC has maybe one good 1/2 comedy coming and seven or eight good dramas. The only problem is -- they really need the comedies. There are a lot of 1/2 hour holes in the schedule and almost all the dramas got renewed (though I wouldn't hold out hope for either Pretender or Profiler showing up next year). Not to mention XFL, which will probably take 2 of the former drama slots. This has apprently led people to suggest that they might actually stick more hour long shows into what used to be comedy slots. Or take some nights away from Dateline. Both of those ideas would have been heresy at NBC last season. This year...who knows? The suits are supposed to vote over the next few days..”
NBC announces its fall schedule in nine days, on Monday, May 15.
I warn you not defy me!
