Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we ponder as our foreheads turn red from frequent smacks. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where “Brilliantly Canceled” comes in, looking at the shows that didn’t make it past their first season and saved us all a ton of grief.
Sometime in the eighties, NBC threw a show called Manimal on the air. It was an action-adventure drama about Dr. Jonathan Chase, a man who was able to turn into any animal he wanted, which enabled him to fight crime and help out the police/make [...]
With the new TV season just getting under way, we are bombarded with an array of new potential stars of all sizes. The absolute smallest of these stars is Crystal. Historians very often say that a great monkey actor comes only once in a generation and, at this point, it is abundently clear that Crystal is the monkey of our time. Born in 1994, Crystal has been active in Hollywood since the tender age of 3 (or about 6, in human years). Whether it's in Dr. Dolittle, Night at the Museum, Hangover II, Community, or anything else she's been in, she brings a certain humanity – or I guess [...]
Are you sitting down? Try not to skip ahead. Now guess how much Crystal the monkey will get per episode of Animal Practice. Remember she's had quite a successful comedy career, starring in blockbusters like the Night at the Museum movies and The Hangover II. Ready? $12,000. That is 12,000 human American dollars not some silly monkey currency. That is what child actors get or some leads on smaller cable networks. If Animal Practice gets a full season order, we're talking over $250,000. Do you know how many bananas that could buy? You'd have to go directly to the supplier at that point! Where do I go to sign [...]
In an interview with Written By, New Girl executive producer Brett Baer explain his theory:
When we tested the show, after we put the pilot together, it was strange how people were responding. We were all surprised by how connected people felt to it during the focus group testing. I was thinking long and hard about it, and I said to Dave [Finkel, another New Girl producer], "What we've done here is create maybe the first post-post-9/11 show." The comedy in the past 10 years prior to our show had an edge to it. It was satirical. There was a cynicism about the comedy. What our show came along at the [...]
Yesterday was officially Mother's Day but, when NBC announced its projected fall lineup, it felt more like Christmas. How about another analogy? Sure. Upfronts are like the NFL Draft, they mark the end of one season and the start of the next, but its still be months before anything plays out. So what does NBC's draft class look like? If comedies were offensive lineman, than NBC drafted like a lot of right guards. We had reported that they picked up a zillion (or seven) new sitcoms but it's still interesting to look at. If you include SNL, NBC has comedic programming five nights a week, which [...]
