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Posts tagged as free agents

Reviews

Bent and the Problem With Romantic Comedy TV Shows

by | March 22nd, 2012

The pilot of Bent premiered last night on NBC, and it gave me a teeny-tiny wave of deja vu that carried me back to watching another solidly mediocre NBC romantic comedy TV show. And like Free Agents, it would be my best guess that Bent is destined for cancellation sooner rather than later.

Granted, Free Agents' over-jazzed slickness and failure to characterize its protagonists are not issues for Bent. Nope, the characterizations of Pete (David Walton) and Alex (Amanda Peet) are hammered in pretty hard: she's an uptight lawyer from NorCal with a kid and an ex-husband in white collar prison; he's a man-whoring, surfing contracter from SoCal [...]

Taking Stock

Is the 2011-2012 Sitcom Schedule the Worst in a Decade?

by | November 1st, 2011

Every year in the fall, and then again in the middle of winter, we get our hopes up for some of the new network sitcoms that are set to premiere on the Big Four (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC), and The CW, kind of, and we immediately write off others. Take 2011, for instance: we all knew Whitney and Last Man Standing were going to stink, but hey, Free Agents (before it got cancelled…) and New Girl are actually kind of good! But how does this season so far (which isn’t full completely, and won’t be until Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 and Napoleon Dynamite, among others, [...]

Recaps

Free Agents Recap: "Pilot"

by | September 15th, 2011

First things first: the protagonists of Free Agents, Alex (Hank Azaria) and Helen (Kathryn Hahn), two PR agents newly single after long-term relationships, are good 'n' charming. After being the funniest thing about How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days and Our Idiot Brother (and Anchorman, as the secretary who reveals that Ron Burgundy will read “a-ny-thin-guh” off a cue card), it’s about time Hahn gets to star in something. And obviously, I could listen to Hank Azaria name made-up sex positions for a few hours at least.

The Brits

Original British Version of Free Agents to Air on BBC America

by | August 29th, 2011

Free Agents, the upcoming NBC sitcom starring Hank Azaria, is a remake of a British show of the same name. If you want to compare the original to the new, Americanized version, BBC America will be showing it starting on October 8th.

NBC

The Full Rundown on NBC's Six New Sitcoms

by | May 13th, 2011

NBC is set to pick up a whopping six new comedies for next season, virtually guaranteeing that there will be a second comedy night on the network. Here's what to look forward to:

-Up All Night: This is the much-buzzed-about "untitled Emily Spivey project," which the SNL/Parks & Rec writer is fronting with Lorne Michaels producing. It stars Christina Applegate, Maya Rudolph and Will Arnett and is "an irreverent look at parenthood through the POV of an acerbic working mother — who never thought she’d be a mom — along with her stay-at-home husband and opinionated parents."

-Free Agents: Hank Azaria will star as "a recent divorcé [...]

Facebook

What Fans of Abruptly Canceled Shows Talk About

by | February 17th, 2012

I “Like” a lot of shows on Facebook. Why? I could say it’s because I like having my Feed updated with news reports and interesting links about who’s going to be on this week’s Simpsons episode or about a wood carving of Ron Swanson that I can’t believe hasn’t actually made its way onto Parks and Recreation's official Page yet. But to be honest, the likelier reason is because I’m a narcissist who feels the need to broadcast his Likes onto society — “Hey, look at me world, I love Party Down. I’m cool!”

In other words, I’m a Facebook user. But a “Like” shouldn’t be taken too lightly; [...]

Ratings

Free Agents Is Dead in the Water

by | October 6th, 2011

Bad news for new NBC sitcom Free Agents: it didn't get the significant boost in the ratings it needed last night, so its prospects are looking pretty bleak. It received a 1.0 rating and was watched by 3.28 million people, far short of the already-picked-up Up All Night's 2.2 rating and 5.65 million viewers (which itself was very far short of Modern Family's 5.6 rating and 13 million viewers. Oh, NBC.). I wouldn't be surprised if we hear official word of the show's cancellation by day's end. It's too bad; the show has a pretty excellent cast, and I would've been curious to see where they went with [...]

Characters

Hank Azaria's Free Agent Character Is Frank Grimes

by | September 14th, 2011

Hank Azaria stars in Free Agents this fall using his body meat for a change, but his protagonist Alex remains sadly reminiscent of a particular late, great citizen of Springfield. "Do you remember the episode that has Frank Grimes in it? Remember that show?," Azaria naively, humbly asked Vulture. "Kind of a one-off character. This guy comes to the Springfield the nuclear power plant, works for Homer and gets really jealous that everything works out for Homer even though Homer is an idiot. There’s a lot of Frank Grimes in Alex — nothing works out for him and he’s tremendously sad and yet somehow, hopefully, it’s funny." I'm [...]

Programming Notes

NBC's Fall Premiere Schedule Unveiled

by | July 6th, 2011

Mark your calendars: NBC's comedy lineup is coming back in mid-September. Up All Night and Free Agents premiere on Wednesday, September 14th at 10pm, and then the following Wednesday they hit their regular time slots at 8pm. The next night, Thursday, September 22nd, Community, Parks and Rec, The Office and Whitney premiere.

NBC

NBC to Double its Comedy Programming This Fall With a Boatload of New Sitcoms

by | May 11th, 2011

This will all be official come Sunday, but until then, it's hearsay aplenty. Variety is reporting that NBC is giving the greenlight to at least three new sitcoms for this fall: Whitney, Alpha Mom (formerly the untitled Emily Spivey project) and Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea. But that's not all!

tv on the internet

Eight Episodes of the Dearly Departed Free Agents Are Available on Hulu

by | January 18th, 2012

There are eight episodes of Free Agents on Hulu right now, including four that weren't aired on TV before the show's cancellation. Fans of Joe Lo Truglio's meat-sword-obsessed security guard character, rejoice.

Ratings

Modern Family Premiere Turns Out Monster Ratings

by | September 22nd, 2011

ABC's Modern Family killed it in the ratings for its hourlong premiere last night. Granted, it was up against Harry's Law and America's Next Top Model (which is in, what, cycle 74?), but hey, 14 million viewers is impressive no matter how you slice it. Especially compared to last night's other comedies The Middle (9.6 million), Up All Night (6 million), and Free Agents (under 4 million).

Programming Notes

NBC Will Make Sure You See the Premieres of its New Comedies, Dammit

by | September 2nd, 2011

Interested in seeing the new NBC sitcoms Up All Night, Whitney and Free Agents? Well, the network is going to make it either easier for you to catch them or harder for you to miss them, depending on your perspective: "After premiering Wednesday, September 14 from 10 to 11 p.m. (behind the America's Got Talent finale), NBC plans to air encores of the [Up All Night and Free Agents] pilots twice: On Thursday, September 14 (behind reruns of The Office and Community) and then again on Saturday, September 17 from 9 to 10 p.m. Up and another new NBC comedy, Whitney, will then get two weeks of exposure on [...]

NBC Lineup

The New Comedies You're Going to Be Watching (or Angrily Turning Off) on NBC This Fall

by | May 16th, 2011

The NBC fall comedy lineup is out, and the only thing that's going to make you truly wig out 30 Rock's midseason start. However, considering that Tina Fey probably doesn't want to bring a 2-week-old infant to work, Whitney Cumming's Whitney will be rounding out the Thursday lineup until the Girlie Show gang returns. Check out all of the new comedies after the jump, and start scheduling your spare time accordingly.

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