Jan 30 2009
Lauren Graham Pilots Comedy to ABC
The big TV news buzzing around is that ABC picked up a comedy pilot entitled Let It Go, starring Lauren Graham as a self-help guru on TV who can’t follow her own advice when her boyfriend breaks up with her. Critics seems excited, but quite frankly another plot involving a woman acting crazy and stupid doesn’t exactly appeal to me. So many woman-centric comedies that I adored always ended up scaring me off when they slowly turned the woman into an idiot. I like Lauren Graham and she’s saying that it’s going to be something of a dark comedy, so perhaps there will be some sort of wicked charm that makes it worth watching. But I’m not holding my breath.
A drama pilot for CBS that looks interesting is entitled Back (which is a nightmare for trying to do a Google search on it, let me tell you). The story centers on a man who disappears during the 9/11 attacks only to resurface eight years later to try and reintegrate into a world that’s completely changed. This sounds like it has some great dramatic potential, but I think Mandy Bierly of Entertainment Weekly sums up the issues nicely:
“Interesting. Do I want to know why and to where he disappeared? Yes. Do I want it to be a season-long mystery, which is never solved because the show gets canceled? No. Also, I’m 50-50 on the title.”
I agree wholeheartedly. These serial dramas are a tough sell these days, considering how many of them get canceled and you’re left on a cliffhanger every time. Funny how I was just talking about the vicious cycle of not watching shows that we fear will be canceled.
You can get the hard data on all the new pilots that got picked up at Variety.com, and see them rated by EWs Popwatch.
**Lauren Graham photo from The Bonnie Hunt Show, October 6, 2008, c2008 Bob & Alice Productions, Warner Bros., NBC
Back does sound intriguing, doesn’t it? I’m interested to see how it turns out. As for Private Practice, I never watched Grey’s so I didn’t follow her over to her own show, but I know people who do watch it that were disappointed in how her character changed. I just don’t understand how writers can start out with such great characters and then ruin them by making them stereotypical “dumb females”. Grr.