Cheers to the multicam sitcom, which is having quite the day. Two of the three sitcoms picked up this season are multicam, and a few new projects in that vein were picked up today. There ain’t nothing wrong with a laugh track, if the comedy works.
THE CURRENT SEASON
Whitney Cummings is having a damn good week. News broke yesterday that her eponymous sitcom was picked up for a full season, and today’s big story is that her other sitcom, 2 BROKE GIRLS was picked up as well. No shocker there - the CBS sitcom has the highest ratings among the coveted 18-49 demo of any new series this Fall.
THE DEVELOPMENT SEASON
Bill Lawrence (COUGARTOWN, SCRUBS) and Jason Belleville sold a script plus penalty to ABC. The multicam project centers on a small town fire department. Lawrence also has a pilot production commitment at Fox for a singlecam father/son comedy and workplace multicam pilot production commitment at CBS that he cowrote with Greg Malins. So he’s not at all in high demand.
Will Smith is returning to TV! And it’s not in Teen Nick’s The 90s Are All That block. THR reports Smith, wife Jada Pinkett Smith, and James Lassiter sold an untitled multicam comedy to ABC. The project centers on an Dominican-American (Anthony “Romeo” Santos) from Washington Heights who tries to please his traditional father and still pursue the American dream. Chris Pappas and Mike Bernier are writing the script.
Speaking of rappers and multicams, Snoop Dogg and producer Don Reo have sold a pitch to NBC, TheWrap reports. Snoop will play a father to misfit children. Enough said.
Ellen Rappaport and 30 Rock director Beth McCarthy-Miller’s singlecam sitcom HAUGHT MESS is in development at ABC. The project is a family comedy centered on a woman caught between her new boyfriend and her need to please her siblings and mother, reports Deadline. McCarthy-Miller directed three pilots that were picked up to series this past season (MAN UP, WORK IT, and HOW TO ROCK), so there’s a good chance this one will be a go.
SPIN CITY’s Jeff Lowell sold a comedy script to ABC. The comedy centers on a politically correct guy who is coached on life by the ghost of his very 1950s father, according to Deadline.
In more exciting news, ABC’s given a put-pilot commitment to EX-COMM, a sci-fi drama written by Jon Favreau, Roberto Orci, Seth Green, and Michael Dougherty. It’s said to be THE X-FILES meets THE WEST WING; it centers on the president and his executive committee who investigate strange occurrences and conspiracies. There’s a lot of star power in this project, and it echoes the trend of film crossover into TV (see Will Smith, above, and the Coen Brothers, yesterday. Favreau also sold TWEAKED, a comedy spec, to CBS. Orci’s K/O Paper Products has a western drama set up at Fox and a political drama at CBS.
