Tag:

Sitcom

Entertainment

Thoughts on ABC working on a Scrubs reboot as well as another new spin-off of The Rookie – both attached to 20th Television

by Sports Benches

Today, ABC secured not one but two additional development projects in the last month of 2024 – one is yet another spin-off of The Rookie being set in Washington State and the second is the Scrubs sitcom reboot originally aired in the 2000s.

Right now, all of their current scripted shows are taking the mid-season break – with more coming back (Will Trent & The Rookie) and another coming in (Shifting Gears soon and later The Conners’ one last ride), while management is thinking about their next move going into 2025.

Here’s a list of projects that currently on the table lately:

Sitcom

  • Sisters-In-Law
  • Do You Want Kids?
  • A Scrubs reboot

Drama

  • 9-1-1 spin-off in Hawaii
  • Vital Signs
  • The Rookie spin-off in Washington State

We all know Scrubs has been one of the now former ABC Signature’s popular property of sitcoms (previously it was Touchstone Television until 2007 followed by ABC Studios until 2020) throughout the 2000s – firstly on NBC for the first six followed by ABC during the last two seasons. 

Now they would want to try it again and see if this will work in this decade, so 20th TV can get the opportunity under the microscope since they will oversee all of ABC’s scripted programming from now on.

It’s bit of a surprise since someone like Bill Lawrence wants to work on this by setting the scene where it left off back in 2010, even though he currently has huge links with Warner Bros TV. ABC already has Tim Allen back as one of their star personnel on Shifting Gears, so better to build on Abbott as surely not another revival would make things work when Scrubs already run its race a long time ago. 

Gotta say, probably a non-starter I guess even if it makes into pilot.

The same would say for yet another spin-off of The Rookie & this time it would have to do with a cop starting his new job in Washington State. I guess they’re trying to mirror a more comedic version of the NCIS franchise from CBS but with more cop work rather than something different like the Feds spin-off which only lasted one season amid the strikes last year. 

Maybe that would work in another Disney led platform like Hulu but there’s more than enough content to fit on ABC across every day of the weekend — don’t think another Rookie spin-off is gonna benefit their audience that much either as well as to the show’s fan base. The fans already have been hurt once before and they don’t want to get run over yet again for a potential spin-off that may not last long.

Considering the new season of The Rookie starting soon next month, they may not be finished just yet but maybe it’s best to finish things off where it all began at some point rather than bringing up another spin-off whose plot looks very similar but under a new location. Why they can’t just make this happen for some time as part of the show, not go completely separate from it under a new project.

All in all, I’d pick either or even any two of the new sitcoms over a Scrubs reboot as well as a brand new 9-1-1 spin-off & move Grey’s Anatomy back to Sundays over the other two as above. 

It would be great if ABC can find one that is legally awesome having overlooked The Good Lawyer 12 months ago also due to the strikes holding back unfortunately but that could wait until the time they feel is right – we’ll have to find that out soon enough.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Entertainment

Golden State Warriors NBA 2015 Unaired sitcom pilot review by ABC & the then ABC Studios

by Sports Benches

Nearly 10 years ago, ABC commissioned a half-hour sitcom pilot based on the Golden State Warriors but that’s more to do with one of their players (at least in the fictional world). His name is Mo Gosego (Blondy Baruti’s first acting gig apparently), who barely understands a single thing both speaking English & playing Basketball, so they’ve hired a translator for him named Jason  – the high school language teacher. Jason is portrayed by Skyler Astin from the Pitch Perfect film franchise & also recently starred in CBS’s So Help Me Todd from 2022-24.

This player is such a colossal giant who stands at two metres tall when he first arrived at the San Francisco Bay Area from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa – not exactly the journey that the late Dikembe Mutombo did a long time ago at age 21 from wanting to be a doctor to legendary NBA player – when the little kid was looking for the little blue ball after he dropped it down & Mo was standing as if he was the team’s Great Wall of China with a huge smile on his face. 

Cue that intro right there….

All he does though is just running around not knowing what he was doing while doing a hell lot other stuff that isn’t to do with Basketball at all. Here’s a list on his moments of action below:

  • He’s kinda obsessed with Game of Thrones when it comes to that satellite dish reference after his translator Jason puked during Mo’s first press conference;
  • Him singing a song in front of his team-mates dressed in a unicorn (that didn’t go well by the way);
  • Went on a day trip at Alcatraz and came back home in prison clothes along with eating a bread bowl of soup;
  • Watched a video of cows making noises on his laptop with his translator Jason the night before game day after they talked about Vince Diesel (yes, the Hollywood actor named Vin Diesel), having realised how tough was life living in America compared to Congo despite his language barriers barely speaking most English;
  • And he even punched his team-mate Derek in Jason’s defense when Mo found out that Derek tied Jason onto a wall-mounted hoop with duct tape and he wasn’t very happy about it while the Warriors would have lost the game by now already.

From Jason’s part, he still lives with his parents who also ran into trouble a few times much like his translator Mo. Yes, his relationship with his mom Bonnie is still close & supportive like those Ally McBeal nights they enjoyed a long time ago back in eighth grade according to his dad. 

But then his dad really wanted Jason to get a real job to live a real adult life that would mean also not trying to get back with Bridget (Caitlin Thompson) when she already have moved on with someone. 

Speaking of her portrayer, didn’t see much of Caitlin Thompson at all other than the photos Bridget had with Jason back in Africa, but interestingly enough Caitlin’s husband Dan Fogleman was actually one of the executive producers for that project.

Also, love how Warriors GM Don (Ving Rhames) was being tough on him every time he tries to touch a thing or two including the cheerleaders, as well as being advised about Mo’s $10K fine post-game following his punch against Derek as said above. Looks like Jason was firing him up but this is ain’t boxing as wrong contest & also wrong man too.

At the end of the day though, it’s all about just the two of us in both Jason and his translator Mo. From there, they walked into the press conference together as if they’re having a bromance already to talk about the trouble Mo’s been making not even before a minute of game time at the former Oakland Arena. Ironically, Warriors have since moved to the Chase Center in San Fran a few years later in 2019.

Maybe if that NBA sitcom project has been renamed with the title that isn’t much to do with the Golden State Warriors & more on them representing Golden State, then ABC might be able to give this a three-point shot towards the hoops. I mean, like what a brilliant funny story could’ve been if Mo was able to eventually learn his way towards being a star NBA player with the help of Jason – that would’ve give us such a big clue if Golden State was approved to become a full series order. 

But then some things from what we saw from this plot just doesn’t make sense or out of line unfortunately despite having a few laughs at times. As said, if they did a hell lot of training & all other fun scenes together other than that one little bit on the night before game day while laughing at zebra noises back in Africa, they should’ve said yes. 

They’ve made the right decision though and if you can’t get enough of Jason & Mo when time flies so fast, watch it while you can below.

GOLDEN STATE – UNAIRED PILOT 2015
byu/jaydenfabian123 inRIPilots

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Entertainment

Thoughts on ABC picking up another comedy project on Do You Want Kids? from Rachel Bloom & Dan Gregor even though it’s set under single-camera

by Sports Benches

A few weeks after ABC announced their first recent in-development project beginning with the next year-long cycle for comedy named Sisters-In-Law, they’ve picked up another one earlier today from the husband & wife duo of Dan Gregor and Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex Girlfriend star on The CW) – it’s Do You Want Kids? 

They will both be writing and executive producing together with Bloom also set to be the leading cast member herself. Not only that they were fortunate enough to have 20th Television onboard who just merged with ABC Signature a few weeks ago under the one roof as one of their own studio members Steve Levitan will help them oversee this next exciting project.

This plot is about a married couple who in one universe has a baby while the other does not have a baby. According to Dan via Twitter now X post today, he and his wife is writing this next TV comedy project together about their young daughter & how will this impact their lives – which is what we’re about to see should “Do You Want Kids?” be developed into a pilot and maybe a series run at some point. 

So pretty much this is loosely based on themselves & thejr current lives as young parents alongside their child of one.

Interesting and what’s also interesting is that it will be under a single-camera format — despite ABC’s desire to have more new half-hour shots that is more affordable in front of a studio audience, which is the multi-camera stuff as if you’re staging theatre for TV.

First of all, don’t see Abbott Elementary on the axe at all when they’ve been the network’s strong sitcom performer since its inception back in December 2021. If and when the show does end, Quinta Brunson will be the first person to make this announcement. Although if ABC wishes to make one more room for single-camera content on top of Abbott, then it wouldn’t be a bad idea though if they really want to fill up their Wednesday comedy slate like it was in the past.

They haven’t had any brand new comedy shows since Not Dead Yet (also a single-can sitcom & now gone after two seasons) made their debut earlier last year and then the strikes happened up until October 2023, with Tim Allen’s brand new multi-camera sitcom Shifting Gears set to begin its full season filming not too long from now that is expected to arrive on the air by February 2025.

For now, fingers crossed if “Do You Want Kids?” will make it into pilot around the same time that could hopefully be given an extended run for the next Fall or even mid-season block either late next year or early 2026.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

Thoughts on Daniel Ricciardo’s Hulu Formula One sitcom project getting a pilot order earlier this week now titled Downforce

by Sports Benches

Also this week, ABC Signature has one of their new sitcom pilots being approved to the pilot stage by the Hulu streaming service and it’s Formula 1 related called Downforce with current RB Visa CashApp driver Daniel Ricciardo involved as one of the executive producers alongside Alec Berg, Adam Cortnee, Lionsgate and Temple Hill Entertainment. It will be lead by a female who was suddenly required to oversee the family-run racing team as she will need to make some tough choices whether if she will continue running it or step aside that would impact the future of the organisation and her family’s legacy.

So a it’s bit like Claire Williams taking over her famous dad’s Formula 1 team during the last decade when he needed to take a back seat before it was sold to Doriton Capital back in 2020, which marked a new era for Williams and then Sir Frank sadly passed away a year later. Maybe this might be based on a true story since Formula 1 has grown a lot in America off the back of the seasoned Netflix documentary Drive to Survive over the last 5-6 years. The cast and its format (thinking it’s going to be single-camera) remains to be seen at this stage, having first developed the show when Ricciardo was involved with Hulu a year ago. Yes, he was out of a drive at the time as even though his results this year might not be good any longer after he unexpectedly replaced Nyck De Vries nearly a year ago at Red Bull’s sister team (then Alpha Tauri), he will still have a job within the sport where he’s always been popular with the fans when he raced for Red Bull, Renault and McLaren for many years.

Now let’s see if Downforce can be put into series which isn’t guaranteed but should things go well later this year, we the original airing would be on Hulu sometime in 2025 with the International distribution as per ABC Signature being available via Disney +. Yes, this project also would’ve been perfect for ABC on TV who also airs selected Formula 1 races during the year thanks to Disney property ESPN but they want more new multi-camera sitcoms going forward that isn’t expensive. So best to build a following on Hulu rather than seeing things being unexpectedly axed after a few episodes if they’re really that lucky.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail