EXCLUSIVE: Kourtney Kang and Joe Kelly, the How I Met Your Mother writer-producers who co-wrote CBS’ pilot Livin’ on a Prayer with HIMYM creators-executive producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas last season, are back in pilot contention with a new comedy project at ABC. The project, about a couple’s exploration of quality of life both before and after kids, is a multi-camera hybrid in the mold of HIMYM. I hear it landed at ABC with a hefty penalty after bidding from multiple networks. 20th Century Fox TV, the studio behind HIMYM and Livin’ on a Prayer, is producing. Kang has been on HIMYM since after the pilot while Kelly joined at the beginning of Season 3. Both are with UTA.
ABC Picks Up Comedy From 'HIMYM' Duo
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So I guess this is HIMYM the spin off? Wow… that’s original.
GTFOH!! I honestly thought that script stunk out loud. ABC picked it up? Amazing.
What is ABC doing? Laugh track shows don’t mix well with single camera half-hours. ABC needs single camera family comedies to go with Modern Family and The Middle. Those two shows can’t keep Wednesday night afloat by themselves?
Bad script, too.
ABC is never going to get it right. whats up with wanting so badly to put a shitty multiple cameras laugh track show between modern family, the middle and cougar town ? they failed last year with hank, and this season, better with you looks just as terrible.
How about picking up a single camera show without the laugh track and the sets made out of cardboard and add it to an actually pretty good line-up, ABC ?
ABC is never going to get it right. whats up with wanting so badly to put a shitty multiple cameras laugh track show between modern family, the middle and cougar town ? they failed last year with hank, and this season, better with you looks just as terrible.
Apart from the whole thing where the multiple-camera comedies remain the most popular – possibly because many viewers are sophisticated enough to accept the presence of an audience or sets that don’t look “realistic.” (Well, maybe “sophisticated” is the wrong word, but ragging on multi-camera shows for their format or artificial-looking sets is definitely no better than ragging on single-camera shows for not having laugh tracks.) Modern Family is successful, Cougar Town isn’t and ABC needs multi-camera shows because single-camera has limited upside.
A “hybrid” show probably isn’t the answer, though, as the HIMYM method of shooting without an audience only works for that show (and barely). The imitators have just had all the disadvantages of single camera — no audience, low-energy performances, dopey moral preaching — combined with the disadvantages of multi-camera.
I sometimes wonder if the people who make comments on this site actually work in this town. Come on, people, this isn’t the seventies and eighties. TV shows and movies aren’t bought, shot and distributed because they’re good. The current crop of execs don’t possess or if they do, don’t make decisions based on their creative instincts. Most of them are former assistants who rose through the ranks and got their jobs because they were there and not completely incompetent. nobody grows up dreaming of becoming a creative executive and they make their creative decisions solely because they’re defendable. They’re not interested in being responsible for the next Modern Family, they’re interested in keeping their jobs and if they happen to be responsible for the next Modern Family, that’s a nice bonus. These two writers associated themselves with a brand and they’re exploiting it. Like Shana Goldberg and her husband, who I’m sure are lovely people, these HIMYM writers will continue to get opportunities regardless of their material and more power to them because one of these times they’ll get it right. don’t hate the players, hate the game. or better yet, just worry about your own shit and hopefully one of these days your simply mediocre script will be the one that gets shot and sent to series. it obviously can happen. how much more proof do you need? keep calm and carry on!
This sounds better than a fair amount of the half hour content on CBS and Fox. And it sounds superior to anything that was on NBC, back when NBC still existed.
All of these comments are great!
this idea is a real thinker. Kids change your lives! You’re not going to get a lot of sleep! You can’t go to the movies anywhere! oh, and your sex life is really going to suffer.
What an original concept. Have fun ABC!
Dear GhostOfBrandonTartikoff, That was an awesome missive!!! I love it…don’t agree with 100% of it, but I admire your position. Keep posting…please.
~Swifty
Television is not written for people who comment or even read this site. The people who create content and the people who decide what gets on, know a lot more than you. No, they’re not right every time but thank god television is not left in the hands of DHD commentators. I’d get pretty sick of Fringe and Flash Forward 24 hours a day.
Give this show a chance. Think about it, did “a family show that features a gay son and old man with a young wife” really sound like a break out hit? Plus it was blandly called “Modern Family?” From just that it sounds like a “six and out.”
It’s about content and execution. And most importantly, cast. This new show deserves a chance. At least they’re trying something semi new and creative.
Kourtney is amazing! Should be a fun pilot!!
The premise for this show is great! The real people who watch tv are not the people commenting on this site. I believe all the negative comments are from frustrated writers who have been trying to break into the business and this is just sour grapes. No one loves you when you are moving up the ladder…. as rapidly as these two are. Get serious… and start working on your own script and realize your dream instead of beating up on two of the most talented and successful writers this town has seen in quite a few years. Way to go Kourtney Kang and Joe Kelly. And for the rest of you… don’t be a hater.