Know your fall comedy pilots! Laid off? Pinching pennies? Have networks got TV for you

>> A group of friends all get fired on the same day.

>> A halfway home for troubled cops.

>> A Wall Street executive loses his job and has to reconnect with his small-town family.

Laughing yet?

Those are a few loglines for next fall’s TV pilots. The comedy pilots.

Networks are looking at recessionary ideas for their new half-hours, with several projects embracing family themes and avoiding office settings. (Network-by-network details below.)

CBS’ “Waiting to Die” is a “buddy comedy about two simple guys who are happy with their life, no matter how bad it might look from the outside.” Fox’s “Two Dollar Beer” is about a blue-collar couple in Detroit who “deal with the reality of their long-standing roots in this community slowly becoming less relevant as the rest of the world passes them by.”

Ha-ha-ha-hee-hee ... oh-oh, oh man. That’s just too much.

Groups of single, perky young people seem to be waning. No more friends with benefits; they’re friends with unemployment benefits.

The creative upside is that networks that rushed back to formulaic police and medical procedurals for their fall drama pilots seem to have ordered some refreshingly nontraditional-sounding comedies. Yet the police-show resurgence is getting some play here too (there are, bizarrely, four comedies in development about police officers or security guards).

Office-based shows seem less popular this time -- network executives likely figure viewers do not wish to be reminded of their workplace (or lack thereof) during a recession.

In another assumption-busting move, there are plenty of single-camera comedies, accounting for nearly 40% of comedy pilots despite the traditional multicamera sitcom generally performing better in the ratings.

Below is your comedy pilot guide. Turns out, it’s tougher to say something vaguely witty about comedy loglines than dramas, so I'll leave the wisecracks to you. Icons indicate Recession Theme, Family Based, Distressed Modern Woman, Workplace, Single Camera, if it's a Fairly Unique Idea and if there are Cops (yes, Defamer’s suspect cop has returned).

Let's start with --

FOX

Two Dollar Beer
From the people who brought you: "Mind of the Married Man," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" 
Logline: Set in Detroit, a blue-collar couple and their extended family and friends deal with the reality of their long-standing roots in this community slowly becoming less relevant as the rest of the world slowly passes them by

The Station
From the people who brought you: "Tropic Thunder" 
Logline: A covert CIA operative and his workmates are embedded in a South American country and must navigate their mission to install a new dictator in this banana republic with its own unique set of challenges

Sons of Tuscon
From the people who brought you: "Malcom in the Middle"
Logline: In the spirit of "Slums of Beverly Hills," a charming but misguided hustler is hired by three young brothers with considerable resources to act as their "father" while their real one serves time in prison for a white-collar crime

Boldly Going Nowhere (pilot to be reshot for fall consideration)
Starring jokesters Ben Koldyke, Tony Hale
From the people who brought you: "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" 
Logline: A high-concept comedy about what happens day to day on an intergalactic spaceship helmed by a rogue captain

Cop House
From the people who brought you: "Prison Break"
Logline: Set at a halfway house for troubled cops



Save Us Then the Whales
From the people who brought you: "Aliens in America"
Logline: Single-camera comedy set at a politically incorrect nonprofit organization

Sincerely, Ted L. Nancy
Starring jokester Kevin Sussman
From the people who brought you: "Paranormal State"
Logline: Centers on a regular guy (Sussman) who, after suffering through too many faulty products and customer service mishaps, decides to take on the corporations by writing letters that avenge consumer frustrations

Walorsky
Logline: In the tone of "Bad Santa," an ex-cop-turned-security guard patrols a mall in Buffalo. When assigned a young idiot partner, he is forced to grudgingly get involved with the people who he is assigned to protect

Absolutely Fabulous
Starring jokesters Kristen Johnson, Kathryn Hahn
From the people who brought you "Arrested Development" and "Two and a Half Men"
Logline: Based on the British series about a substance-abusing mother-daughter duo.

                 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   NEXT>>> CBS

JUMP TO:

NBC COMEDY PILOTS: 'Off Duty,' 'State of Romance,' '100 Questions' ...

ABC COMEDY PILOTS: 'No Heroics,' 'Cougar Town,' 'Canned' ...

CBS COMEDY PILOTS:'Mitch Hurwitz,' Karenskys,' 'Fish Tank' ...

FOX COMEDY PILOTS: 'Two Dollar Beer,' 'Cop House,' 'AbFab' ... 

Comments

[Lee Williams]

so then...isnt it a perfect time to just bring back "Arrested Development"? Premise is done. Actors are cast and could be available.Most of the characters are unemployed and trying to find work. Michael works for a firm with questionable ethics...trendy and current. CMON FOX...it's right in front of your nose...ya ya I know there's a feature in development. The series will make more money once you get another 39 in the can. Since we can't afford the theatre tickets make the feature a big Fox Televised Series Kick Off event!

Am I getting through?

[Realist]

How many times do you morons need to be told? "Arrested Development" bombed in EVERY time period it ran in. And it bombed with the BEST LEAD-IN Fox could give it--"Idol." It was never a hit and will never be a hit. WAKE UP AND GET A LIFE, FANBOI MORON!

[Lee]

Geeze louise Realist...no need to get nasty....you are absolutely entitled to your views, Obviously you didn't like it...I get that. I can't tell from your reply what you like, but it's like this...winning an Oscar doesn't make you a better actor, a better scriptwriter etc...I don't need low ratings to convince me the show wasn't good. If there's talk of a feature then it must have some merit...right? Anyhoo I happen to think it was exceptionally written and perhaps, just perhaps, ahead of it's time?

so...I'm sorry for the loss of your Chihuahua or whatever else has you emotionally disfigured...and may I suggest, if you are swayed by the opinions of others i.e ratings or awards (which I believe "AD" won MANY) then you really have no clue what good television really is.