Holden Pike
02-15-03, 11:41 PM
I don't know if this series is playing the arthouse circuit at large or if it was just a local treat, but today I saw something billed as "The Other Network".
http://www.uncabaret.com/images/ONcolorbars1.jpg
It's eight U.S. sitcom pilots that weren't picked up by any of the networks. They were all watchable, six of 'em I'd say were quite good, and three of those were downright hilarious. For those of you who don't know what a pilot is, the networks put dozens of shows into production on a one-episode look-see basis every year. Of these many dozens, each network picks maybe three to six of 'em to go ahead with as new series on the schedule. Most of those will ultimately fail and aren't picked-up past an eight or thirteen episode run. But all the other rejects don't even get that far and simply never, ever make the air.
All of these never-seen programs in the showcase were made within the last five years or so, except for one which was done for the 1991 Fall season. The common ingredient they all share is that they were made by some of the darker comic geniuses on the scene today. They are very funny, twisted, and quite unique. Perhaps too unique, and that also makes every one of 'em way too hip for mainstream television - which is ultimately why they were all rejected.
But happily, they survive, and I got to see 'em projected onto a big screen! Most also have video introductions by their creators. The "failed" programs are...
http://www.uncabaret.com/images/heatvision.jpg http://www.uncabaret.com/images/lookwell.jpg
"Heatvision & Jack"
Produced and directed by Ben Stiller, it's the story of an ex-astronaut named Jack Austin - played by Jack Black, who flew too close to the sun on a mission and is now endowed with super intelligence...er, at least in daylight. His sidekick is Heatvision, a talking motorcyle - voiced by Owen Wilson, who was Jack's unemployed roomate before an experimental raygun melded him with his bike. They are pursued by evil Government agents who wish to capture them, led by Ron Silver - ummmm, as himself. Yes, that's right: he's an accomplished actor and a supervillian! Heatvision and Jack drift from town to town, one step ahead of Ron Silver, solving crimes and getting into adventures along the lonely road. Stiller has a cameo in the pilot epsiode as a DJ at a strip club, and his wife Christine Taylor plays a local Sheriff. Gah-damn, that is some funny stuff! Complete with intentionally cheesy, retro, un-special special effects that look like they're on loan from those Krofft craptaculars from the '70s like "Electra Woman & Dynagirl" or "Dr. Shrinker". And yes, it's just as good as it sounds!
"How will you outrun death? How will you outrun your own shadow? How will you outrun Ron Silver?"
"Lookwell"
Created by Robert Smigel & Conan O'Brien, it stars Adam West as a has-been actor who had his own moderately successful cop/detective series in the '70s (think "Mannix"). Now he's thick-headedly still trying to help the cops solve cases, often aided in his misguided zeal by the students in his acting workshop (which seemingly consist entirely of watching his old TV episodes). Mr. West at his deadpan best. Sure it's a one-joke premise, but it could have been consistently funny over and over again. I thought so anyway.
"Becoming Glen"
Created by Ricky Blitt ("The Family Guy"), Johnny Galecki (Darlene's long-suffering boyfriend David on "Roseanne") stars as a 32-year-old who still lives at home in Buffalo, NY - literally at home: he's a shut-in supposedly working on a novel but only has two pages of scribbles to show for it, and he hasn't left the house in years. His delusionally smothering Mom, Sally Struthers, is adept at coddling him, but his angry Father, Gerald McCraney, has had just about enough. But Glen's world suddenly changes when the only girl he's ever kissed (back at the age of twelve or so), played by Samantha Mathis, moves back in across the street. Recently divorced and with her own pre-teen geek of a son in tow, Glen tries his completely disfuctional best to woo his old crush. The story takes place in 1994, but it's commented on in voice-over by a 39-year-old Glen, who tells us he's now successful and married, spoofing "The Wonder Years" voice-over device, but from the perspective of only seven years down the road.
"Next!"
A sketch comedy show that would have been topical and taped with current events spoofed, it was created by "Mr. Show with Bob & David"'s Bob Odenkirk, and co-starring just about all of that HBO series cast, minus David Cross. Basically an R-rated version of the definitely X-rated "Mr. Show", toned down just enough that it was still dark and funny, but would have been suitable as late night network programming. Or so it would have seemed. Alas, not. As Bob pleads in his preamble, if you like the show, please get jobs as executives at Fox. Not surprisingly, Fox is the network that commissioned most of these projects.
"The Lewis Lectures"
Created by former "Late Night with David Letterman" head writer (and former Dave squeeze) Merrill Markoe, an animated show about a dog named Lewis, voiced by Jack Black, who has Tony Robbins type advice and self-confidence for survival as a suburban pet. Animated by the same folks who did "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist", the other dog of the house is voiced by Laura Kightlinger, and their owner by Markoe herself.
"North Hollywood"
Created by Judd Apatow - which he describes as part of his "failure tilogy" with "Freaks and Geeks" (which ran about eighteen episodes) and "Undeclared" (which ran about a dozen episodes). It follows a few young struggling actors trying to make it in Hollywierd, at least loosely based on Apatow's own experiences paling around with Adam Sandler and David Spade before any of them got work. Stars Seth Rogen and Amy Poehler. Poelher's character works as a personal assistant to Judge Reinhold, who is downright hysterical making fun of himself. In the pilot, our main character is employed as Frankenstein's monster at the Universal Studios tour while auditioning for real work. His stand-up comedian roomate is jazzed about a stupid beer commercial he stars in, and Poehler want to quit working for Judge and focus on her own career. Rogen eventually loses a starring role in a new film to Colin Hanks (as himself, 'natch), and the flick truns out to be Orange County. Really, Judge Reinhold hasn't been this funny since Ruthless People and Beverly Hills Cop II.
"Sick in the Head"
Abnother Judd Apatow entry, this one about a young just-graduated psychiatrist, David Krumholtz (The Santa Clause, The Slums of Beverly Hills) and his struggles with opening his first practice. His lowlife roomate is Kevin Corrigan, "SCTV" alum Andrea Martin is the Dr. Laura type who he leases office space from, Austin Pendleton is his mentor, and Amy Poehler ("SNL") and Kevin McDonald ("Kids in the Hall") are his first two patients.
"Saturday TV Funhouse"
From the twisted noggin of Robert Smigel, this is an earlier incarnation of Comedy Central's "TV Funhouse", though, as Smigel explians in the intro, without the "puppets fu*king live animals". Indeed. Initially a vehicle for the cartoons he created on "SNL", this version of the funhouse is modeled exactly on the old Bozo the Clown show broadcast from Chicago from the '50s through the '70s, with the same set and production values. Only, as you can imagine from Smigel, this clown is one freaky degenerate, named Prozo. Amazingly filmed in front of a live audience of small children and their parents, though whenever the material is about to become too racy or not veiled enough for little minds, the children are led out in a fun parade to another room where ice cream treats and a goat await. Some very funny, very sick ***** going down here, even more so than usual for Smigel. All the cartoons included in the pilot were eventually used on either "SNL" or Comedy Central's "TV Funhouse", but it's the in-studio stuff that is so bizarre, unsettling and hilaroius.
http://www.uncabaret.com/images/funhouse.jpg http://www.uncabaret.com/images/next.jpg
The pilots are shown in two programs, each with four of the shows. For my money, "Heatvision & Jack" was the most inspired and hysterical, "Becoming Glen" was extremely well written and probably had the best shot at being picked-up and running as an actual show, "Lookwell" and "Next!" were surefire laugh-getters, "North Hollywood" had real potential, "Saturday TV Funhouse" was easily the most twisted of the bunch, "Sick in the Head" had a strong cast but was otherwise pretty average, and "The Lewis Lectures" still needed a lot of work. Believe me, "Heatvision & Jack" is a true treat that makes the trip worth it, and it's puzzling why "Becoming Glen" isn't on somebody's schedule. But even the 'worst' of the bunch, "Lewis" and "Sick", aren't horrible, just forgettable - especially compared to the rest.
If this bizarre collection of 'too dark and weird for TV' projects hits your town, don't miss 'em.
*if you live in the Washington, D.C. area, "The Other Network" is now playing at the Visions Cinema Bistro & Lounge just off of Connecticut on Florida Ave. NW (a few blocks above Dupont Circle). I think it's only there for a week though, and a couple of those days are going to be essentially snowed-out, so get there if and when you can.
http://www.uncabaret.com/images/ONcolorbars1.jpg
It's eight U.S. sitcom pilots that weren't picked up by any of the networks. They were all watchable, six of 'em I'd say were quite good, and three of those were downright hilarious. For those of you who don't know what a pilot is, the networks put dozens of shows into production on a one-episode look-see basis every year. Of these many dozens, each network picks maybe three to six of 'em to go ahead with as new series on the schedule. Most of those will ultimately fail and aren't picked-up past an eight or thirteen episode run. But all the other rejects don't even get that far and simply never, ever make the air.
All of these never-seen programs in the showcase were made within the last five years or so, except for one which was done for the 1991 Fall season. The common ingredient they all share is that they were made by some of the darker comic geniuses on the scene today. They are very funny, twisted, and quite unique. Perhaps too unique, and that also makes every one of 'em way too hip for mainstream television - which is ultimately why they were all rejected.
But happily, they survive, and I got to see 'em projected onto a big screen! Most also have video introductions by their creators. The "failed" programs are...
http://www.uncabaret.com/images/heatvision.jpg http://www.uncabaret.com/images/lookwell.jpg
"Heatvision & Jack"
Produced and directed by Ben Stiller, it's the story of an ex-astronaut named Jack Austin - played by Jack Black, who flew too close to the sun on a mission and is now endowed with super intelligence...er, at least in daylight. His sidekick is Heatvision, a talking motorcyle - voiced by Owen Wilson, who was Jack's unemployed roomate before an experimental raygun melded him with his bike. They are pursued by evil Government agents who wish to capture them, led by Ron Silver - ummmm, as himself. Yes, that's right: he's an accomplished actor and a supervillian! Heatvision and Jack drift from town to town, one step ahead of Ron Silver, solving crimes and getting into adventures along the lonely road. Stiller has a cameo in the pilot epsiode as a DJ at a strip club, and his wife Christine Taylor plays a local Sheriff. Gah-damn, that is some funny stuff! Complete with intentionally cheesy, retro, un-special special effects that look like they're on loan from those Krofft craptaculars from the '70s like "Electra Woman & Dynagirl" or "Dr. Shrinker". And yes, it's just as good as it sounds!
"How will you outrun death? How will you outrun your own shadow? How will you outrun Ron Silver?"
"Lookwell"
Created by Robert Smigel & Conan O'Brien, it stars Adam West as a has-been actor who had his own moderately successful cop/detective series in the '70s (think "Mannix"). Now he's thick-headedly still trying to help the cops solve cases, often aided in his misguided zeal by the students in his acting workshop (which seemingly consist entirely of watching his old TV episodes). Mr. West at his deadpan best. Sure it's a one-joke premise, but it could have been consistently funny over and over again. I thought so anyway.
"Becoming Glen"
Created by Ricky Blitt ("The Family Guy"), Johnny Galecki (Darlene's long-suffering boyfriend David on "Roseanne") stars as a 32-year-old who still lives at home in Buffalo, NY - literally at home: he's a shut-in supposedly working on a novel but only has two pages of scribbles to show for it, and he hasn't left the house in years. His delusionally smothering Mom, Sally Struthers, is adept at coddling him, but his angry Father, Gerald McCraney, has had just about enough. But Glen's world suddenly changes when the only girl he's ever kissed (back at the age of twelve or so), played by Samantha Mathis, moves back in across the street. Recently divorced and with her own pre-teen geek of a son in tow, Glen tries his completely disfuctional best to woo his old crush. The story takes place in 1994, but it's commented on in voice-over by a 39-year-old Glen, who tells us he's now successful and married, spoofing "The Wonder Years" voice-over device, but from the perspective of only seven years down the road.
"Next!"
A sketch comedy show that would have been topical and taped with current events spoofed, it was created by "Mr. Show with Bob & David"'s Bob Odenkirk, and co-starring just about all of that HBO series cast, minus David Cross. Basically an R-rated version of the definitely X-rated "Mr. Show", toned down just enough that it was still dark and funny, but would have been suitable as late night network programming. Or so it would have seemed. Alas, not. As Bob pleads in his preamble, if you like the show, please get jobs as executives at Fox. Not surprisingly, Fox is the network that commissioned most of these projects.
"The Lewis Lectures"
Created by former "Late Night with David Letterman" head writer (and former Dave squeeze) Merrill Markoe, an animated show about a dog named Lewis, voiced by Jack Black, who has Tony Robbins type advice and self-confidence for survival as a suburban pet. Animated by the same folks who did "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist", the other dog of the house is voiced by Laura Kightlinger, and their owner by Markoe herself.
"North Hollywood"
Created by Judd Apatow - which he describes as part of his "failure tilogy" with "Freaks and Geeks" (which ran about eighteen episodes) and "Undeclared" (which ran about a dozen episodes). It follows a few young struggling actors trying to make it in Hollywierd, at least loosely based on Apatow's own experiences paling around with Adam Sandler and David Spade before any of them got work. Stars Seth Rogen and Amy Poehler. Poelher's character works as a personal assistant to Judge Reinhold, who is downright hysterical making fun of himself. In the pilot, our main character is employed as Frankenstein's monster at the Universal Studios tour while auditioning for real work. His stand-up comedian roomate is jazzed about a stupid beer commercial he stars in, and Poehler want to quit working for Judge and focus on her own career. Rogen eventually loses a starring role in a new film to Colin Hanks (as himself, 'natch), and the flick truns out to be Orange County. Really, Judge Reinhold hasn't been this funny since Ruthless People and Beverly Hills Cop II.
"Sick in the Head"
Abnother Judd Apatow entry, this one about a young just-graduated psychiatrist, David Krumholtz (The Santa Clause, The Slums of Beverly Hills) and his struggles with opening his first practice. His lowlife roomate is Kevin Corrigan, "SCTV" alum Andrea Martin is the Dr. Laura type who he leases office space from, Austin Pendleton is his mentor, and Amy Poehler ("SNL") and Kevin McDonald ("Kids in the Hall") are his first two patients.
"Saturday TV Funhouse"
From the twisted noggin of Robert Smigel, this is an earlier incarnation of Comedy Central's "TV Funhouse", though, as Smigel explians in the intro, without the "puppets fu*king live animals". Indeed. Initially a vehicle for the cartoons he created on "SNL", this version of the funhouse is modeled exactly on the old Bozo the Clown show broadcast from Chicago from the '50s through the '70s, with the same set and production values. Only, as you can imagine from Smigel, this clown is one freaky degenerate, named Prozo. Amazingly filmed in front of a live audience of small children and their parents, though whenever the material is about to become too racy or not veiled enough for little minds, the children are led out in a fun parade to another room where ice cream treats and a goat await. Some very funny, very sick ***** going down here, even more so than usual for Smigel. All the cartoons included in the pilot were eventually used on either "SNL" or Comedy Central's "TV Funhouse", but it's the in-studio stuff that is so bizarre, unsettling and hilaroius.
http://www.uncabaret.com/images/funhouse.jpg http://www.uncabaret.com/images/next.jpg
The pilots are shown in two programs, each with four of the shows. For my money, "Heatvision & Jack" was the most inspired and hysterical, "Becoming Glen" was extremely well written and probably had the best shot at being picked-up and running as an actual show, "Lookwell" and "Next!" were surefire laugh-getters, "North Hollywood" had real potential, "Saturday TV Funhouse" was easily the most twisted of the bunch, "Sick in the Head" had a strong cast but was otherwise pretty average, and "The Lewis Lectures" still needed a lot of work. Believe me, "Heatvision & Jack" is a true treat that makes the trip worth it, and it's puzzling why "Becoming Glen" isn't on somebody's schedule. But even the 'worst' of the bunch, "Lewis" and "Sick", aren't horrible, just forgettable - especially compared to the rest.
If this bizarre collection of 'too dark and weird for TV' projects hits your town, don't miss 'em.
*if you live in the Washington, D.C. area, "The Other Network" is now playing at the Visions Cinema Bistro & Lounge just off of Connecticut on Florida Ave. NW (a few blocks above Dupont Circle). I think it's only there for a week though, and a couple of those days are going to be essentially snowed-out, so get there if and when you can.