SF: One of the things they've been playing up in the commercials is Lorne Michaels' involvement in the show. How did he get involved with the show and how much involvement does he actually have?
FG: He's not involved creatively in the show. Nick and I have no background as producers and if we weren't aligned with a production company with a good track record, there's no way a network would've taken us seriously. We went to Broadway Video [Lorne Michaels' production company]. We didn't meet with Lorne initially. We met with JoAnn Alfano [President of Broadway Video Television] and Andrew Singer [Vice President of Broadway Video Television]. We pitched the show to them and they bought it.
Once we went to pilot, Lorne got a little bit more involved but he's always kept a very hands-off approach as far as the creative on it goes. If it wasn't something that he liked, I'm sure he would have gotten more involved. Improv isn't really his "bag." He told us straight out that he really prefers to have things written but he gets what we're doing here and he's been very supportive. And that's what he is...he's like our Godfather. He's given us a lot of really good advice businesswise and professionally and he gives notes on the shows. They're seldom ever creative or content notes. They're more like "Do you really want to go that blue on that particular topic because in my experience with SNL..." He imparts really good wisdom. He's got such a history in the business. Certainly he is somebody who changed the face of late night television exactly like they're pushing and that's why they're pushing the show so much with his name upfront. Can you blame them?
SF: Coming from doing Significant Others with Bravo, have you faced any challenges in doing network television? Have you had any challenges creatively with the network?
FG: No. I have to say that when this show airs, one thing that we can say is that they let us do it our way. Steve McPherson, who's experiencing success with his one-hours, his Grey's [Anatomy], Desperate Housewives and Lost, he...I think that when we came in, he said "Okay, well here's something out of the box that might work as a half-hour comedy." I think he just wanted to get one show in there that was his off-the-wall, alternative, hip pocket thing while he's pursuing the more mainstream stuff just to see if it would work. He really left us alone. He really let us do what we wanted to do and he's great. He's a real gutsy, courageous, ballsy network president, I gotta say.
Article comments
1 - Sue
this show is hysterical! can't wait for the next episode.