The 2007 Network Upfronts: ABC

In recent years ABC has done a wonderful job developing new scripted hour-long series. They’ve had cultural phenomena galore, from Lost to Desperate Housewives, to Grey’s Anatomy to Ugly Betty. To be sure, they have put out some clunkers, too (Day Break, which at the very least was interesting in concept though poor in execution), but on the whole, their hour-long programs have done well. They’ve been far, far less successful on the thirty minute comedy end however (as is true among all the networks).

ABC is not poised to change this around for next season, as they are completely forgoing any sort of two-hour comedy block. At the opening of the fall season, ABC will have three comedy series on TV, all of them brand new. According to Jim is gone, George Lopez is gone, Knights of Prosperity is gone. Oddly, the unfunny, poorly written Notes from the Underbelly will be back once Dancing with the Stars completes its run.

Come the start of the fall season, ABC’s lineup will look like this (new programs are in bold):

The three new comedies: Sam I Am, Cavemen, and Carpoolers all have “interesting” hooks.

Sam I Am focuses on Sam (Christina Applegate), a woman who has just emerged from an eight-day coma with amnesia. She discovers that she wasn’t actually a very good person and tries to change that now. Having trouble figuring that one out? It’s easy, just think My Name is Earl, substitute Sam for Earl, a coma for a car accident, and amnesia for karma. See? Simple.

Carpoolers has a bunch of men, all at different points in their lives. There’s the recently divorced playboy guy; the timid homemaker/breadwinner guy; the newlywed guy, the traditional, old-school guy. They commute to and from work together and discuss their lives.

Then, there’s Cavemen. Please note that while I sometimes write jokes that fall flat, the following is completely serious: Cavemen is a show inspired by the Geico insurance caveman commercials. They live in the South in the present day, but are cavemen. They just want to be treated like everyone else, but they keep getting singled out because…  they’re cavemen. One hopes that ABC has taken into account the history of racism in this country in general and the South in particular and that they will deal with these outsiders who are treated differently with some degree of tact.

Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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