October 1, 2006

[the joy of a midseason replacement] ^{12:19 PM}

The first year I was in LA I began collecting studio lots, and I successfully acquired all of the major ones, but smaller satellite lots keep popping up. Until thursday I had no idea that CBS Radford existed, and on Friday I found myself actually visiting it.

Having worked with the hysterical Frangela in the past I scored a seat to their pilot taping for Fox.

Funny how the past few days (in no thanks to the premiere of The Office and The Class) conversations with my friends have been over the state of situation comedies on TV, and then I went to the taping of one.

I personally think the 4 camera sit-com is dead (or hybernating, as is the trend of trends), so I was skeptical about Frances and Angela attempting one. Thankfully, the show is half 4 camera, half taped bits, and there's not a moppet or PC moment in sight. This isn't a crass Fox-fest, its not Married...With Children or The War at Home, but its on par with the smarter elements of Family Guy (apt since one of its co-creators co-created the "Untitled Frangela Project").

I hope it gets picked up because its a sitcom that doesn't pander, Frangela are genuinely nice people who deserve obscene amounts of success, and I would love a nice half-hour companion of smart-sassy humor for The Loop when it returns.

For those who want some sort of technical breakdown of how a taping goes, here's how it went: 5 hours on the soundstage for a half-hour show. Sometimes they can be done in 3, sometimes they're done in 8. They provide a snack for you, and you also get a warm-up comedian in the audience to keep people laughing.

Except the warm-up comedian for Frangela was fucking awful. Borderline offensive, even. Plus, if you're a comedian, you don't keep saying things like "as a professional comedian..." or "wow, I just made that up!" after you manage a teeny bit of wit. You just don't.