Cool News
The Coen Bros. And Jon Favreau Are Making TV Comedies!!
Deadline Hollywood describes “HarveKarbo,” a comedic hourlong the amazing Joel and Ethan Coen (“No Country For Old Men,” “Burn After Reading,” “A Serious Man,” “True Grit”) are producing but not writing:
It follows the title character — an ill-tempered LA private investigator whose cases frequently involve the depraved doings of the Hollywood elite — and his deadbeat friends in Los Angeles’ El Segundo.
As best I can discern, this is the first TV project the Coens have ever produced.
The pilot was scripted by Phil Johnson, writer of the 2011 Ed Helms vehicle “Cedar Rapids,” which grossed less than $7 million domestically but garnered 89% positive notices among top critics on Rotten Tomatoes. So color me interested.
The Coens aren’t the only big-deal filmmakers getting into the TV comedy game.
Deadline also reports the great and greatly ambitious Jon Favreau -- who scripted “Swingers,” “Made” and “Couples Retreat” for the big screen when he wasn’t voicing Pre Vizsla on “Clone Wars,” or playing the pizza-eating guest in the “Ain’t It Cool” TV pilot playing Barry in “I Love You Man” or making a mint directing the “Iron Man” motion pictures – has scripted a CBS sitcom pilot..
Favreau's script, “Tweaked,” is about single parents who date each other in the wealth-saturated coastal town of Santa Monica, Calif.
If IMDb is to be believed, this is not the first pilot Favreau has written; that site indicates he wrote and directed a 1999 TV comedy titled “Smog” starring Sarah Silverman and “Walking Dead” scientist Noah Emmerich.
Favreau has lots of non-writing TV credits. He famously portrayed Monica Gellar’s rich boyfriend Pete on six 1997 episodes of “Friends,” he directed episodes of Judd Apatow’s “Undeclared” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and he directed the pilot for a dreadful 2007 ABC sitcom titled “In Case Of Emergency.” He also hosted and masterminded IFC’s “Dinner For Five,” likely the finest chat show ever forged.
Find Deadline’s exclusives on these matters here.
Readers Talkback
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It looks great, great host, nice brief and to the point content (could be a little more detailed, but I'm okay with it as is), looks fantastic. I really hope you go with it. Heck, it could even make stars out of talkbackers (CHOPPED!? anyone?...... anyone?? *crickets*) I notice its unlisted, (only 6 views) so I won't post the link here just in case you don't want it shared yet and it was a mistake to have it posted publicly (I won't reveal how I found it). Again... LOVE it. Do it, guys. Go for it!
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Oct. 5, 2011, 5:45 a.m. CST
Wasn't AICN TV years ago? I really wanted to see it! :-( or is it still going to happen! I need something to fill the Dinner for Five gap!
by silentbobafett2
Wasn't AICN TV years ago? I really wanted to see it! :-( or is it still going to happen! I need something to fill the Dinner for Five gap!
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I'd love to see it myself.
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Might not even be the same one he's referring to, could be a demo pilot of some kind. Because there's no guest, just an overview of the week's news (the week the photo of the *Batcave* came out), hosted by John Ary. ( @John_Ary )
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instead of private. Perhaps. Or maybe it's not that big of a deal. I just don't want to step on any toes here. I like my username.
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Thanks for the 2 page resume, Herc. Wasn't sure it was the Coens or Jon F. I was thinking of . . .
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If something looks and feel and is obviously designed as a comedy, but the comedy does not make you smile, laugh or feel elated, is it really a comedy?
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Not a great title. I'd have gone with "El Segundo." Are hour-long TV comedies EVER successful? Seriously, I'm asking.
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Not sure why gotilk is being so timid, but you can find what he is referring to, Ain't It Cool TV on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgRlTiIzWnY You can also find info n their TV pilot at IMDB at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363305/ It isn't a secret.
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It has a 2.7 rating on IMDB
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AICN TV seems to be a daily show - there are at least 13 installments at Youtube
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just wondering - do you guys need a marketing agent?
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After the New Girl gets cancelled you should get Zooey Deschanell to play the next Script Girl.
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and that sucks.
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I assumed when he said AICN pilot he meant the new one. And wow... they have a youtube channel? Way to promote that guys! Also, the episode I found (for sept 2011) was *unlisted* which means noone can see it unless they are given a link. I assume it must just be a copy... for some reason. My bad. Carry on. I thought I'd found something special, instead I found I was confused.
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And I agree HarveKarbo is a terrible title. Hopefully, the studio execs will make them change it.
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It only made $7 million dollars because it was a desperately unfunny waste of talented people like Ed Helms and John C. Reilly. I mean, seriously. It had those cutting edge, insightful characters we've never seen before, like the religious character who's really a money grubbing hypocrite! The hooker with the implied heart of gold. The uptight Midwestern yokel who comes to himself after some sex and drugs and rock n' roll. It was packed with radical insight the likes of which has never been portrayed on any cinema anywhere! That writer's involvement in the project gives me no hope it will be original or worth a damn.
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If memory serves, when Northern Exposure won an Emmy for Best Drama, one of the producers slowly said in his acceptance speech, "It's a COMEDY." Glee is technically a comedy, and has been given numerous Emmy nominations, winning something like 4 or 5 of them. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether that's a good thing, but it is a comedy, it is an hour long and it is successful. I'd argue Love Boat was first and foremost a comedy with one dramatic sub-story thrown in each week, followed by Fantasy Island, a show that was first and foremost a fantasy-drama with one comedic sub-story thrown in each week. I'd also argue Dukes of Hazzard wasn't a drama. And Rescue Me is funnier than most comedies while still being a drama. There are probably more, that's just all I could think of off the top of my head. It's probably not a long list, but it exists. The list of successful thirty-minute dramas is probably smaller, only ones I can think of right now are anthologies like "The Twilight Zone" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." And hey, there's always Mystery Science Theater 3000, a TWO HOUR comedy series.
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Already makes me hate it a little. A bunch of good looking twentysomethings and one fat friend who are "depressingly" single parents and living in million-dollar homes while balancing work and family in a whimsical, life-affirming way? Did I come near the bullseye of the pilot there? Here's hopin' you prove me wrong, sir. I thought Cowboys & Aliens would be great and it wasn't. This sounds a bit crappy...so maybe it'll be great.
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