Nobody's Watching
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nobody's Watching | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | comedy |
| Creator(s) | Bill Lawrence Neil Goldman Garrett Donovan |
| Starring | Taran Killam Paul Campbell Paul Adelstein Bob Clendenin Lauren Bittner Mircea Monroe |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 1 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | single-camera/multi-camera |
| Running time | 22 mins (approx) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | The WB |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Nobody's Watching is a television program that is currently under development. It originated with and is written by Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence, as well as Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan, writers for Scrubs and Family Guy.
Contents |
[edit] Program history
The pilot was developed for the WB Television Network, but network executives passed on the show for the 2005 schedule after test audiences seemed to be confused by its premise. However, in June 2006, the pilot was leaked onto YouTube, and quickly attracted attention from viewers around the world. On July 3, a report in the New York Times suggested that the show may yet make it to a full series, thanks to the positive response from YouTube viewers. During the Friday, July 21, 2006 airing of Last Call with Carson Daly, guests Neil Goldman, Tarran Killam, and Paul Campbell called NBC president Kevin Reilly on air, who seemed to confirm a pickup for the series. He later recanted, but a deal was struck to produce webisodes (as seen at Derrick and Will's website). Currently the show is waiting to find out if NBC will order additional television episodes to be produced, whilst webisodes of varying length are released consistently. In a recent interview with TV Squad, Lawrence divulged that NBC will air a live TV special in March 2007. There was no live TV special as of April 2007.
[edit] Plot
The show centers on two friends from Union, Ohio named Derrick (Taran Killam) and Will (Paul Campbell), who send in a home video of themselves to every network claiming that they can produce a better sitcom than the ones currently being broadcast by the networks. In the show, The WB takes them up on this offer, and offers them both an opportunity to create their own sitcom. The friends are taken to the WB studios, where they meet the head of WB, Jeff Tucker (Paul Adelstein), Creative VP Roy Ingold (Bob Clendenin), and Tucker's assistant whom he introduces as Jill Something (Lauren Bittner). Tucker then offers them the opportunity to create their own sitcom, while working in various sitcom-related sets. In addition, a reality show will be made focusing on the sitcom's birth. Thus the pair has a camera crew following them around The WB studios when they are not on the sets, and a live studio audience for when they are working on the sets.
After setting the scene, the rest of the episode then focuses on Derrick and Will's first day of trying to come up with a sitcom. Over the course of the episode, they hire Jill Something as their assistant and take pity upon Mandy (Mircea Monroe), a woman who had just been fired from the WB gift shop, hiring her as well. Meanwhile, Tucker and Ingold are shown trying to increase their show's ratings by throwing creating narrative conflicts—such as Tucker telling Derrick he'd rather continue the show without Will and Tucker demanding that Mandy kiss Will, even though she prefers Derrick.
The title of the show is explained in the last scene of the pilot: the cast is hanging out in the sitcom set, with the live audience reacting as if it's an actual show, which Mandy thinks is weird but is told to just pretend that "nobody's watching". Will then says that "nobody's watching" is a perfect name for the sitcom they are developing (thus, Nobody's Watching is the name of the fake sitcom in the fake reality television show, Nobody's Watching). Derrick protests that "nobody's watching" is a terrible name, because critics will constantly ridicule them with comments like "nobody's watching Nobody's Watching!" He declares that you'd be insane to name a television show that. This is immediately followed by the announcer saying "Next week, on Nobody's Watching!...
[edit] Format
The program is filmed in a mockumentary style, as if Will and Derrick are on a reality TV show. The program's plot actually relies on many instances of "breaking the fourth wall," with Derrick and Will frequently communicating with the studio audience. In addition, there are many references to other popular sitcoms such as Yes, Dear. In the pilot episode, Derrick and Will even find their way onto (a replica of) the Central Perk set and meet James Michael Tyler (Gunther from Friends). Later in the episode, Will runs into James L. Avery Sr. (Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air), Tom Bosley (Howard Cunningham from Happy Days), and Alan Thicke (Dr. Jason Seaver from Growing Pains).
Nobody's Watching uses its laugh track in a nonstandard way. It is only used in the scenes featuring the studio audience and the recording of the sitcom within the sitcom. As the studio audience are, in effect, extra cast members, there are instances where their laughter - or otherwise - doesn't relate to the action the viewer is shown. Examples in the pilot episode include a scene where Alan Thicke performs to the studio audience in the background while the main scene of Will talking to Jill takes place in front of the camera. In another scene the main characters can react to the audience's reaction, which prompts Jill, after insulting Gunther, to apologize. When they see the tape of Derrick betraying Will, the audience moans disapprovingly, which prompts Derrick to call them "drama queens." And in another scene, Will and Derrick enjoy naming random states and seeing how many people in the audience cheer to show state pride.
A great deal of the humor stems from the many layers on which the fourth wall is broken. Will and Derrick think they are making a sitcom, and think that the live studio audience and the sets are part of a "making of" reality TV show, though Tucker has told his VP Roy that the reality TV show is the real show, and has no serious plans to make Will and Derrick's sitcom. Will and Derrick constantly overact, which during extended "sitcom mode" sequences seems odd. However, scenes in Tucker's office are also shot as part of the reality show, though he tries to downplay this by never acknowledging the cameras (a mistake Roy constantly makes). However, several times they break through a second fourth wall, talking not only to the viewers of the sitcom-style live studio audience, but straight to the actual viewers of the real series.
[edit] Trivia
- The character Jeff Tucker is named after Jeff Zucker, president of NBC.
- The character Roy Ingold is named after Jeff Ingold, Senior Vice President of Comedy Development at NBC.
[edit] References
- Nobody's Watching picked up by NBC, TV Squad, 21 July 2006
- Thanks to YouTube Fans, 'Nobody's Watching' May Return From the Dead, New York Times, 3 July 2006
