Aly's Untitled Pilot

[tyche]

Here's his IMDb page for anyone who's interested.

btw, I will put in my 2 cents in defence of David Schwimmer's acting abilities - he was great in 'Band of Brothers'. (And this is a big compliment coming from me, because I really can't stand his character on 'Friends'.) Anyway, he's directing the thing, not acting in it - at least, as far as I can tell.

[dazed and confused]

Hey there...have to stand up for David Schwimmer here. As has been said previously, he's not acting in this, he's directing it. So no matter what you think of his acting skills, you should give him a chance.



Just a little FYI about David. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1988 with a BS in Speech/Theater. After graduating, he co-founded the Lookingglass Theatre Company. His stage-directing credits include "The Jungle," which earned six Joseph Awards; "The Serpent"; and "Alice in Wonderland," which was performed at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland.



David's bio from theLookingglass Theatre Company is below.



DAVID SCHWIMMER co-founded the Lookingglass Theatre Company upon graduating from Northwestern University in 1988. He has acted in and directed many Lookingglass productions including West, The Jungle, In the Eye of the Beholder, The Odyssey, and The Idiot. He spends time between Chicago and Los Angeles, where he continues to star in and direct episodes for the NBC ensemble comedy Friends and serves on the Board of Directors for the Rape Foundation. He is adapting Studs Terkel's book RACE: How Blacks And Whites Think And Feel About The American Obsession with ensemble member Joy Gregory, which he will direct in June 2003 in the company's new home in the Water Tower Water Works on Michigan Avenue.



Regardless of his acting abilities, apparently he can direct.

[urnofosiris]

I actually like him best of the three men friends. He reminds me of droopy, and I used to love droopy.

[wimpy0729]

I'm just glad we'll get to see Aly back on a regular basis. I hope the writing lives up to her abilities.



Wimpy

Quote:

---

You should ride with me sometime -- I guarantee safety and fun! - Tara

---

[Sheridan]

The other thing with David Schwimmer is that you have to keep the man separate from the character of Ross, I mean if Ross was directing the pilot I would be worried too.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[sam7777]

I'm interested in it's being Aly's show with her in charge and calling the shots. As long as the focus is on her, I'm willing to take a look.

_____________________

I see dead lesbian cliches

[GiftofAmber]

Yes, provided the focus is on Aly and I don't have to watch her kiss boys, I'll be perfectly content

[Ben Varkentine]

So far a lot of talk about the cast & director but not much about the writers, which is more of what makes a show interesting or not (at least to me). I looked up the two show creators, and there's definte promise here: Sports Night, Scrubs and Will & Grace look good on any writers' list of credits...

Ben



"Never be discouraged from being an activist because people tell you that you'll not succeed. You have already succeeded if you're out there representing truth or justice or compassion or fairness or love."

-- Doris 'Granny D' Haddock

[willowlove]

From a Variety story about the pilot season, we get word about 2 new cast members for "Home & Hardware".



Quote:



As for the casting beat, [one-time "Coupling" star Colin] Ferguson, who recently shot several episodes of ABC's "Line of Fire," will play Alyson Hannigan's lovable cad of a boss in the NBC laffer pilot "Home & Hardware." Eric Christian Olsen also stars; Ferguson is repped by ICM and Perry Zimel.





Also joining the cast of the NBC Studios-produced sitcom is Katherine Waterston, daughter of "Law & Order" star Sam Waterston.

[Incarnadine]

A third role has been cast, a Cape Breton teen named George Barber has been cast as the neighbor. Funny thing is they say he landed the "lead".



THE ACCENT ISN'T AN ACT Massachusetts resident George Barber has landed the lead in a new NBC sitcom that stars Alyson Hannigan of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fame. Barber learned of his good fortune yesterday and will soon make his way out to Los Angeles to shoot the pilot episode, which will be directed by "Friends" star David Schwimmer. Boston-based CP Casting held two days of auditions for a young teenage boy with a "real Boston accent" to star in the show, "Home and Hardware." From those two days, a tape with 50 candidates was sent to the producers and two locals were chosen to go to New York City for further discussions. Barber, one of those two, had just returned. to his home on the Cape when he was called back to return to New York City the next day, said Carolyn Pickman, who handled the local casting. Produced by Jamie Tarses and NBC Studios, Matt Tarses ("Scrubs," "Sports Night") wrote the pilot episode. (The show will not be filmed in Boston.) Hannigan stars as a woman who works in a Back Bay antique hardware store and Barber (who is either 14 or 15, according to Pickman) will play Kevin Morrison, her Back Bay neighbor.



www.boston.com/news/globe...y_returns/

Spike to Giles:



Oh, poor Watcher. Did your life pass before your eyes? Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost got shagged, cuppa tea?

[willowlove]

From Zap2it, yet another casting announcement:



CBS Comedy Gets Smart, Madrigal Joins Hannigan

(Wednesday, February 25 09:42 AM)





HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) - - Prolific TV vet and multiple Emmy winner Jean Smart leads the latest round of casting news as she joins John Goodman in the CBS comedy pilot "Center of the Universe." Also landing plum pilot roles are Oliver Hudson, Al Madrigal and Patrick Breen.

In "Universe," from Warner Bros. TV, Smart will play the wife of Goodman's character, a family man who tries to keep peace with his Chicago extended family.



Smart, who earned two guest actress Emmys for her work on "Frasier," has a long list of television credits including "Designing Women," "The District" and, most recently, "In-Laws." She's been seen on the big screen in "The Kid," "Bringing Down the House" and "Guinevere."





Over on NBC, Madrigal has been added to the untitled family comedy from Matt Tarses and Bill Wrubel. The series features former "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" co-star Alyson Hannigan and "Dumb and Dumberer" co-star Eric Christian Olsen as long-estranged siblings working together at a Home & Hardware company. Madrigal will play another employee at the company.

Madrigal had the lead in the pilot for "The Ortegas," which FOX scheduled for a fall launch, but put on hold. The series has yet to be officially discarded, but its prospects can't be rosy.

"You forgot the first rule of mass media...give the people what they want!"--James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) in "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997)

[Incarnadine]

"Home and Hardware" page at TV Tome



www.tvtome.com/tvtome/ser...wid-24269/

Spike to Giles:



Oh, poor Watcher. Did your life pass before your eyes? Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost got shagged, cuppa tea?

[DaddyCatALSO]

Not directly Aly-related but still...if the show has an opening for the sibs mother as an occasional recurring charcater (why can i absolutely NEVER type this word correctly?) I hope they can get Katherine O'Hara. I can't imagine anyone I'd be more intrigued at seeing Our Favroite Redhead interact with in a familial sense and the real-life age difference is just correct.

[Hemiola]

Say, DCA, regarding the expression you used, why couldn't the title for the new show be: OUR FAVORITE REDHEAD



I dunno, I s'ppose they're afraid that people might think that the show is about Lucille Ball .

[DaddyCatALSO]

Hemiola: Actually it was based on a title for an old Bob Hope movie(he did 3;My Favrotie Blonde Brunette Rh). I started over at UPN's Threaded Bornze. I got tired of typing names over and over again and so began using Our Favorite Redhead Ash-blonde Golden-blonde Brunette Dark-blond White-blond and Brownette for Willow, Tara, Buffy, Cordelia, Anya, Harmony, and Faith repsectively. (and in my fnafics I'm cosntantly referring to things like hair colr.)

[DaddyCatALSO]

Since I've doen my part to get this thread off-topic I'll try to help get it back by mentioning that another website recently did a poll about which of several upcoming or newly-released projects peopel most wanted to see (Aly's pilot, a TV-movie with Nicky Brendon, and 4 features were included.) Aly's got over 45% of the votes which means, as the others were all really close to each other, nothing came close to touching the winner! (I *won't* try turning that into a joke.)

[kajo 2000]

From The Boston Globe:

Quote:

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This young actor can talk the talk

His real Boston accent got George Barber a part on TV

By Bella English, Globe Staff, 3/15/2004



SANDWICH - The first time he auditioned for a part in an NBC pilot, George Barber was told he was too proper. The casting director gave him a second chance. This time he read the part with a thicker Boston accent. ("You just lose your R's," he says.)



Out of the dozens of boys who tried out for the part, Barber was chosen to play a teenager - with a Boston accent - in the new sitcom "Home and Hardware," whose pilot will air in May. The sitcom will feature Alyson Hannigan, who played Willow in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," as a Back Bay antiques/hardware store worker. Barber, 15, will play her upstairs neighbor and dog-walker in a Boston apartment building. Depending on the response to the pilot, the show could get picked up for the fall schedule, turning Barber into a national celebrity.



So how did this self-described average student with little acting experience make it into the big time?



"If you ask me how I think George got this job, I'd have to say that the producers at NBC were impressed and inspired by a performance that was humorous, original, and inventive, because that's what I saw in his audition," says Carolyn Pickman, who owns C.P. Casting in Boston. Before his final audition in New York, Pickman reminded him that although he would be up against other boys from New York and Los Angeles with much more experience, he should remember that he was "the real thing - and that his Boston accent wouldn't hurt!"



When George and another teenager were called back for a final audition in New York, George's grandparents drove him to NBC studios at Rockefeller Center, along with the family dog, Trinity. ("She has major separation anxiety," George explains.) Shortly after that audition, he was called back to New York. This time, a limo was dispatched to take him and his grandmother to Logan Airport, where they were flown to New York for another audition, via satellite to Los Angeles.



The next day, his agent called with the good news: He got the role. George is supposed to be playing a 13-year-old, but he says it's no problem for him. "I know plenty of kids my age who act like they're 12 or 13," he says.



On March 20, he and his grandmother will fly to Los Angeles, where the pilot will be filmed. Written by Matt Tarses, whose credits include "Scrubs" and "Sports Night," and directed by David Schwimmer of "Friends," the pilot will air in May. If all goes well, 13 episodes will follow, for the first season. Pretty heady stuff for a C-student freshman whose acting credits extend to a little community theater.



George has lived with his maternal grandparents, Fritz and Ellen Hampe, since he was 18 months old. His mother lives in Bourne, and he sees her often. His father died in a car crash when George was 7. It is "Nana and Pop" who have raised him.



"Georgie is a joy to have around," his grandmother says. "He's a lot of fun." As if on cue, he breaks into a spot-on impression of Ross Perot, with a nasal, rambling Southern drawl, and then one of George Bush. "He used to do a great imitation of Katharine Hepburn, but his voice changed," his grandmother says.



He loves "Mad TV," "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." Five years ago, he saw an ad for acting classes at John Robert Powers in Boston. He got an agent, and just before his 11th birthday he and his grandmother went to Los Angeles for the International Modeling and Talent Association competition. George came home with eight awards, including Preteen Male Talent of the Year. They sit proudly on the mantle at the modest home on a quiet side street.



He's been an extra in the films "Mystic River," "Osmosis Jones," and "What's the Worst That Could Happen?" He's done print ads and a few local commercials. His meatier roles have been in community theater; once he played "a drug-addicted homeless person"; in "Godspell," he played Socrates.



Was he nervous reading before Hollywood types? "No, he's in his element," interjects his grandfather, a retired auto mechanic.



George begs to differ. "When I went to New York, yes. I always get nervous beforehand," he says. "But I'm not nervous during."



Pickman has known George since he was 8. "He's one of those kids who keeps sending out his pictures and resume and saying, `Remember me?'. He takes it seriously. He knows what he wants to do, and he's very good at it," she says. It was Pickman who steered him to the audition.



George's new gig is one thing, but if you really want to see his eyes light up, take a look at his car. Yes, he's too young to drive, but he found a 1968 Ford Torino station wagon with simulated wood paneling. It sits in the driveway, and it has only 95,000 miles on it. George pops the hood and exclaims over the engine.



His small bedroom is "all hooked up," as he puts it, with digital cable for his PlayStation and Xbox. His grandmother painted the ceiling blue with clouds, and on one wall is a city skyline. George has boxes and boxes of action figures and comic books, and he likes to "write stuff and think." Twice a week, he teaches or studies martial arts; he holds a black belt in kung fu.



The money he has made from his print and commercial jobs goes in his bank account. "I give him 10 percent to play with," his grandmother says. As for what the upcoming pilot, which will take a week or two to shoot, will pay, she doesn't know. "They just said it will be a standard SAG [Screen Actors Guild] contract," she says. "I have no idea, because this is the first big thing Georgie's done."



If the pilot flies, the family knows they'll have to be in LA for several weeks a year. George shrugs it off. "So what? I'll be gone a little while." He's adamant about graduating from Sandwich High, and is thinking of studying acting at Emerson College. "It's close to home," he says.

---

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"I want to be Byron... because I want to date young boys." Amber Benson

[Hemiola]

So, is it definite? Will they actually show the pilot in May? Does anyone have a date??????

Edited by: Hemiola at: 3/16/04 5:55 am

[xita]

No, we won't see the pilot in May. The network will , if they like it they will put it on the schedule for fall.

- - - - - - - - - - -
"No more twat. No more twat for me. Twat gets me into trouble!" - Crack Whore Jenny, The L Word

[sam7777]

This statement is incorrect: 'The sitcom will feature Alyson Hannigan, who played Willow in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," as a Back Bay antiques/hardware store worker.'

IMHO it should be: Alyson Hannigan, who played Michelle "American Pie" movies. Aly had a career before Buffy and she sure is having a career after.

_____________________

I still see dead lesbian cliches

[FearBobaFett]

I agree with you about a career before and after; however, she was not "Michelle" before she was "Willow." Also, "Willow" is her longest running character, so ... quite often that is the character PR folks will run with.



*runs and hides*

[sam7777]

No need to run and hide. I simply think more people saw the American Pie movies than saw the whole run of Aly's role as Willow so the former should take precedence in the PR. Aly herself hasn't talked much about doing Willow since the show ended. Aly's PR has focused on her present projects such as AP3, "That 70's Show", "When Harry met Sally" and her new sitcom. IMHO it's a disservice to her for the PR machine to only focus on one role out of many. They make her look like a one trick pny which she clearly is not.

_____________________

I still see dead lesbian cliches

Edited by: sam7777  at: 3/16/04 10:47 pm

[urnofosiris]

Since so many more people have seen her in AP as opposed to Buffeh it would certainly seem more prudent to use that part of her filmography (or the combination of the two), especially as this is going to be a comedy show. As it is, this is just an interview and not an official promo for the show.

[tyche]

Quote:

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From Reuters.com - By Nellie Andreeva

NBC Recasts Two Pilots

Tue Mar 30, 2004 04:13 AM ET

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Michael Landes is replacing Eric Christian Olsen as the male lead in NBC’s untitled comedy starring Alyson Hannigan.

The "American Pie" alumna plays an ex-nerd whose life is disrupted when her anti-Establishment brother (Landes) re-enters her life.

Landes, who got his break in "The Wonder Years," recently starred in "Hart’s War" and "Final Destination 2." Olsen starred in "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd."

In other NBC comedy pilot recasting news, Khary Payton has been tapped to replace Chester Gregory II in "D.O.T.s," a project set in the world of meter maids.

Elsewhere in the pilot casting world:

Michael Rispoli is in negotiations to star in ABC’s comedy pilot "The Furst Family," which centers on a blue-collar family Rispoli would head with Laurie Metcalf.

Eddie Kaye Thomas ("American Pie" has been tapped as the male lead in NBC’s comedy pilot "Weekends," which centers on a Generation X Orange County couple (Thomas, Caitlin Mowrey) with a baby.

Richard Kind has joined the cast of CBS’ untitled Aisha Tyler comedy pilot, which centers on a single New York woman (Tyler) who enters the corporate world. Kind ("Spin City" will play her boss at the corporation.

Kerr Smith ("Dawson’s Creek" leads the cast of UPN’s drama "Silver Lake," with Hedy Burress, Sandra Bernhard, Stephanie Faracy and William Russ also cast in the project.

"Silver Lake" is a dramedy about an L.A. record store owner (Smith) who communicates with the dead. Burress ("Valentine" will play the man’s twin sister. Faracy (CBS’ "Charlie Lawrence" and Russ (NBC’s "Mister Sterling" will play the twosome’s parents. Bernhard will play a psychic.

Martin Donovan, Alexander Gould, Matt Czuchry and Jessica Chastain have been cast in the WB Network’s drama "Dark Shadows," a remake of the original Gothic soap about the Collinses, a wealthy Maine family under a vampire curse.

Gould and Donovan will play the family’s sons. Chastain will play a member of the Stoddard family who gets bitten by a vampire. Gould voiced Nemo in "Finding Nemo."

---

Did I ask you to dress like a Republican? - Grace, Joan of Arcadia

[BloodSuckinFiend]

In response to the notion that American Pie should be Alyson's signature role rather than Buffy. Agreed, more people have seen her in American Pie, but I'm actually glad they haven't been mentioning that in the trade papers. There's a saying, "stars don't make television, television makes stars". This has been proven time and again as eager networks try and form TV shows around movie stars thinking that there will be an automatic audience, only to have it fail. The Geena Davis Show, that Cybill Shepard sitcom, and that Nathan Lane show come to mind. There's a ton more that I can't think of, probably because they only stuck around for 6 eps or so. Anyways, I'm sure its a conscious decision to downplay her most noteworthy parts just so that there will be as little prejudice as possible towards the pilot. I doubt the networks realize this, but if the sitcom actually makes it onto the air, I can guarantee that more Buffy fans will perk up at the sight of "Staring: Alyson Hannigan", rather than AP fans...UNLESS, of course, the credits read "Staring: Band Camp Girl".



Good luck to Aly! I'll get to see the pilot on Friday...My expectations aren't high, but I hope to be plesantly suprised.

______________

~ "I don't know how to behave around women of the opposite sex." - Space Ghost

[Incarnadine]

www.livejournal.com/users...60947.html



Alyson Hannigan Pilot Report

I just got home - I'm back from Los Angeles after the big pilot-viewing trip. We found out just before we left that the time had changed from 7:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. - yipes! - but we just made it there in the nick of time, even with some rather nasty traffic.



Anyway, here's what happened.







Alyson Hannigan was just adorable. Truly. I wish that I could have brought in a camera so I could show you all. Her hair is a little shorter than before - just past shoulder-length, and she looks great. She also looked right at home in sitcom-land. It seemed like she was having a blast - there was one point that she was making faces through the window at her co-star. There was also a moment in the show in which she had to look broken-hearted, and really, who can pull that off better than she can?





For all you Friends fans out there (honestly, I've never seen an entire episode myself), David Schwimmer was the director of the pilot. He spoke to the audience for a short while, and he seemed very nice and glad that the small crowd was present.





This was a run-through only - no costume changes, they were still on book, and they only used one camera instead of the usual four. And, although I am not fond of sitcoms as a rule, I found the show to be genuinely funny. The actual pilot taping will be Friday night (unless the schedule changes again).





Officially, the pilot is being called "Untitled Tarses/Wrubel project." I've heard it called "Home & Hardware" at times during the last few weeks, but it was referred to as "Americana" tonight. Both names come from the name of the company that Alyson Hannigan's character, Andrea, works for, "Americana Home & Hardware." It's basically a Restoration Hardware. In fact, Andrea seems so much of a company girl that the set of her apartment is that same gray-green you see at Restoration Hardware stores in malls.





It amused me greatly that a "magic box" and the words "the chosen one" both were a part of the show. Seriously - I couldn't make this stuff up.





There were two things that I didn't like about the pilot - well, two characters, really: Andrea's assistant and the Shipping and Receiving guy. Both were nothing more than overdone nerd caricatures. The S&R character's personality was in essence a Rick Moranis impression. I can only hope that they'll improve, flesh out, or tone down these characters.





You want plot? I got your plot right here. STOP READING THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED. Welcome to Boston, despite that they're filming in Southern California. We first see Andrea alone in her office, rehearsing what she'll say to her boss (whose name I think was Chris), who, we learn, she'd just gotten a little too friendly with. Yes, we're talking The Sex. The speech centers around why continuing this is a bad idea, but it's clear that she has a huge crush on him and that her heart's not in ending it. The rehearsal goes badly, as a talk that centers around "salt" is prone to doing, and she ends the "rehearsal" by throwing herself down on the table. Her assistant walks in on this scene, and Andrea confides in her what happened. The Boss comes in in the middle of this, and Andrea barely gets a teensy bit of her speech out before her boss invites himself over to her apartment for dinner and to "work on the new catalog." Switch to her apartment. We meet her 12-year-old neighbor, who sees himself as the man of the house. We also meet her dog, Bean. There's a knock on the door, and when she opens the door... Nope, not her boss. It's her estranged brother, Ben (Michael Landes). With a fiancee! Wow! There is the celebratory reunion, complete with the almost-giving of the Ring of the Grandmother, until we learn that the fiancee is a fake and that Ben was just trying to get the ring for a "business venture." Bad Ben. In the midst of this. Bossman cancels the big date. Bad Bossman. The next day, Ben comes by to visit Andrea at work, and they have a Sweet Sibling Moment on the Seesaw. Yes, a seesaw. It's cute. Anyway, due to a wacky set of circumstances, Bossman offers Ben a job. Bossman is also avoiding Andrea. Not good. Later, in Andrea's apartment, Andrea accuses Ben of being a slacker and a flake, and Ben accuses Andrea of being a phony who forgot who she was (and it sounds like she was a wacky, sweet nerd... sound familiar?). Ben even uses an old magic trick of hers, a Magic Box, as a visual aid. Back at the office, it's presentation time for new products, and the wacky billionaire owner is there to see it, along with his daughter who, we learn, just got engaged to Bossman. Audience gasps, Andrea looks crushed. Ben happens to be there and saves the day by giving her inspiration on a new product - yep, that same old magic box. At the end of the day, Ben's about to leave the apartment, and we find out that he had no business venture, but instead he has a rather large gambling debt. Okay, a huge gambling debt. Andrea asks him to stay and take the job that was offered to him. Sitcom premise established. The End.





So, there we go. I wish I could go up for the pilot taping later this week, but I'm glad that I saw it (thanks to airawyn for setting this up!). They said that this pilot already has "buzz", and that it has a good chance of being picked up. If so, it would start shooting in August.

------------------------------------------------------------------



Sounds like it was good, and I happen to have a fondness for the name Andrea so that's another plus.

Spike to Giles:



Oh, poor Watcher. Did your life pass before your eyes? Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost got shagged, cuppa tea?

[Hemiola]

Many thanks, Incarnadine, for your excellent report.



Premise--well, it doesn't seem like a work of genius, but neither did the premises of "Friends" or "Seinfeld" seem like works of genius. The simple fact of the matter is that I will be a devoted follower of this show just so long as the plots, camera angles, and everything else put Aly front and center!!!



Title--it may be presumptuous of me, but why not call it "The Alyson Hannigan Show"?

Other possibilities: "Our Favorite Redhead", "Oh, Aly!" (or maybe "Oh, Andrea!"--I wonder how many people here are old enough to remember an ancient sitcom called "Oh, Susanna!" ), "Here's Aly", "I Love Aly", etc etc etc

[maudmac]

Aww, that sounds sweet. I'm sooo hoping this'll be on the air this fall. Sounds like it could use some tweaking, maybe, but, yeah, lots of sitcoms that end up doing really well don't sound amazingly brilliant. Ah, and then there are those I love that just tank. I've got my fingers crossed for Aly.

---

dreams of the drifters die hard, y'all   /   bodies dance through the dark to submission
fast feet and saturday night leave you nowhere to stand   /   but nobody here is leaving

[emma peel]

(sticks up her hand and shyly ) Me! Me! Me! I remember "Oh, Susanna!" (and "My Little Margie" as well. I had a huge crush on Gale Storm when I was a tiny young kitten.)

Umm, oh, back on topic. I like Hemiola's choice of "The Alyson Hannigan Show." That certainly works for me!

[Iamyouknowyours]

I saw Aly! I saw Aly! Determined not to me turned away I got there three and a half hours early and was 8th in line. Woohoo! The pilot is honestly one of the best I've ever seen. Normally things don't come together so well until several episodes in. Aly looked terrific. Her new haircut makes her look older and more sophisticated, although in some ways she still does look like she's 15 And for once I got to see her well dressed. It was quite a pleasant change. I loved that she got to be quirky and sexy and serious all in the same episode. She basically plays a woman who uses success to try and cover up her inner nerd. It's a different role for her, but no so far from Michelle and Willow as to drag her into dangerous Rip It Off territory. The chemistry between her and her boss is good. And the guy who plays her brother is just fantastic. Impecable comedic timing. Aly and he work exceptionally well together. The owner of the company is hillarious and David's fiance is appropriately beautiful and annoying. Even some of the weaker characters (aly's secretary and the dog walker) improved by leaps and bounds after some re-writes. David Shwimmer seemed very focused and a little nervous, but he got the job done. The writing was solid and there were even a couple of gags I had never seen used in a sitcom before (go bubblewrap!) I think they have a potential hit. The characters are endearing and I laughed twice as much as I do at an episode of Two and a Half Men (the most successful new sitcom of this year). Not to mention you could tell they were having fun. And that goes a long way. I would tune in if aly weren't a part of it.



If NBC doen't pick it up they're idiots. If it doesn't do well it will be because of bad scheduling, bad advertising and a lame title (Home and Hardware? People will think it's Martha Stewarts comeback series or something. Sheesh.) Personally I think that Heartbreak and Harware or something like that would be a step up. And Americana is no better. Sounds like a show about a family that just crossed over the border and is trying to keep from being deported.



An added bonus: when Aly was at bows she smiled and waved and mouthed "I love you." to someone. Could it be? I looked over and yup, Alexis was standing on the sidelines cheering his honey on. Very cool.



So my bitterness over missing the run-through is gone. I'm one happy girl.



Yay Aly!



The best line of the evening? "I'm a fake, you're a fake, you're a big fake and if those are real call me."

Edited by: Iamyouknowyours at: 4/3/04 12:39 am