Comedy Showcase 2009

Channel 4 is to bring back the "Comedy Showcase". For those who don't remember, this was a selection of six comedy pilots that were made to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the channel. The new pilots will be shown next autumn.

Amongst the six pilots shown last year, three were given full series: Plus One and Free Agents, whose series have yet to be broadcast, and The Kevin Bishop Show, which had a six-part series broadcast earlier this year, and is up for "Best New British TV Comedy" in the British Comedy Awards.

Story from Broadcast BSG Guide to Comedy Showcase 2007

I enjoyed the showcase last year, a couple of duds and a couple of good ones.

I really enjoyed "The Kevin Bishop Show" and "Plus One." "Free Agents" I wasn't so sure about. I also liked Martin Freeman's "Other People," it's a shame it didn't get a series. Then again where could it go?

Only ones I remember were the drearily unfunny Martin Freeman one, the stupid Victorian one and the one with that tit Kevin Bishop. Hopefully the other two they are making a series of are rather better.

You didn't like Other People? I thought that was the best of the lot. Very funny. It would be hard to see how it could have made a series though, I'll give you that.

Channel 4 has to be applauded for commissioning another round of pilots... even if only one in six makes it, that's still then a hit new show for them.

Quote: Mark @ November 29 2008, 12:39 PM GMT

You didn't like Other People?

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I find Freeman a dreadfully bland actor, and the part struck me as underwritten. I prefer the lead protagonist in a sitcom to have defining - and intrinsically funny - faults. Here he seemed to be essentially a proxy for the attitudes of the author. It reminded me a little of Peter Tilbury's early sitcoms, but without the redeeming razor sharp wit - which made the sneeringly unsympathetic depictions of the supporting characters all the harder to take. (In this respect it reminded me of Shelley after Tilbury left and other writers took over.) The one exchange that stuck in my memory was the assistant manager, or whatever he was, commenting on Freeman's liking for books and then boasting that he had read all of Terry Pratchett. Which struck me as spectacularly ill-judged - if you are going to depict one of your characters as a berk it is unwise to do so by reference to his admiration for a writer cleverer and funnier than you are demonstrating yourself to be.

It's a great strand. My pilot's on the shortlist for it. How can people doubt this? Ha!

New details have been released about the forthcoming shows on the Comedy Showcase 2009. Here they are:

* The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret - Written by Simon Nye and David Cross, about an American executive who is accidentally sent to run his company's arm in Britain. Cross will star, and there are also talks about his Arrested Development co-star Will Arnett about an appearance.

* Guantanamo Phil, sitcom pilot about a birdwatcher returns home to Stoke-on-Trent after spending time in Guantánamo Bay. Written by the people behind The Worst Week of my Life.

* Campus, a pilot set at a University, made by Monicker, the production company owned by Green Wing creator Victoria Pile.

* Phone Shop, an improvised sitcom with Pulling producer Phil Bowker working on it.

* Pete vs Life, a show about a man whose entire life is remarked upon by various sports commentators. Starring Rafe Spall.

There may be a few more from some other production companies.

Story from Broadcast

Quote: Ian Wolf @ March 19 2009, 10:02 AM GMT

* The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret - Written by Simon Nye and David Cross, about an American executive who is accidentally sent to run his company's arm in Britain. Cross will star, and there are also talks about his Arrested Development co-star Will Arnett about an appearance.

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David Cross? Really?! Holy shitballs!

Quote: Ian Wolf @ March 19 2009, 10:02 AM GMT

New details have been released about the forthcoming shows on the Comedy Showcase 2009. Here they are:

* The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret - Written by Simon Nye and David Cross...

View original

That'll be Shaun Pye, then. The bloke from Extras. Not Simon Nye. Who's a different man.

These sound interesting.

I don't see why the other channels can't be doing this sort of thing all the time. A regular, yearly 6-part series of pilots. BBC Three and ITV2 could be doing a yoof-orientated series, BBC Four more high-brow stuff for an older audience. They wouldn't have to be as expensive as established shows, cos they are just try-outs, y'know?

It's got appeal to viewers (as each week it's something new, so if the first one's shit the second one might be good) and it allows them to get real feedback on the show without committing to a full series. If it's received well then it bares well for a series. Just look at Plus One, The Kevin Bishop Show, FM and Free Agents. And if it wasn't all established writers all the time (like it is with this but not so much with Comedy Lab), it would give up-and-coming writers like us lot a regular opportunity to get our foot in the door.

As it stands, Comedy Lab is the only taker and so is so inundated with submissions that most of us don't stand a chance. And even if your script did get produced, Comedy Lab is practically buried in the late night schedules with hardly any promotion or fanfare.

If the channels are as dedicated to nurturing new writing talent as they always claim to be, they should be providing more platforms like this.

I feel a bit like I'm preaching to the converted, so I'll shut up now.

Quote: john lucas 101 @ March 19 2009, 10:32 AM GMT

That'll be Shaun Pye, then. The bloke from Extras. Not Simon Nye. Who's a different man.

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Oh yes, sorry about that. I don't know where Simon Nye came from.

Presumably it was a result of the fevered typing as you sought to disseminate the info and the comedy Pye/Nye writers became jumbled and that, eh.

Quote: Ian Wolf @ March 19 2009, 10:46 AM GMT

Oh yes, sorry about that. I don't know where Simon Nye came from.

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Burgess Hill, Sussex apparently.

Quote: glaikit @ March 19 2009, 10:41 AM GMT

I don't see why the other channels can't be doing this sort of thing all the time. A regular, yearly 6-part series of pilots. BBC Three and ITV2 could be doing a yoof-orientated series,

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To be fair to BBC Three, they did (not sure they will again with their 'demographic change') do this last year. Sound (which became Massive), Coming of Age, Delta Forever, Tall Tales (can't remember the exact title), that one about three members of a girl band talking to camera that I can't remember the name of, Living With Two People..., Don Clark's How Not To Live Your Life. These were all broadcast pilots and some led to series. Granted they may not have been all together in six consecutive weeks and were all over the place in the schedules, but they did give it a chance.

BBC Four did the Tight Spot series, which was four pilots: Freezing, something about some people stuck in a lift with Rasmus Hardiker and Meera Syal(?), David Gillespie and some bloke (was it Clint from The Smoking Room?) stuck in a car on the way to a meeting and another one I didn't see. Out of those, Freezing is the only one to make a series but, in my opinion, it was the best new sitcom of last year.

I thought I'd mention that in the interests of fairness!

Dan