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CBS Planning Another Twitter Show

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God help us all. CBS’ $#*! My Dad Says has been deemed a success after healthy ratings for its debut, so of course CBS is applying the standard Hollywood playbook to any money-making venture: “if the public loves one, they’ll love two even more!”

Yes, another thoroughly unnecessary sitcom is in the works from CBS that’s based on a Twitter feed, and it’s a rather similar-sounding one. Where $#*! My Dad Says is based on a guy that tweets the profane, politically-incorrect stuff that his father spews round-the-clock, Shh… Don’t Tell Steve, the new show CBS is working on, is based on a Twitter feed by a guy that secretly tweets the kooky activities of his lazy, drunken roommate. The show will similarly follow an average guy who has to put up with an outrageously immature roommate.

CBS has signed a deal for a pilot script, which will be executive produced by avid Twitter user Ashton Kutcher.

Fox orders 5 new shows, renews Lie to Me & Human Target

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Ahead of its upfront presentations next week, Fox has announced five new series it has picked up for the Fall 2010 season, as well as two (somewhat  unexpected) renewals: Lie to Me and Human Target. Neither of those shows are huge hits in the ratings, but Lie to Me has an A-list star, and Fox might be looking to Human Target to fill the “action hour” void that 24 is going to leave on the schedule.

The five new shows Fox ordered are:

  • RideAlong – an hour-long police drama from creator Shawn Ryan about a cowboy-style cop and a female police chief who try to clean up the streets of Chicago.
  • Midland – a drama about a con artist working in the oil industry. (Boy, that show practically writes itself, doesn’t it?)
  • Keep Hope Alive – a single-camera comedy from creator Greg Garcia about a single parent.
  • Traffic Light – another single-cam comedy centering on male relationships.
  • Wilde Kingdom – a single-cam rom-com starring Will Arnett as a hedonistic Beverly Hills resident who falls in love with an environmentalist, charitable woman who hates his lifestyle and values.

It looks like with those last three, Fox is hoping to build an entire night of back-to-back live-action comedy as a companion to its entirely animated Sunday night of comedy.

NBC orders The Event + 2 more

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NBC has picked up three new series for its fall season — ahead of the much-anticipated “fall upfront” announcements that are coming in a few days.

Perhaps most exciting of the three is The Event, a high octane conspiracy thriller starring Jason Ritter (pictured) as an everyman who investigates the disappearance of his fiancee, and unwittingly begins to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history. His quest will send ripples through the lives of an eclectic band of strangers, including the newly elected U.S. President, the leader of a group of mysterious detainees, and the main character’s own father-in-law. NBC’s press release states, “Their futures are on a collision course in a global conspiracy that could ultimately change the fate of mankind.”

Outsourced is a new comedy by one of the producers of The Office. It’s about a culture clash that occurrs when an “all-American company” that sells novelty items outsources its call center to India. Todd Dempsy stars as the company’s new manager who learns that he’s being transferred to India to run the new call center.

Lastly, Love Bites is an hour-long romantic comedy anthology (there’s three words you don’t see together often), featuring three loosely connected, modern stories of love, sex, marriage, and dating. Each episode contains multiple vignettes, all illuminating the theme of love with an edgy, irreverent spin. Becki Newton and Jordana Spiro anchor the series with their ongoing tales of attempted romance, while other characters will come and go each week.

NBC is proving to be the most web-savvy network of the new season, as it’s already registered Twitter accounts for all three series: @NBCTheEvent, @OutsourcedNBC, and @NBCLoveBites.

2010 TV Land Awards

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TV Land Awards is over but people are still talking about the Glee tribute during the awards show. Glee bagged the “Future Classic” award, and though I love Glee this kind of award is obviously a “let’s-wait-and-see-if-that-does-pan-out” thing. What we can be sure though is the “TV Land Glee club’s” rendition of “Don’t Stop Believing” is a mega hit. The performance included David Hasselhoff and Marilou Henner as the lead singers (is that what Rachel and Finn will look like 30 years from now?). Other glee club members include: Todd Bridges, Joyce Dewitt, Jamie Farr, Marla Gibbs, Howard Hesseman, Shirley Jones, Richard Karn, Richard Moll, Marion Ross, Jimmie Walker, Marcia Wallace and Fred Willard. The twist of having the old and familiar faces on TV paying tribute to the new is just totally fun and surprisingly good to watch. The original Glee rendition was better of course but theirs wasn’t live, was it?

Other shows that took home an award on the 25th include:

Love Boat – Fan Favorite Award
Charlie’s Angels – Pop Culture Award
Everybody Loves Raymond – Impact Award

Also honored during the awards were Bosom Buddies, now on its 30th anniversary; Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, for being legends in comedy; and Farah Fawcett, whose tribute was presented by Ryan O’Neal.

Extremist Muslim group threatens South Park

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A recent episode of South Park has drawn dire predictions that border on threatening from a website called RevolutionMuslim.com. The episode in question, “200” (which was, as the title suggests, the show’s 200th episode) depicted the Prophet Mohammad in a bear costume.

In response, U.S.-based Islamic group RevolutionMuslim.com made not-so-veiled threats against South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, suggesting that “they will probably wind up” like a Dutch filmmaker who was killed by an Islamic militant because he made a film that accused Islam of condoning violence against women.

RevolutionMuslim.com has refuted the claims that they were making veiled threats against the South Park creators, but their website is unavailable at the time of this writing (though you can read an archived version of their post about 2/3 of the way down this archived page), which suggests that the site has either crashed or intentionally been taken down. The post RM made about South Park included contact information for both Comedy Central and Stone & Parker’s production company, as well as — much more damningly — what appears to be the location of a Colorado mansion where the two men live.

Why would the website suggest that Stone & Parker will likely be attacked by Islamic militants, and then provide directions to their home, if not to incite violence against them?

I’m no fan of South Park, so don’t get me wrong. I understand its irreverent appeal, but it’s too basement-level disrespectful for my taste. If anybody should expect to draw fire from those they offend, obviously it should be the people behind South Park, who have made a living out of insulting everything that somebody out there considers “sacred.”

But there’s no excuse for RevolutionMuslim.com’s irresponsible behavior, insinuating that someone should outright attack someone else. The group is claiming “freedom of speech” when questioned about their inflammatory article. But whoever said that freedom of speech implies freedom from responsibility?