Fall Preview: CBS' The Crazy Ones

The Crazy Ones

Thursdays at 9PM Eastern / 8PM Central,

Premiering September 26

In 1997, the Los Angeles office of advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day created Apple Computer’s “Think Different” slogan, and an accompanying campaign inaugurated with a now historic TV ad.  “Here’s to the crazy ones,” Richard Dreyfuss narrated, in a salute to the geniuses and innovators who have changed the world.  The spot won raves from critics, and the 1998 Emmy for Best Commercial.

Now, CBS brings us The Crazy Ones, a new advertising-set sitcom which cleverly can be viewed as both an homage to and a lampooning of such self-serious salesmanship.  And with its cunning conceit and all-star cast, the new show is poised to bring the same type of “crazy” energy, and similar accolades, to the genre of half-hour comedy.

The brainchild of John Montgomery, the Executive Creative Director of Chicago ad agency Leo Burnett, and nurtured by accomplished executive producer David E. Kelley, The Crazy Ones snagged Oscar winner Robin Williams for his long-awaited return to series television.  Williams’ hyperkinetic character Simon Roberts is “an idea guy who’s been on everything but skates,” says the 62-year-old comedy icon.  “I watched a documentary about ad guys, and a lot of them live on the edge.  Their whole job is to think outside the envelope, and at the same time get an idea down to the simplest, purest image, to fight for your consciousness.”

“And,” Williams adds, “they can be kind of crazy.”  That’s where Simon’s daughter Sydney, his partner at their joint small agency, comes in.  After seasons of slaying vampires as Buffy, Sarah Michelle Gellar says she was happy to become the organized, ambitious and Type-A Sydney, whose task of wrangling her unfocused father, while finding her own place in the industry he dominates, may be just as exhausting.  “To me, some of the greatest parts of Buffy were the funny moments,” Gellar explains of stepping into this lighter role.  “And I got to a point where I thought, ‘I’ve cried a lot.  I’m ready to be funny.’”

Helping to make that happen is Bill D’Elia, himself a longtime New York ad man turned TV writer, and now one of The Crazy Ones’ executive producers.  The inspiration for Montgomery’s pilot script, he explains, “was this idea to have fun with how we create advertising.  Not to denigrate the products, but the process, and [as ad execs] ourselves.”  With a pitch like that, it’s easy to see while real-life clients are clamoring to come on board; The Crazy Ones features McDonalds in its pilot, and D’Elia expects to recruit two or three more real brands, “plus a few fictitious ones thrown in,” to round out Roberts & Roberts’ roster.

But, the producer insists, The Crazy Ones’ appeal ultimately comes not just from the craftiness of its concept, but from the chemistry of its cast.  From the start, D’Elia says, “Everyone has felt like they’ve been together for a long time.  Robin and Sarah feel like real father and daughter.”  And coworkers played by Hamish Linklater and James Wolk – fresh off his season on that other crazy/advertising show, Mad Men – have already proven themselves more than capable of keeping up with Williams, the king of comedic improv. 

As Williams agrees, “All these people can go one-on-one, and riff just as well.”  But with The Crazy Ones, he notes, “I am often on script because the script is so good.”  The actor credits the show’s quality to its writers and advisors, many of whom are “real ad agency execs, who tell us stories that are just insane.”  Of course, Williams and Gellar might be able to contribute some stories of their own; Williams recently shilled for Snickers, and Gellar has done over 100 commercials – including, at age 7, a spot for Duncan Hines cake mix, directed by D’Elia.  It goes to prove, she adds, that it’s just all one, small Crazy world.

The Netjumper's Curse

When first Medium’s star, Patricia Arquette, and then its executive producer, Glenn Gordon Caron, confirmed this week that CBS has indeed cancelled the Friday night drama, it was one more example of what I like to call “The Netjumper’s Curse.”

After spending its first five years over on the Peacock network, Arquette’s character, psychic Allison Dubois, had hoped to foresee a long and profitable future at the Eye, whose in-house studio also produces the show; alas, after one full season and this second, abbreviated 13-ep year, it’s all over.

The pattern is nothing new, because for almost as long as there have been TV networks, there have been TV shows which have jumped among them. So while one of the medium’s earliest hits, The Goldbergs, may have premiered in 1949 on CBS, after a couple of seasons, Gertrude Berg’s title character Molly was waving “Yoo hoo” out of a window at NBC, and later at the era’s third network, Dumont.

It may seem that Father Knows Best that a series can find new life just by switching networks, as Robert Young’s wholesome ‘50s sitcom did three times in the course of its run, landing on CBS twice. And My Three Sons played for so long – on both ABC and CBS – that the show eventually had to augment its aging cast with an extra kid named Ernie, just to keep the title making sense.

But since then, the benefits of “netjumping” have become much less clear. Many shows swapping spots on the dial have managed to eke out only one more year before succumbing to the TV fates. Looking back, some, like ABC’s long-running TGIF sitcoms Family Matters and Step By Step, had probably already run out of steam before making that one last leap. Even a network-leaping Wonder Woman couldn’t conquer that one indomitable small screen foe: early cancellation.

In TV’s most recent, and most famous case of successful netjumping, in 1996 JAG motored on over after just one season on NBC to CBS, where, with a change in cast and story focus, it dominated the ratings for nine more years. Since then, we’ve had Scrubs die on the operating table in its sole season on ABC, and who can forget the middling post-jump success of Grounded for Life? (Answer: everyone.) That’s not to say that I want to discourage networks from salvaging each other’s unappreciated treasures. Let’s just hope we don’t have to worry about it, because here’s hoping that AMC will finally nut up and renew Mad Men. And in the meanwhile, let’s pour ourselves a good, stiff drink.

Mad Merch

I guess it was inevitable that a certain, rabidly popular series set in the world of advertising would soon be peddling wares of its own.

As Stuart Elliott wrote in The New York Times yesterday, Mattel will release this July a series of four Mad Men Barbie dolls, in the likenesses of the show's Don and Betty Draper (Jon Hamm and January Jones), Roger Sterling (John Slattery) and Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks.) The dolls' appearance will coincide with the debut of the show's fourth season on AMC.

Available in specialty stores and on amctv.com and barbiecollector.com, each limited-edition (7,000 to 10,000 available) doll will carry a suggested retail price of $74.95 (pretty steep in 1960s dollars!), and will come with authentic period wear, down to their hats, coats and undergarments.

Me, I'm waiting for my own Salvatore Romano doll. I want to pose him in the interesting positions he dares not admit he likes.

CBS Watch January/February 2010 issue on Newsstands... NOW!

Now on newsstands and in your mailboxes: the January/February 2010 issue of CBS Watch!

Check out Jennifer Goddard's cover story on Harrison Ford, whose newest movie, Extraordinary Measures co-starring Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell, comes out in theaters from CBS Films on January 22. Other pieces include my travel piece about the Rome Cavalieri hotel -- aka the hotel the Drapers stayed in last season on Mad Men; my roundup of the "Tough Broads" in CBS' history; my "Now Hiring" job application to become a Hollywood agent, and Frank DeCaro's reminiscence of a CBS classic, The Lucy Show.

Watch! can be found on newsstands in stores like Target, Barnes & Noble, and Hudson News -- and you can subscribe for free! Just go to www.cbswatchmagazine.com and sign up for your free subscription -- no strings attached!

SNL's "A Lady's Guide to Throwing a Party"

On this past weekend's SNL, Mad Men's January Jones starred in this brilliant short film skit, spoofing her own perfect '60s Barbie doll image in this supposed 1952 instructional on hosting a cocktail party. (And just remember, if it turns out to be diarrhea, you must leave society and live in the woods as an animal.)

Nitpicking Peggy Olson

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Mad Men. But something about Peggy Olson just... bugs me. Maybe I'm too close to the Catholic thing, but I just don't believe that a Catholic girl in the 1960s would do the things Peggy does. Not that there weren't Catholic girls sleeping around and getting pregnant in 1962. But doing so as seemingly guilt free as Peggy?

And even if Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) were to be so "liberated," I find it even more doubtful that, having given birth, she would be able to forget about the child so easily and continue on pursuing a career. Back then, for right or wrong, a girl would consider her life forever altered by this unintended pregnancy, perhaps even "ruined." She would be stuck in Peggy's outer borough, now forever a mom. I just don't buy Peggy's attempts at moving at this stage to Manhattan.

As my friends in the past few days have discussed this past Sunday's episode, "The Arrangements," everyone seems to be coming down really hard on Mrs. Olson. They read this week's scene where Peggy tells her mother about wanting to get her own apartment in Manhattan as the older woman's resentful attempts to stifle Peggy's burgeoning independence and liberation. And yes, I agree, Mrs. Olson was quite passive-aggressive and cruel. But here's the thing -- can you blame her? Her daughter Peggy has proven that the moment she is given free reign, she gets indiscriminately pregnant -- and worse yet, is in denial about it right through the moment she gives birth, unable to care for herself or the child. Peggy has shown not only questionable judgment, but questionable sanity as well. Shouldn't we empathize with Mrs. Olson for fearing what will happen if she lets her clearly judgment-impaired daughter so far out of her sight?

I guess my point is, I don't root for the character as much as many fans seem to, because at the core of it I often don't believe that a Peggy Olson would exist in her time. She often seems to be a cipher, a device for the show's writers through which to illustrate the week's theme of sexism, of filial duty, etc. And here's where I get nitpicky, but these little details are the types of things the show is supposedly famous for getting right, and this one from this

past episode rang false enough to pull me out of the story:

Norway is not a Catholic country. It's overwhelmingly Lutheran-Protestant. In fact, Catholics make up less than 1% of the population; there are fewer Catholics than Muslims. We've seen how Catholic Peggy's mother and family are -- again, it seems to me, merely as a device to show the Church in America and its influence over the times. But had the writers been more careful, they might have named the family something other than Olson, to make their ethnic/religious combination more likely.

Still, I used to try to rationalize, maybe Peggy's mother is of another ethnicity, which would explain the Catholic roots. However in Sunday's episode, she tries to appeal to her mother by saying her new roommate is also Norwegian. (Peggy's lie really is a hilarious little payoff from the writers, since we know the roommate is of Swedish descent.) So wouldn't that mean Mom is also Norwegian? Otherwise, why would Peggy think the lie would assuage her?

I certainly look forward to seeing what happens with Peggy in episodes -- and seasons -- to come. I hope she achieves great things, because I'd love to see what happens in a place like Sterling Cooper when a woman really does have some power and some say. I just wish "Peggy" were a little more believable all along the way.

Mad Men yourself

Hey, everybody! If you're a huge fan like me of AMC's signature series, why not Mad Men yourself? Here I am, pitching a new '60s sitcom. It's Get Smart meets The Munsters by way of Green Acres. Guaranteed 100 episodes, 40 share (this is the 3-network days of the '60s, remember?)

Is Ted a Mad Man?

This morning in Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of stopping by the set of Better Off Ted, aka "the best new show you may not yet be watching." For a few hours, I was happy to step into a lab deep within the bowels of the Veridian Corporation, where Phil and Lem -- aka the hysterically funny Jonathan Slavin and Malcolm Barrett -- fretted over a small cosmetic change in their premises which I can't tell you about.

From Victor Fresco, the creator of the cancelled-too-soon Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Better Off Ted films at the LA Center Studios on the edge of downtown, a complex I'd frankly never heard of before visiting the set of Mad Men there last year during the Television Critics' Convention. Turns out, CBS' Numb3rs is shot there, too, as will be The Station, the new comedy pilot for FOX from producer Ben Stiller .

But here's the fun bit of trivia I discovered today: while the lab and other sets like Ted's apartment are constructed on soundstages, Veridian's main office setup, cubicles and all, is filmed on a converted, formerly real office floor within the complex (which houses not just TV and film productions depicting corporate types but real corporate types as well, in fields like advertising. )

Mad Men's offices are also constructed on a floor within the same building. So watch Better Off Ted, then watch Mad Men, and then compare. Apart from the cosmetic changes in set dressing, the two office floors will look eerily similar. They have the same bones, because the Veridian Dynamics of the 21st Century and the Sterling-Cooper ad agency of the 1960s are located mere floors away from each other.

Better Off Ted debuted with a short run this past spring, and then returned to air 7 new episodes over the summer. Unfortunately for Ted, not a single broadcast network show in any genre -- comedy, drama or even reality -- which aired this summer got any kind of decent ratings. So I hope when Ted returns to ABC as a replacement for midseason (or earlier, depending upon the health of the network's other shows), execs will show some patience

for this so-far undiscovered, but worth discovering, gem.

30 Rock Wins Big at the WGA Awards

On Saturday night in both New York and Los Angeles, the Writers Guild of America simultaneously handed out its annual awards.  The East Coast ceremony boasted such big names as 30 Rock's Tina Fey, Judah Friedlander and Jack McBrayer; Law & Order's S. Epatha Merkerson, Alana de la Garza, Linus Roache and Sam Waterston; comedy legends Jerry Stiller & Anne Meara; Curb Your Enthusiasm's Susie Essman; Ugly Betty's Ana Ortiz; The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi and John Oliver; Gilbert Gottfried; Bill Irwin; Doubt screenwriter John Patrick Shanley; former thirtysomething star Polly Draper with her kids, "Naked Brothers" Matt and Alex Wolff; VH1's Paul F. Thompson; Oz creator Tom Fontana and Mad Men stars John Slattery and Talia Balsam.

As a "celebrity wrangler," my job was to pluck many of the presenters out of the audience and usher them backstage at just the right time.  It was a great excuse to share even a few moments with writers and actors I admire, and in the case of such greats as Stiller & Meara, have admired my whole life.

As far as winners, 30 Rock and Mad Men defeated all comers.  Early on in the night, Anne Meara referenced Tina Fey in the audience, begging for her to employ Jerry Stiller on her show, to get him out of the house.  (Although Meara let the audience know that that was merely banter scripted on her cue cards.)  Later, Tina was there to applaud as two of her writers, John Riggi and Andrew Guest, won the Best Episodic Comedy award for the episode entitled "Succession."  Tina was then up on stage with all her writers when 30 Rock took the trophy for Best Comedy Series - - and then again, accepting on behalf of Saturday Night Live, the Comedy/Variety series winner.  She was only involved on the periphery of SNL this fall, she said, when the show produced 8 live episodes (including those Thursday night specials) in the space of 6 weeks.  "It was great to see those f---ers have to work that hard," Tina had to admit.

And of course the other show which continues to have writers -- and everyone else -- abuzz is AMC's drama Mad Men.  We got to see one of that series' handsome stars, John Slattery, on stager twice on Saturday night:  first, as he and wife Talia Balsam presented the awards for Long Form Adaptation and Long Form Original, but more excitingly a second time, as Slattery again took to the stage on behalf of Mad Men, the winner for Best Drama Series.

In other "wrangling" news from my viewpoint, Ana Ortiz looked spectacularly beautiful, at I think 4 months pregnant, in a vintage gown with just a hint of baby bump under her pink skirt.  Jack McBrayer turned out to be adorably like his character, 30 Rock's NBC page Kenneth:  when I introduced myself to him and told him I'd be coming to get him later, his answer had a very Southern, very friendly and formal "sir" in it.  "Yes sir."  And of course, then there's Susie Essman (who by the way says things are going "very well" in the filming of this newest season of Curb, which started back in December.)

I had brought her backstage a little early, and so Susie was given her cue cards of her category's nominees while John Patrick Shanley was accepting the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for lifetime achievement in writing, with a speech that harkened back all the way to the drama of the ancient Greeks.  At the end, Susie, who had been studying her cards, looked up and asked me, "What the f--- did he say?"  THAT's why I love her!

A Good Week for Television, the Worst Week for Pants

Only two weeks into the official new season, and TV has already gone right into the toilet -- literally.

On Sunday's installment of AMC's Mad Men (titled "Six Month Leave"), Joel Murray's Freddy Rumsen, known to like to take more than just a little nip during office hours, got a little too...er... "relaxed" and made a puddle in his pants. The 1962 solution to having an alcoholic running one of your crucial accounts? Offer him six months off, paid, to dry out. I found it fascinating that, whereas those deviating from the "ideals" of race and sexuality apparently deserve no respect in the Camelot Era, Peggy and Don both make it quite clear that Freddy's problem is no laughing matter.




Not to be outdone, on the very same night that Freddy was letting loose on Madison Avenue, an unlucky Louisiana cop met the same fate on HBO's True Blood. In an episode entitled "Escape From Dragon House," the offending officer stops Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Bill (Stephen Moyer) on their drive back from vampire bar Fangtasia in Shreveport, only to end up being "glamored" by Bill into surrendering his gun. Then, as our fave mixed living/undead couple drives off for home, we see just how badly Bill has quite literally scared the piss out of him.



And then there's the matter of True Blood's Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten), Sookie's nymphomaniacal brother. After nervously downing an entire vial of "V Juice" -- aka vampire blood -- rather than the recommended two drops, Jason develops a painful penile priapism that puts pressure on his poor pants.

And lastly, there's CBS' Worst Week. As much as I loved the pilot of this show -- and want to continue to support it as a new network comedy -- I was dismayed to see the moment in this clip, from the show's second episode, "The Bird." When Sam (Kyle Bornheimer) manages to recapture his soon-to-be father-in-law's beloved pet finch (after already having accidentally killed its mate), he doesn't do the logical thing, and make himself out to be a hero. Instead, he hides the poor creature in his pants pocket, only to have it mistaken for a bulging boner when he encounters his sis-in-law-to-be in mid breast-feed. And then, going for the laugh, Worst Week has Sam smack down the bird in his pocket, killing the poor thing.

I found it so hard to watch, if it hadn't been for my partner Frank shooing me away so he could watch Fox's Fringe in the next room, I would have given up on Worst Week right there. But since I adore the show's cast and think its writing is mostly clever, I will give Worst Week a third try next week. Just remember, CBS -- there's nothing funny about animal cruelty.

Desecration of one's pants, however -- now that's a totally different story.

Sam Page Goes "Mad"

If you were watching last night's Emmy Awards, you must have realized that AMC smartly held off on airing a new episode of Mad Men, pushing the show's schedule back by one week so as to avoid head-to-head competition with the awards show -- on which Mad Men ended up winning the top prize for best drama.

And if you watched Mad Men the week before, you must also have noticed the adorable actor playing Joan's fiance, Dr. Greg Harris, and wondered why he looks familiar. Back when Sam Page was a regular during the first season of the now-cancelled James Woods procedural Shark on CBS, I had the chance to interview him over lunch for CBS' Watch magazine. Click here for a link to the story, for some more info on this cute new guy to whom my fave secretary Joan is betrothed.

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