Save Enlisted

Remember how they sent peanuts to CBS to save Jericho?  (Or how, 30 Rock hilariously joked, they sent douchebags to HBO to save Entourage?)  Well, it's time to save Fox's underappreciated Friday night military comedy Enlisted.  In this case, I don't know what gimmicky gift you should send Fox's president Kevin Reilly, but a plain old letter of support is a good place to start.

In an exclusive Must-Hear TV interview yesterday, Enlisted's creator Kevin Biegel said he's pleased that fans have already begun writing to the network prez to show their support.  For one thing, he pointed out, there's a glitch in the TV ratings system that may be causing Enlisted's true fans to be undercounted.

"We know the show is reaching a giant audience of military folk that literally can't be measured by Nielsen boxes because they don't allow boxes on post or in military housing," Biegel explains. "It basically discounts any and all military audience."

"Basically, fan support is what has kept us alive, and as the very vocal community of fans continues to be vocal, it gives the show a shot at Fox or even at a new network," Biegel said.  "We believe every voice matters.  And because actual letters seem to speak much louder than emails," he continues, "if you have two seconds and a stamp," why not write a letter of support to:

Kevin Reilly
Fox Broadcasting
10201 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA  90035

In another great show of support, some fans have had an even better, win-win idea:  they've started donating to the Wounded Warrior Project in Enlisted's name, and have listed Kevin Reilly's information as the contact.  (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/six-reasons-to-watch-enlisted_n_4986442.html)

Enlisted has fought a tough battle, getting stuck with a January premiere (despite what the poster here says; it was pushed from November, signaling scheduling troubles from the start) in an unenviable Friday night time slot, paired with the fading (and now cancelled) Raising Hope, and then suffering from changing lead-ins, including the low-rated Rake.  Let's show Kevin Reilly we'd love to see Enlisted live to fight another season.  (Sorry, I'm not good with war metaphors, but you get the idea.)

Fall Preview: CBS' The Millers

The Millers

Thursdays at 8:30 PM Eastern / 7:30 PM Central,

Premieres October 3

In 2000, then the father of young children in Los Angeles, Greg Garcia co-created CBS’ long-running couples-and-kids sitcom Yes, Dear.  A few years earlier, the Washington, DC area native had co-authored a comedy set in the nation’s capital.  Now, Garcia has made The Millers, about two generations of a family, simultaneously experiencing divorces.  But this time, he’s quick to point out that this one springs, for the most part, from his imagination.

In Garcia’s latest, Nathan Miller (Will Arnett), a recently divorced roving news reporter, is looking forward to the single life, although not necessarily to divulging his change in marital status to his visiting parents, controlling Carol (Margo Martindale) and absent-minded Tom (Beau Bridges.)  But Nathan needn’t have worried; because rather than being shocked, his parents, particularly Tom, are inspired.  When Mom and Dad then themselves split, Carol crashes with her boy, and begins an emotional breakdown that threatens to cramp his style.

“This is a fictional version of my family,” Garcia avows.  “But my parents are exactly like these two – they’ll kill me for saying that, but they are. They love each other, but give each other grief.”  Both Garcia and his parents are still happily married; so in creating this new sitcom clan, much in the tradition of CBS’ successful family comedies like Everybody Loves Raymond, “I wondered, ‘What would happen if I didn’t have children, and was divorced, and if my parents got divorced and had to live with me and my sister?’ [The sister, by the way, played here by the quirky, fun Jayma Mays.] So The Millers ended up being based on us as real characters, but in this fictional premise.”

Garcia has become an expert in nontraditional family dynamics, from the oddball Hickey brothers in his My Name Is Earl to the financially challenged clan at the center of Raising Hope.  With The Millers, the writer says he wanted to preserve that flavor of comedic dysfunction, while creating a more traditional type of comedy, complete with audience laughter.  “And to get that classic feel, of a Raymond or an All in the Family,” he explains, “you’ve got to get a great cast.”

So Garcia personally recruited Arnett, and immediately thought of JB Smoove to play Ray, Nathan’s coworker and cameraman.  Martindale, who won an Emmy for her villainous role on Justified and more recently appeared in the dramas The Americans and Showtime’s upcoming Masters of Sex, here “does a comedy star turn that is pretty remarkable,” marvels CBS President Nina Tassler.  And the actress is happy for the change of pace.  With The Millers, “this is a joy I haven’t gotten to experience in a while,” Martindale says.  “I’m exercising an old muscle, and it’s coming back.”

When it came to casting Tom, Garcia reached out to Bridges, who had played the senior Mr. Hickey on Earl and was happy to work again with that show’s mastermind.  As Bridges prepared for The Millers, “I asked my wife at breakfast, ‘How would you describe this show?’” the actor reveals.  “And she said, ‘It’s just a typical American family.’ Because we all have challenges.  But underneath it all, there is a caring and a love in this show, and that comes from Greg Garcia.  He always writes comedy with a heart.”

Fox renews Raising Hope for 2011-12

Early this morning here in Pasadena, Fox let critics know a piece of good news: the network has renewed its critically acclaimed comedy Raising Hope for the 2011-12 season.

The network showed faith in the show from the start, which has always scored among very young demographics, and continues to rise among the general audience. And, of course, its stars, including the incredible Martha Plimpton and the irrepressible Cloris Leachman, and its writers, led by creator Greg Garcia, make it irresistably funny.

Later, I'll post my exclusive interview with Plimpton, about working with Cloris, and what it's like to be sitcom-dom's first 40-year-old grandma.