Tag Archives: Outsourced

2011/08/16 · 10:21 am

EXCLUSIVE: First Clip From Sean Hayes’ New NBC Sitcom

Yesterday Entertainment Weekly broke the news that Sean Hayes is developing a new sitcom with Rescue Me c0-creator (and Larry Sanders Show executive producer) Peter Tolan for NBC.  The pitch: a gay male couple face the trials and tribulations of raising a precocious 12-year-old.  It’s a groundbreaking, social relevant premise with great potential, and only HERE on the Jumped the Snark can you preview an exclusive clip from the pilot.

Look for the show to premiere next spring between Outsourced and Love Bites .

 

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2011/01/26 · 12:17 pm

You Don’t Know What You Got ‘Til It’s Gone: Quick Thoughts On Last Week’s NBC Thursday Comedies

 

That’s how we felt about The Office.  As much as we’ve harangued the show this year for underusing or misusing Jim, rendering him no more than the Greek chorus, it turns out that we really need him.  Absent for the entire episode, save the cold open, we kept waiting for the camera to cut to him, to confirm the absurdity of the situation.  But he wasn’t there (Jon Krasinksi off shooting a movie, we assume), and without Jim to ground Michael’s insanity it was a runaway train.  Now, they could still cut back on some of the Jim reaction shots, but as long as Michael is around, we’ll need that balance.

Speaking of Michael, we’ll wonder if we’ll feel the same way when he’s gone.  Because, right now, we’re eager for him to get moving out of Dunder Mifflin.  The act has finally grown tiresome, and it often suffocates the other characters and the show.  We’re sure we’ll miss him, but that doesn’t mean we’ll want him back.  However, Kudos to Mindy Kaling and Craig Robinson for continuing your MVP seasons.

Parks and Recreation, welcome home!  Thank goodness you gave us that season two recap to get us back up to speed (we could have used that for The Office and 30 Rock as well, frankly), and it seems like you haven’t missed a beat.  We think it got a little too broad at times (Andy with April’s new boyfriend, for example), and the overuse of things like the “Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness” worry us, but it’s definitely picking up where it left off, as the second best show of the night.

Which brings us to Community.  Oh how we missed you!  And you were only gone for six weeks.  Don’t stay away that long ever again!  You guys came back from the Christmas break without any rust, setting up what we can only assume will be an even better second half of season two.  Looking forward to it.  KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

Oh, and Outsourced was awesome (jk!  jk!).

 

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2011/01/20 · 6:15 pm

Flashback: Another Look at Another Look at ‘Parks and Recreation’

With Parks and Recreation making its long, long-awaited return tonight, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at a post we wrote in September of 2009, just before the show returned for its sophomore season.  Right now, in January of 2011, Parks and Recreation is widely recognized as one of the best, if not the best, comedies on television (which is why it was so excruciating when the series was pushed until mid-season to make room for the abominable Outsourced), but just about 17 months ago when it was coming off a lackluster, somewhat disappointing first season the story was much different.  It’s developed into one of the most reliable, warmest, funniest shows on network TV or any other channel, and boasts perhaps the deepest ensemble cast, but back before its second season the jury was still out, and it was a show very much still finding its footing.  But Jumped the Snark went ahead and asserted the potential of the show, watching the first season and finding much room for improvement but also much room for greatness.  And we think its fair to say that both this blog and Parks and Recreation were vindicated.

In that post we outlined three areas where Parks and Rec most needed to progress to reach the quality of a show like The Office, its spiritual forefather (and not only has Parks and Rec equaled its progenitor, it’s now surpassed it.  The student has become the teacher).  Let’s take a look at those recommendations and how Parks and Rec took them into consideration.

See what we got right and they got wrong. Plus, our advice for Season 3!

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2010/09/29 · 5:50 pm

In Memoriam: ‘Lone Star’

Well, Fox, you’ve done it again.   Axed a show before it even had a chance to reach its bris.   Lone Star is officially dead.

But this feels somehow different.  This was not The Pitts, or Brothers, or even Kitchen Confidential.  This was a show that arrived with critical praise, almost unanimously hailed as the season’s “best new network show.”  It had a beautiful backdrop to match its beautiful young faces.  It had Jon Voight.  And, most importantly, it had an original, complex story.  While a lot of shows come and go, and a lot of them deserve to be banished (looking at you, Outsourced), this is certainly not the first series unfairly cut down before it’s time.  It joins a group of shows like Love Monkey and Action that share the unfortunate distinction of a premature demise, depriving the viewing public of quality television.  Lone Star is not the first and it won’t be the last.  But why then is this particular cancellation so troubling?

Read on: The end of network TV as we know it?

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2010/09/23 · 7:29 pm

Gentleman, Start Your DVRs: Quick Thoughts On The NBC Thursday Night Comedies

It seems like May sweeps was just yesterday, but here we are on the cusp of the return of Thursday night TV-pocolypse.  Luckily for our DVR, Survivor was shifted back to Wednesday nights, and Parks and Recreation is (egregiously) on the shelf until mid-season (of course, while that might be good for our DVR, it’s terrible for our collective well-being).  But we’re still left with what is now the NBC comedy old guard, The Office & 30 Rock, and the returning sensation, and probably the best of the bunch, Community.  And later we have a little cable fun with It’s Always in Philadelphia and Delocated (if you’re eyeballs aren’t bleeding by then).  But, for now, let’s quickly focus on the NBC line-up.

The big story on NBC Thursday nights, as we noted above, is not what’s on, but what’s not, that being Parks and Recreation, benched in favor of the already critically reviled Outsourced.  Sure, NBC has the right to air whatever it wants, and if it thinks another show will be more successful, and has the potential to be an anchor the way that The Office is and shows like Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier and Cheers were, then we can’t begrudge them that.  But Outsourced hasn’t even aired yet and it seems the verdict is already in: it’s a waste of valuable space.  One has to wonder if NBC, who proved with the Jay Leno Show that they’re willing to sacrifice quality programming for profit, chose to promote Outsourced because it’s an in-house production, even knowing its an inferior program.  Because even if it pulls in rating as low as Parks and Rec, maybe even lower, NBC will still grab a bigger slice of the pie.  That’s just conjecture at this point, but there’s certainly a precedent for it, and we know that TV, network television in particular, is a business above all.  Let’s just hope that Outsourced is so terrible that it’s yanked sooner than planned and Parks and Recreation can reclaim its rightful place (especially since they rushed the show back into production for its third season to accommodate Amy Poehler’s pregnancy).

More: ‘Community’ is up, ‘The Office’ is down, and ’30 Rock’ is still here.

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