By Dustin Rowles | Lists | July 7, 2014 |
By Dustin Rowles | Lists | July 7, 2014 |
Last week, Yahoo Screen ponied up roughly $25 million in order to renew Community for a sixth (and probably final) season. That’s fantastic. But, even if Community is a big hit for Yahoo, it’s not going to mean a lot to the ad-supported streaming service once it ends next year if it can’t help launch and establish other series. Perhaps even recently cancelled network series with a lot of life still remaining in them that weren’t adequately sampled by the television viewing audiences due to poor promotion and bad scheduling? Hmmm, I might have a few suggestions in mind that fit that exact category of sitcom.
Look: Community is probably going to be a money-loser for Yahoo. It’s about creating awareness. But with a few billion dollars in the bank and nothing else to do with it, Yahoo! should go out and create a monster comedy block, air it on Thursday, and kick NBC’s ass just for the f**k of it (except after mid-season, when Parks and Rec returns).
It should do so by adding these other three shows to its schedule along with Community.
Enlisted — I mean, obviously, right? It already has a very witty, irreverent but ultimately sentimental Community kind of vibe, only instead of Greendale, Enlisted is set on a military base, but not the one responsible for war. The one responsible for taking care of the people whose familiar members are off to war. It’s such a sweet, funny, amazing sitcom (even Piz is likable, people!), and it felt like it was just getting started over on Fox before the network pulled the plug without ever really giving it an honest shot to succeed. Yahoo should give it that honest shot. It should so so THIS WEEK (seriously, people. Time is running out).
Surviving Jack — Another casualty of Fox, this was Justin Halpern (Sh*t My Dad Says) attempt to make a sitcom that did right by his father. Instead of William Shatner, he brought in Christopher Meloni, who is basically the Dr. Cox of Dads. Halpern nailed it. Set in the 90s, it used its time period as background, but never as the joke, and it managed to capture what it’s like to come of age in any decade better than any network sitcom since The Wonder Years.
The Trophy Wife The cast may be too expensive for Yahoo with Malin Akerman, Bradley Whitford, Marcia Gay Harden, and Michaela Watkins, but they could probably kill one of the wives off and the show would work just as well, because it’s one of the few sitcoms that really gets by on his kid cast. The Trophy Wife, like Cougar Town, had a terrible concept and a terrible title, and too few people sampled it, but in the end, it was one of the sweetest shows of the year, and one of the most unjustly cancelled. It should’ve gotten a spot behind Modern Family, and a spot behind Surviving Jack Thursdays on Yahoo! would work just as well, thank you very much.
(If Yahoo needs a three-hour comedy block, Suburgatory might also be available, and if they can do some magic, maybe they can bring back Ben and Kate, too!)
Hat Tip and Image provided by @MyVogonPoetry