Thoughts on 2016 sitcom pilots

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  • Thoughts on 2016 sitcom pilots

    Time for my annual look at all the sitcom scripts that have been picked up to pilot by the big four networks (which I read to get ready for staffing season).

    Here are some assorted facts that might be of interest:

    (1) Network breakdown: ABC = 12, CBS = 8, FOX = 7, NBC = 13. (Note that I'm not counting the three comedies that got picked up straight to series-- one each by CBS, FOX, and NBC.) These numbers are almost exactly the same as last year (ABC = 12, CBS = 9, FOX = 7, NBC = 12).

    (2) Only 10 of the 40 are being produced by a studio not directly affiliated with the network (i.e., CBS TV for CBS, Universal TV for NBC, etc.) That's a slight decrease from 12 of 40 last year, though there do seem to be a few more joint productions this year (5) vs. last year (2).

    (3) 25 are single-cam, 15 are multi-cam/"hybrid". (Last year: 24 single, 16 multi). The single-cams range from 32-38 pages in length, with a median of 35 pages. The multi-cams range from 45-57 pages in length, with a median of 51 pages. Network multi-cam breakdown: CBS = 7, NBC = 6, ABC = 2, FOX = 0.

    (4) 11 of the 40 make extensive use of voice-overs or confessionals-- same number as last year.

    (5) I've typically been reading 2nd or 3rd "network drafts" that have presumably already received notes from the networks. Yet 9 of the 40 explicitly use some unbleeped variation of the f-word in dialogue, and another 6 explicitly use the s-word in dialogue. (Obviously the f-word won't make it to air, just found it interesting that the networks don't seem to particularly mind its presence in the draft stage.) Pretty similar to last year, when 16 shows used f-word and/or s-word.

    Main conclusion from the number crunching of this year's and last year's is that the Big 4 networks are remarkably consistent in terms of the types of shows they pick up...

    Now for some opinions:

    (6) These are my 7 favorite pilots, ranked on a scale of 1-10

    9 ABC Imaginary Mary (Adam F. Goldberg & David Guarascio)
    8 NBC Vlad (Vladimir Caamano & Adam Sztykiel)
    8 ABC Square Roots (Vijal Patel)
    8 CBS I'm Not Your Friend (Jackie Filgo & Jeff Filgo)
    7 NBC Powerless (Ben Queen)
    7 ABC Dream Team (Kari Lizer & Bill Wrubel)
    7 CBS The Great Indoors (Mike Gibbons)

    (7) I had 11 more ranked at a 6, and the rest (22 of 40) a 5 or less-- which means that for half of these scripts, if a friend had sent me them, I would tell them to do a major revision before sending to their rep, much less a network!

    (8) Obviously, there's a lot of subjectivity here, and perhaps the low scores are a function of my "binge reading" so many scripts. But I have to believe that at least some of these low scores are due to network interference (would love to read the first draft submitted to a network and compare it to these final drafts).

    (9) This is hard to quantify, but it seemed like more shows had a more prominent "hook" this year (for example, there were not one but two shows about imaginary friends this year).

    So if you're currently working on a slice-of-life pilot that you want to sell you to the Big 4 networks, you may need to spice up the premise a bit to get their attention.

    Lastly a couple of pet peeves...

    (10) Voiceover didn't bother me as much this year as it did last year. But I was annoyed to no end by all the "moments" that action lines kept telling me were happening in the script. Again, if that's something you need to tell me, then that means you've failed as a writer.

    (11) Similarly, there seemed to be a lot of action lines indicating that characters were actually laughing in scripts. It's fine if it's a plot point because a character's been humiliated or whatever, or if you're using other character's laughter to break up a long monologue. But if you're just trying to use it like a laugh track to convince the reader that a joke's funny, then I hate to break it to you, but the joke probably isn't...

    Anyway, thanks for listening to me vent!

    And happy to answer any questions you may have while these pilots are still relatively fresh in my head...
    Last edited by Zodraz; 04-12-2016, 04:22 PM.

  • #2
    Re: Thoughts on 2016 sitcom pilots

    That's an amazing list. But the funniest TV pilot (that's not on TV yet) is this, by DD's own Mpimentel.

    I hope it's cool for me to post some love for it here, because it is truly fantastic, and I haven't seen anything on TV in a long time that cracked me up like this (despite the subtitles even!)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snJN8yiC5y8

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