DEAR ABC: SAVE YOUR COMEDIES

A plea to rescue two laugh-out-loud TV shows.
By Gregory Jacobs-Roseman (Composer-Lyricist) 

I write for the stage. I have never written for television (although it is something I’d be very interested in doing at some point in my career), but I’ve made no secret of my love of television here on Crazytown. When I find a TV show I love, each new episode is a weekly gift from the network that airs it. Two half-hour comedies in particular – both of them on ABC – have found their way into my heart. I’m talking, of course, about the hilarious shows: Happy Endings and Don’t Trust The B---- In Apt. 23.

These two gems of shows are delights each week for two reasons: the incredible and truly funny writing (and I bestow the word “funny” as a great honor – there are far too many “comedies” on the air these days that are not actually funny) and the stellar performances by the casts. In short: these two shows each have everything you could ever want in a half-hour comedy.

And yet the network on which they air seems to be doing everything in its power to sink their ratings and get them cancelled.

Let me repeat: I’ve never worked in television, so I have no first-hand knowledge of all the ins and outs about how these decisions are made at a network. I also have no vendetta against ABC – how could I? They also air two of my favorite hour-long dramas currently on TV: Revenge and Once Upon A Time.

But how else do you explain some of the shenanigans surrounding these shows? First and foremost, from each show’s respective premiere, the episodes have been aired out of their intended order – a decision that was made by the network. As a writer myself, I’d imagine that the writers in the rooms for both Happy Endings and Don’t Trust The B---- were infuriated by that (it's the sort of thing that we dramatists for the theatre simply don't understand). Happy Endings managed to get it somewhat together after season one (a season two episode aired in season three – and there may be others out of order of which I am unaware) but Don’t Trust The B---- In Apt. 23 is still a mess. It’s as if both seasons one and two were written and then thrown into a bag, and each week an episode is selected at random. I’m sure there’s some misguided method to the madness, but when your main character gets a new job one week, is back at her old job the next, then back at her new job the week after, it can get a little confusing.

Next came the scheduling. Both shows, which were scheduled to air on Tuesday nights, began airing a second episode on Sundays in early January to fill the hole left by the now defunct 666 Park Avenue. This burning off of extra episodes wasn’t a huge surprise though, as last month we learned that the shows would be pulled from the schedule entirely in March to make room for Dancing With The Stars (a show, I might add, that becomes a multi-episode plot arc in Don’t Trust The B----), leaving some episodes the network ordered unscheduled to air. It’s unclear if they ever will.

Well, this week I’m taking this opportunity to implore ABC to reconsider this indefinite hiatus of Happy Endings and Don’t Trust The B---- In Apt. 23. The world needs more smart television comedies with quality writing and flawless acting. Shows with strong female leads and ensemble members. Shows with characters like Max on Happy Endings who don’t fit the stereotype of an LGBT character, and shows with characters like Luther on Don’t Trust The B---- who do (sorry to the politically-correct among you, but guuuurl, you can’t deny queens like that totally exist). Shows with interracial couples like Brad and Jane on Happy Endings. And the world always – always needs more James Van Der Beek.

I really hope that ABC does the right thing and saves these two wonderful shows. Even if they have to take a Community-style hiatus.

Arigato, heyyyyyyy.

GREGORY JACOBS-ROSEMAN is a composer/lyricist and theatrical sound designer currently developing Save The Date: A New Musical Comedy. www.gregjr.com
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Comments

[Duncan]

Seriously, these are some of the best shows on TV right now.

[Emily]

Oh man, don't even get me started on the roller coaster ride NBC has been putting me through with COMMUNITY (hands down, my favorite show currently? on tv). LOVE Don't Trust the B-... their season premiere with MP Goselaar was stellar.