Nobody's Watching

Nobody's Watching was a television program created and written by Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence, as well as Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan, writers for Scrubs and for the animated comedy Family Guy. The pilot episode had been developed for the WB Television Network, but they decided not to pick up the show on their 2005 schedule after test audiences seemed to be confused by the show's premise. However, in June 2006, the pilot was leaked onto YouTube, and quickly attracted attention from viewers around the world. On July 3, a report in the New York Times seemed to indicate that the show may yet make it to a full series, thanks to the positive response from YouTube viewers. If the show is picked up, it will likely have to be reshot, since the show was branded as a WB show, but that network has since been merged into the CW Television Network. On a July 22 airing of Last Call With Carson Daly, NBC president may have confirmed that this show will soon air on NBC.

Plot

The show centers around two friends from Ohio named Derrick (Taran Killam) and Will (Paul Campbell), who send in a home video of themselves to every network claiming that they can produce a better sitcom than the ones currently being broadcasted by the networks. In the show, The WB takes them up on this offer, and offers them both an opportunity to create their own sitcom. The friends are taken to the WB studios, where they meet the head of WB, Jeff Tucker (Paul Adelstein), Creative VP Roy Ingold (Bob Clendenin), and Tucker's assistant whom he introduces as Jill Something (Lauren Bittner). Tucker then offers them the opportunity to create their own sitcom, while working in various sitcom related sets, including an Office and Lounge. In addition, the pair will have a camera crew following them around when they are not on the sets and a live studio audience when they are. Even the bathroom isn't safe, as the production team have set up hidden cameras up, unknown to the pair.

After setting the scene, the rest of the episode then focuses on Derrick and Will's first day of trying to come up with a sitcom, and throughout the course of the episode, they hire Jill Something as their assistant and take pity upon Mandy (Mircea Monroe), a girl who had just been fired from the WB Gift Shop, hiring her as well. Meanwhile, Tucker and Ingold are shown trying to make the show gain ratings by throwing obstacles such as Tucker telling Derrick he'd rather continue the show without Will (and showing Will a tape of Derrick's willingness to go on without him) and Tucker demanding that Mandy kiss Will, even though she prefers Derrick.

Format

The program is filmed in a mockumentary style, as if Will and Derrick are on a reality TV show. The program's plot actually relies on many instances of "breaking the fourth wall," with Derrick and Will frequently communicating with the studio audience. In addition, there are many references to other popular sitcoms such as Yes, Dear. In the pilot episode, Derrick and Will even find their way onto (a replica of) the Central Perk set and meet James Michael Tyler (Gunther from Friends). Later in the episode, Will runs into James L. Avery Sr. (Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air), Tom Bosley (Howard Cunningham from Happy Days), and Alan Thicke (Dr. Jason Seaver from Growing Pains).

The show is a cross of a sitcom, reality and a mockumentary.

Nobody's Watching uses its laugh track in a nonstandard way: it is only used in the scenes featuring the "studio audience" with the taping of a sitcom. As the studio audience are, in effect, extra cast members, there are instances where their laughter -or otherwise - doesn't relate to the action the viewer is shown. For instance, in the pilot episode, Alan Thicke performs to the studio audience in the background while the main scene of Will talking to Jill takes place in front of the camera.

Trivia

The character Jeff Tucker is named after Jeff Zucker, president of NBC.

Reference

Thanks to YouTube Fans, 'Nobody's Watching' May Return From the Dead, New York Times, 3 July 2006

External links

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