New Hasselhoff sitcom: "News to Me" overview
Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:59 pm
I went to the taping of the new David Hasselhoff sitcom pilot. Major-mega thanks to Neil for posting the info about getting tickets- I wouldn’t have thought to try and go see it had he not posted his message.
“News to Me” (tentative title) was created by Joel Stein and is loosely based on his experiences as a young reporter at Time Magazine. In the sitcom, Colin Hanks (Tom’s son, “Orange County”) plays Joel Green, a Princeton writer newly hired at American Weekly magazine. Hanks is well-cast; although the show is not a strict biography, he looks like a young Joel Stein and he has a bit of that geeky boy-next-store innocence that worked so well for Topher Grace (That 70’s Show). His soon-to-be love interest is played by Andrea Sanders (don’t recognize her.) She’s an over-achieving college-mate of Joel’s who resents the way his humorous, satirical writing style gets more attention than her true journalism.
“C.C.”, the managing editor and Joel’s boss, is played by Sheryl Lee Ralph (Moesha). She’s all business and wants nothing more than to get rid of Joel. She is stuck with him however because the editor in chief, played by Roger Rees (“Robin Colcord” from Cheers) likes Joel. He’s a bit of an eccentric, and wants to start attracting younger readers to the magazine.
David Hasselhoff plays war-correspondent “Stryker Langley”, a larger-than-life hero in his own eyes. Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue) is J.D., a tough-as-nails, name-dropping White House reporter. She and Stryker have a relationship that runs from icy cold to steamy hot and back again in a matter of minutes.
Even when trying to be as objective as possible, I still have to say that Hasselhoff is probably the strongest part of the show. That may be because his character is written a bit over-the-top so it allows him more freedom to have fun with it. But he just seems very natural in the role.
At the beginning of the taping, when the cast was being introduced, Hasselhoff did a Baywatch slo-motion run onto the stage. Always a crowd-pleaser. Later, between scenes, the audience host was giving some background information about the show and mentioned Hasselhoff. David overheard his name, and started talking to his watch. The host said “Uh oh, we were afraid of this… looks like Hasselhoff thinks he’s on Knight Rider again.” That got a HUGE response.
This was a pilot for ABC. We don’t know if they will actually turn it into a series. I’d like to see the writers add a bit more edge and satire (which is what Joel Stein is known for) but they may have intentionally been a bit conservative with the first episode so it will be easier to sell. If ABC doesn’t want it, they might be able to bring it to another network. It’s not the next “Seinfeld”, but it’s certainly better than a lot of the fluff we saw on air last year.
“News to Me” (tentative title) was created by Joel Stein and is loosely based on his experiences as a young reporter at Time Magazine. In the sitcom, Colin Hanks (Tom’s son, “Orange County”) plays Joel Green, a Princeton writer newly hired at American Weekly magazine. Hanks is well-cast; although the show is not a strict biography, he looks like a young Joel Stein and he has a bit of that geeky boy-next-store innocence that worked so well for Topher Grace (That 70’s Show). His soon-to-be love interest is played by Andrea Sanders (don’t recognize her.) She’s an over-achieving college-mate of Joel’s who resents the way his humorous, satirical writing style gets more attention than her true journalism.
“C.C.”, the managing editor and Joel’s boss, is played by Sheryl Lee Ralph (Moesha). She’s all business and wants nothing more than to get rid of Joel. She is stuck with him however because the editor in chief, played by Roger Rees (“Robin Colcord” from Cheers) likes Joel. He’s a bit of an eccentric, and wants to start attracting younger readers to the magazine.
David Hasselhoff plays war-correspondent “Stryker Langley”, a larger-than-life hero in his own eyes. Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue) is J.D., a tough-as-nails, name-dropping White House reporter. She and Stryker have a relationship that runs from icy cold to steamy hot and back again in a matter of minutes.
Even when trying to be as objective as possible, I still have to say that Hasselhoff is probably the strongest part of the show. That may be because his character is written a bit over-the-top so it allows him more freedom to have fun with it. But he just seems very natural in the role.
At the beginning of the taping, when the cast was being introduced, Hasselhoff did a Baywatch slo-motion run onto the stage. Always a crowd-pleaser. Later, between scenes, the audience host was giving some background information about the show and mentioned Hasselhoff. David overheard his name, and started talking to his watch. The host said “Uh oh, we were afraid of this… looks like Hasselhoff thinks he’s on Knight Rider again.” That got a HUGE response.
This was a pilot for ABC. We don’t know if they will actually turn it into a series. I’d like to see the writers add a bit more edge and satire (which is what Joel Stein is known for) but they may have intentionally been a bit conservative with the first episode so it will be easier to sell. If ABC doesn’t want it, they might be able to bring it to another network. It’s not the next “Seinfeld”, but it’s certainly better than a lot of the fluff we saw on air last year.
Too bad, it sounded like fun... even though I'm not a big fan of sitcoms it sounds kinda promising, I'd check it out at least once if it makes production...
[Oh the 405/605/I5/101 rush hour traffic! 
]