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New Sitcom On Tv Based In Houston

citykid09

By citykid09
in Houston and the Media

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citykid09

citykid09

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Hopefully kimberlysaywhat knows more about this, It is locally taped. I wonder where the studios are and if they do or will have a live studio audence. It looks like the buget is low now, but if the show gets picked up nation wide, I'm sure that will chance.

http://imdb.com/title/tt1157546/

http://swamplot.com/hurricane-katrina-the-sitcom/2008-01-25/

http://www.myspace.com/katrinasitcom

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citykid09

citykid09

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Show like this have to have support before they can upgrade. I think it would be great it it worked out. Tyler Perry tapes a similar show in Atlanta that airs on TBS. It would really be great if the Houston natvie that created the show Lionell Hilliard, bulit a television studio like Tyler Perry.

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KimberlySayWhat

KimberlySayWhat

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Aside from the production quality, or lack of, and the no-name actors, the premise looks as cliche as it gets. Two spoiled brat, smart mouthed, unlikeable kids, cool-headed mom, hot tempered dad. Typical "family" sitcom of today. Doesn't look at all interesting. Even as a Houstonian I'm not tempted to watch for a moment. Thumbs down.

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VicMan

VicMan

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I'm going to see this trailer and then I will make some (serious) recommendations for tweaking the show. Since this will likely be a small production I will see if I can write a letter to the producer. He may have a shoestring budget, but surely there is something he can do to help this.

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VicMan

VicMan

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Hmm, the movements for the cabinet shelf scene seem over-acted from the start. It should start with mild annoyance and snowball.

Now, I haven't seen any actual episodes, but the show needs to show some actual Houston locations - Perhaps have the kids attend Westside High School (or a knockoff on Westside) and/or the feeder schools of Westside - If the producers want to do that, they might show the New Orleans cousins sinking under the load of Texas schoolwork (of course some tutors and Imani's knowledge will save their academic careers in the end, or something) - I chose Westside (or the feeders) as the school/model for the sitcom's school as the demographics are fairly even: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...816/school.aspx

For some reason I do not like laughtracks - I would rather let the strength of the comedy produce laughs in the TV rooms.

IMO I think some drama needs to be added too - Perhaps with some hints of comedy so the show does not take itself too seriously.

BTW I will link to this page and the critique I gave from the Myspace once I am able to post comments.

EDIT: I just found that the Houston woman's kids are in private school - I'm not sure where the New Orleans woman's kids will go, though. There are a lot of well-to-do people in HISD who have kids in public school, but they tend to choose among a specific group of public schools.

EDIT 2: Found name of Houston girl

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VicMan

VicMan

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I think it would be much better as a drama. They could start from when Katrina hit, on to present day.

Want to hear about my ideas for secondary characters? I would love to see the show actually use them, but I'm not sure how the chances would work.

Westdale High School

* Felipe "Philip" HINOJOSA - Hinojosa, the 12th grade unofficial physics tutor of Westdale High School, wants to get into Rice University. A resident of Royal Oaks, his parents are members of the Mexico city upper crust who decided to live in Royal Oaks and he is a Mexican citizen. He enjoyed watching "Hypercampeones" as a kid and drools whenever someone mentions soccer. Imani watches a rather similar Japanese soccer show...

* Jenny LAKE - Jenny lives in a gated community next to Westdale High School. Clueless about New Orleans customs, the aspiring chef wants to learn how to cook southern Louisiana food. Unfortunately her parents are a bit paranoid about the newcomers, so she has to lie to them in order to see the family of Nicole and Michelle.

* Vince NGUYEN - Nguyen enjoys filming videos; he wants to make a documentary about Hurricane Katrina evacuees so he can upload it to his website. Unfortunately Nguyen seems to be a bit sensationalist...

Nigeria

* Samuel AKACHUKWU - Akachukwu, a Nigerian con man, tries to use false love e-mails to lure Michelle to Lagos in order to hold her ransom. He pretends to be "Peter Fred" when talking to Nicole from the Festac Town cybercafe. Will Michelle follow "Peter" to Nigeria?

EDIT: Found name of Houston girl

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Jeebus

Jeebus

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I think it would be much better as a drama. They could start from when Katrina hit, on to present day.

I actually could see this working, and would even bite the bullet by watching the pilot episode. Just take the exact log line from IMDB.com and change it from a sitcom to a drama. Of course, you're going to have to change the actresses - only because the ones I saw in the preview can't act.

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Jeebus

Jeebus

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Thinking more about it (which I probably shouldn't have but..) here's what I have:

- Same list of characters.

- Pilot is 2 hours. 1st hour is of Katrina and what the Nola family goes through. 2nd hour is the move to H-town.

- Episodes would focus on things like:

1. Nola mom dealing with post-Katrina issues like going back for the first time, trying to file an insurance claim, death of friends, depression from losing everything, welfare, getting a job, dealing with FEMA, etc etc..

2. Nola kids dealing with H-town kids (remember Westbury High School?), higher standard of education, adjusting to a more diverse populace, other similar shared issues that mom faces.

3. The conflict between the H-town family and the Nola family.

4. H-Town's perspective of the Nola evacuess.

5. National perspective of Nola evacuees.

If done right, a one hour drama on Fox could actually be a big success. Get whoever directed Boston Public in there and you'd have at least a 2-3 season hit. Maybe...

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VicMan

VicMan

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I'm glad you thought about it, Jeebus. I like the general setup. What do you think about the secondary characters I thought of?

The scenario about the NO+Houston kid friction could be at "Westdale High School."

BTW, you can guess where the inspiration for the Nigerian con artist came from ;)

Thinking more about it (which I probably shouldn't have but..) here's what I have:

- Same list of characters.

- Pilot is 2 hours. 1st hour is of Katrina and what the Nola family goes through. 2nd hour is the move to H-town.

- Episodes would focus on things like:

1. Nola mom dealing with post-Katrina issues like going back for the first time, trying to file an insurance claim, death of friends, depression from losing everything, welfare, getting a job, dealing with FEMA, etc etc..

2. Nola kids dealing with H-town kids (remember Westbury High School?), higher standard of education, adjusting to a more diverse populace, other similar shared issues that mom faces.

3. The conflict between the H-town family and the Nola family.

4. H-Town's perspective of the Nola evacuess.

5. National perspective of Nola evacuees.

If done right, a one hour drama on Fox could actually be a big success. Get whoever directed Boston Public in there and you'd have at least a 2-3 season hit. Maybe...

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Jeebus

Jeebus

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I'm glad you thought about it, Jeebus. I like the general setup. What do you think about the secondary characters I thought of?

I think if you got the right actress, you wouldn't need that many supporting characters. I could see the Nola mom being the main character, with her kids, her sister, and her sister's kids as the "primary" secondary characters. Sure you could introduce a student here and there, but I think the focus would be better served from the mom's perspective.

I can tell you now that no one wants to watch drama with an obnoxious sassy black woman for an hour. So the whole "lower 9th, sitting on the porch, drinking a 40, gold teeth, collecting a welfare check plus wic, all while calling her kids knuckle heads" stereotype needs to be thrown in the trash.

They need to profile a working mom who has 2 kids from 2 different dads not because she's ghetto, but because she made some bad decisions that seemed like the right ones at the time. Perhaps show that right before the storm she was finally getting on track. Maybe show in a flashback that she had secured a good job, and had just moved out of the projects into a better area when Katrina hit making her feel hopeless again.

It could be a classic struggle of class when she comes to Houston and see that her sister, after getting a scholarship, was able to avoid the pitfalls she couldn't, by escaping the ghetto.

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VicMan

VicMan

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I think if you got the right actress, you wouldn't need that many supporting characters. I could see the Nola mom being the main character, with her kids, her sister, and her sister's kids as the "primary" secondary characters. Sure you could introduce a student here and there, but I think the focus would be better served from the mom's perspective.

I can tell you now that no one wants to watch drama with an obnoxious sassy black woman for an hour. So the whole "lower 9th, sitting on the porch, drinking a 40, gold teeth, collecting a welfare check plus wic, all while calling her kids knuckle heads" stereotype needs to be thrown in the trash.

They need to profile a working mom who has 2 kids from 2 different dads not because she's ghetto, but because she made some bad decisions that seemed like the right ones at the time. Perhaps show that right before the storm she was finally getting on track. Maybe show in a flashback that she had secured a good job, and had just moved out of the projects into a better area when Katrina hit making her feel hopeless again.

It could be a classic struggle of class when she comes to Houston and see that her sister, after getting a scholarship, was able to avoid the pitfalls she couldn't, by escaping the ghetto.

Yeah, I feel that the scenario you describe here would be good for a drama. As soon as my account is "friended" I will link to the HAIF discussion here.

Edit: DONE. Linked this discussion

Perhaps the secondary characters are best used to add depth to the primary characters - Perhaps Michelle could like the idea of having an "apprentice" to teach south Louisiana cuisine. Maybe the reaction from *some* Houstonians (i.e. Jenny's parents) could make Michelle really hurt on the inside.

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OkieEric

OkieEric

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Yeah, I feel that the scenario you describe here would be good for a drama. As soon as my account is "friended" I will link to the HAIF discussion here.

Edit: DONE. Linked this discussion

Perhaps the secondary characters are best used to add depth to the primary characters - Perhaps Michelle could like the idea of having an "apprentice" to teach south Louisiana cuisine. Maybe the reaction from *some* Houstonians (i.e. Jenny's parents) could make Michelle really hurt on the inside.

Wow...guys, really - come on. You're trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill...no, that's not quite right - a gold brick out of a pile of _____? You're definitely trying to create a completely different show than what this trailer hints at... I have to admit I laughed harder at the "new hit series" line on that trailer than anything in the actual clip

BTW, the quality obviously sucks, but thing could be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and it'd stilll be terrible...I think I'd prefer to watch Fool's Gold or the Hottie and the Nottie...or he$$, a 24 hr Reba marathon :) I'm probably tainted by the trailer I just watched, but I think any post-Katrina related family drama (comedy won't work here IMO) would work better in the form of a made for TV movie than a television series...I mean, how long could you really drag this storyline out?

I have to admit, though - I loved the the Nigerian con man idea :)

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VicMan

VicMan

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I have to admit, though - I loved the the Nigerian con man idea :)

And to add it should be easy to find actors to play the con men and other Nigerians - Houston has a large southern Nigerian community. All the show needs to do is find some beat down building in Houston and film it as if it was a Lagos cybercafe.

Even though Nicole clearly knows about the scheme Akachukwu tells Michelle to keep things "confidential" - Of course it would be funny to see Michelle try to make an excuse for why she is going to the airport all of the sudden.

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OkieEric

OkieEric

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And to add it should be easy to find actors to play the con men and other Nigerians - Houston has a large southern Nigerian community. All the show needs to do is find some beat down building in Houston and film it as if it was a Lagos cybercafe.

Even though Nicole clearly knows about the scheme Akachukwu tells Michelle to keep things "confidential" - Of course it would be funny to see Michelle try to make an excuse for why she is going to the airport all of the sudden.

And while he's on the phone with her, it should show him setting up a mass email regarding his predicament - you know, he's got millions he needs to wire to the U.S., but just needs a bank account number and some personal info to set it up...lol

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