Back in March of last year, I spanked Ron Howard’s new family drama Parenthood.
It had suffered the double misfortune of being forced to miscast its lead actress (Maura Tierney, who had become seriously ill) and enter the television year at mid-season, following the hugely popular breakout comedy Modern Family.
Thanks for playing, guys, but the family show and hit of the year had already been crowned.
I was also disappointed in what I found to be stereotypical characters and storylines. But I had already set the DVR — the cast, including Lauren Graham, Peter Krause and T. Craig Nelson, was really good, after all — so I hung around to see what developed.
Two years later, I’m still here.
And last night, when Alex broke up with Haddie — and told Kristina that she was the mother he had never had and that he loved their family — it was gut-wrenching. I literally blubbered. As I struggled to see the TV screen through my tears, the memory of that blog entry floated in my memory’s eye.
Mea culpa.
An eye for talent
I cast a major network sitcom.
Let me explain.
Earlier this year, Christina Applegate took to Twitter and asked her followers to suggest comedic actors for a project. Knowing most people would go with the obvious choices, I put forth a recent find:
Steven Pasquale
He took your typical made-for-TV romantic lead and turned it into something uniquely appealing. His timing was unique. I stuck with the mini-series — we’re talking four hours, people — because he made the expected and predictable extremely entertaining.
Christina later tweeted a thank you for our suggestions, saying she had received a couple of names that she didn’t recognize and planned to research.
And look who pops up on Up All Night??
It’s pretty gratifying, I admit. (Would be even more so with a finder’s fee.)
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Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Television, TV
Tagged casting, celebrities, Christina Applegate, comedic actor, comedic timing, comedy, commentary, commission, entertainment, finder's fee, guest star, Humor, life, Lucy Liu, made-for-tv movies, Marry Me mini-series, NBC, network sitcom, romantic comedy, series casting, situation comedy, Steven Pasquale, Television, TV, tweet, Twitter, Up All Night, USA Network