Montreal: Canadian comedy talent credits pop up all over u.s. primetime television, past and present, on shows like Grace Under Fire, Mad About You, All in the Family and Roseanne. But at home, successful attempts at the genre have been few and far between.

All the more strange when you consider the success of our stand-up and sketch comics, sctv, Kids in the Hall, Codco and others.

In sitcoms, the track-record has been mixed at best, with exceptions. Al Waxman’s The King of Kensington and Louis Del Grande’s Seeing Things were clearly funny and popular shows broadcast on cbc, but the public network hasn’t gone near an original sitcom proposal since Material Girl bombed badly, despite its good-looking cast.

The highly efficient syndie production The Red Green Show, and the zany Quebec sitcom La Petite Vie aside, the big push this year to build a beachhead for the genre in this country is a show called Nobody’s Business, a series in the pilot stage from producers Glynis Whiting (Rich & Strange) and Tom Dent-Cox (North of 60) of Edmonton’s WDC Entertainment.

Directed by Perry Rosemond (one of the originators of King of Kensington and a director on u.s. sitcom Good Times and cbc’s Air Farce), the cast includes Terry David Mulligan, Gillian Barber, Blair Haynes and Ravindor Toor. The plot line is keyed on a warm-hearted manager of a barely-surviving storage operation whose motley crew includes Lola the Con, Jack the middle-age draft dodger and an immigrant physicist who’s taken up the janitoring profession.

The three-camera pilot was taped live in front of a studio audience (twice) at the Access Studios last week under the direction of dop Tom Schwartz. Whiting says the goal is going into production on six, but hopefully 13 episodes, later this fall or early next winter.

‘You can’t just string jokes together and put a bunch of stand-up comics in front of a camera and expect it to be a sitcom. You have to have the writers,’ says Whiting. And it’s essential to have a team, as feedback is key to comedy. Writers on the pilot are Paul Wayne (established show runner – Three’s Company, etc.), Edgar Lyall (Kratt’s Creatures), Hart Hanson (North of 60) and Valri Bromfield, one of the early Second City folk most recently known as Grace’s older sister on Grace Under Fire.

Whiting says the series could be produced for $400,000 an episode. Investors include Telefilm Canada, ampdc, cpf, the Maclean Hunter TV Fund, and itv, a division of Westcom tv group, a member of wic.

Whiting says wic owns ctv and cbc regional affiliates, so the hope is to get a national Toronto-based net to invest in serial production for the first season, and then bring on a u.s. service, likely a cable channel, for the second season.

Even in Canada, comedy remains the backbone of primetime and late night television.

Of the 80 or so primetime shows on the four major u.s. networks, almost 50 are comedies, including 23 of 34 new programs.

Last month at Montreal’s annual international comedy festival, Just For Laughs, an impressive panel of u.s. network and cable development executives talked about the sitcom business.

Two key concerns were repeated on several occasions.

Of the main preoccupations, one is matching very funny stand-up talent with the right concept, writers and producers, and putting it all together so it works in a sitcom format.

The other issue is the need for alternative programming, not trying to offer ‘everything to everyone,’ but coming up with proposals that work as effective counter-programming.

The event was hosted by jfl’s ceo Andy Nulman and moderated by New World Entertainment chairman Brandon Tartikoff. Last year the two announced a cca-brokered deal which calls for the development and production of comedy vehicles for network, cable and first-run syndication with Fox Broadcasting getting a first look at projects.

At the panel session, Tartikoff summed up the commercial reality of the sitcom business by saying there are some 60 sitcoms on air in the u.s., underscoring the point by sporting a slogan-bearing t-shirt with the inscription, ‘So many networks, so little time.’ Some thoughts from the illustrious panel:

Kim Fleary, v-p comedy series development, abc, said ‘A failure of execution’ was the real reason for the failure of a sitcom proposal with the talented Sinbad. She said, ‘By not matching the showrunners and finding the right writers we failed to capitalize on the talent’s best assets.’

‘Don’t make a deal with a studio unless you know the writers and creative people you want to work with are there. Do the deal with the network first, then talk to the studio,’ she advised.

Commenting on the ‘new boundaries’ for u.s. sitcoms, Jordan Levin, Warner Bros.’ head of comedy development, said the notion of cutting edge in comedy was overly abstract.

Instead, he said, alternate sitcom could simply mean ‘a change in tone, using younger writers who had watched all the past sitcoms, and playing with existing forms and structures.’

Theresa Edy, v-p comedy development, Fox Broadcasting, said, ‘If a show is embraced, you can go as far (in shock terms) as you want, but many, many innovative shows simply don’t make it.’

Although the wickedly funny British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous is a hit on Comedy Central, David Nevins, v-p primetime series, nbc, said things non-American are a difficult mainstream network sell.

‘u.s. audiences are tough on accents,’ he said. ‘Sometimes attitude can overcome ingrained prejudices.’

The panelists said advertisers were targeting the 18- to 49-year-old demographic, with Ron Taylor, v-p programming, upn, adding that ‘the rule is to deliver on the tougher demographic’ in terms of strategic audience building.

Tartikoff said that of the 60 or so sitcoms on u.s. network and cable tv, about 5% are foreign.

Need for

counter-programming

Levin said it’s tougher pulling in older viewers who are satisfied with their favorite network shows.

He said broadcasters were looking for ‘alternatives,’ not necessarily leading-edge material, but ‘counter-programming.’

Other executives on the jfl panel included Wendi Goldstein, director of comedy development, cbs, and Laurie Zaks, v-p, Comedy Central.

Zak said Ab Fab had become the channel’s flagship program, adding cc ‘is not in the sitcom business.’ The show is being adapted for u.s. network tv.

On the issue of the all-important pitch, Tartikoff said the more developed the property, the better.

‘A pilot is best, but if it has a $12,000 budget then the script is the next best thingand a script is 10 times better than a treatment.’

Tartikoff was short on details but told Playback New World was working on several comedy deals with Canadian partners, including jfl’s Nulman, Ivan Fecan of Baton Broadcasting (Tartikoff’s former protege at nbc), and Harold Greenberg of Astral Communications.