Situation: Comedy, Episode 7: Lights, Camera, Action!

Welcome to episode seven of Situation: Comedy, the show that follows the trials and tribulations of several young writers attempting to create their own sitcom pilot. In the last episode, we saw the writers guiding the cast through a series of dry runs. This week will begin the shooting of the final version of their pilots.

The first day of filming entails camera blocking. This is where the actors and director step through each scene and try to make sure that the camera operators are positioned in the right places to get good shots and angles.

At the same time, Max and Stan are prowling the stages, giving some direction and encouragement to the actors. They are like mother hens, rearranging furniture, telling the actors to add dramatic pauses, and so on. Stan tells us that the executive producer is ultimately responsible for the whole show and its look and feel, so they need to be directors as well as producers.

Max and Stan note that Mark and Shoe, writers of The Sperm Donor, let Stan and Max do their job. Andrew and David, writers of Stephen’s Life, however, needed to question every little detail along the way. But, at the last moment, suddenly Mark and Shoe want to be in on all the details of the producing process. This drives them crazy, but Stan adds, “Maybe they should have tried to be involved all along, like the other team was.”

And that is, of course, one of my own observations about this show. In episode one, the audience was told that NBC was looking for the next great sitcom. Yet, right off the bat, the writers were given big limitations as to what they can do. Since that day, Stephen’s Team has been pushing the envelope and trying to buck the system, while Team Sperm meekly accepted whatever restraints they were given. Perhaps coincidentally, but maybe not, Stephen’s Team has excelled at this process. By pushing their limits, they know what they can do and what they can’t. I think Team Sperm never figured out their potential until way too close to the end of the process.

Anyway, we move on to filming the actual filming of each pilot.

Over on the set, it seems that Sean Hayes has arrived and is thinking that the script for The Sperm Donor still needs to be punched up a lot. Since half the people involved with the pilot are writers, they do hunker down and try to add some zest to the script. What they come up with is “The Joke Book,” and that is a bunch of potential jokes for each scene. The director can dictate that several of the jokes can be acted out and then later, during editing, they can pick and choose which jokes worked best.

Over at the set of Stephen’s Life, David and Andrew are very nervous. The cameo stars, George Wendt and Cheri Oteri, arrive. Everyone is thrilled to meet each other. Cheri even finds herself speechless at meeting director Fred Savage and can only stammer out, “You’re so cute!”

On the first day, the actors and camera operators do blocking. As you recall, they are just checking out camera angles and such. Andrew and David, however, cannot sit still and they feel that they have to make comments on the actors’ lackluster performances. Stan is getting a little bit upset at having to continually explain that no one is looking at their performances. David feels, however, that the actors may get lazy if they aren’t performing up to their best at all times.

Later, they film the opening credits for the pilot. Stephen is filmed before a green-screen conducting an imaginary orchestra and then will have the titles and background added in during editing. But, things aren’t going well, as five people are all trying to tell Stephen how to conduct properly. Stephen looks a bit dazed. In the end, however, the titles turn out great.

Soon, the beautiful people of California begin arriving in their limos and Hummers for the live taping of Stephen’s Life. The audience reacts well to many of the punchlines, but some of them do fall flat and have to be rewritten on the spot.

We get to see some of the scenes with Cheri Oteri and George Wendt. Nothing too controversial seems to be happening and no one suggests any kind of rewriting. All is good.

And now that the two pilots are complete, let’s do a quick review of the finished projects.

So, let’s start off with The Sperm Donor. As the title rolls, I note that it shows an actual sperm fertilizing an egg. I really don’t think NBC is going to go for that in prime time. We are first introduced to Kaitlyn, the mother, played by Maggie Wheeler. You may remember her as Chandler’s “Oh... My… God!” girlfriend, Janice. As I watched her whole performance, I just couldn’t help but see and hear that Janice character every time I see Maggie on the screen.

Anyway, we meet her daughter and the daughter is okay. Nothing too spectacular, but not bad. She plays the part well enough.

Soon, Kaitlyn’s brother arrives. The character and actor are poor. He adds nothing to the show except to be a straight man for… for… you know what, I don’t really know who for. There really isn’t anyone who is the comedian.

When the title character arrives, we finally have a comedian of sorts. But, the character is just so unlikable, that it’s tough to laugh with him. He has a few soft moments, like where he buys a bottle of wine for the family.

But, the show just doesn’t appear to have enough tension or friction between the characters. The mom makes up with the father, the father gets along with the daughter, the brother seems pretty neutral with everybody. I just see where this show could go from here. The father comes to visit once or twice a month and causes some kind of inadvertent trouble.

But, then there is Stephen’s Life. I had much bigger hopes for this show. The mother and father characters are just pathetic. The mother is completely under Stephen’s thumb and buffaloed by him. And, she acts irrationally. For example, in one scene, Stephen announces he’s running for student president. The mother reacts by saying, “Oh my God!” I wondered why she would react like that. Surely, Stephen has made grand announcements like that before. Why is she shocked, when in most other scenes, she seems more weary than anything?

Josh Flitter, who plays Stephen is perfect for his part, however. He commands every scene he’s in and has all the good punch lines. The little girl who plays his friend is also a wonderful actor.

As for the cameos, they are only mildly amusing. George Wendt plays himself as the director of Stephen’s campaign video. It’s not a very challenging part. Cheri Oteri is okay as his school principal, but she isn’t really a scene stealer. The two cameos are delivered in such a relaxed and easy manner, however, that it just underscores how green the other actors are.

And speaking of green, Andrew’s sister Joanna, playing the part of Stephen’s babysitter, delivers a rather lackluster performance. She mostly seems to hate Stephen, so I don’t know why she sits for him. And, I don’t really see the point of Stephen having a crush on his babysitter. It just didn’t fit in with the rest of the pilot.

Still, the overall package of Stephen’s Life is better. That’s where I will cast my vote. We’ll now have to wait for episode eight to find out the results of the voting.

And with that episode seven is over. Next week will be the final episode, where we get to see how things go in editing and they reveal the winner. You can go to the AOL site and watch the two pilots. Voting is closed, however.

Bill ( bing@paxentertainment.com) is a huge reality show fan. His first favorite reality show was Candid Camera, back in the ‘60s.

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