Skip to main content

Ryan Murphy Sells Another Project... This Time to NBC

Ryan Murphy has sold yet another project to a network this week, landing himself a pilot script deal at NBC for a single-camera half-hour comedy based on Brian Frazer's memoir "Hyper-chondriac: One Man's Quest to Hurry Up and Calm Down," following a bidding war for the project between ABC and NBC.

Frazer's memoir is about his own odyssey to eliminate the stress that was causing his various medical ailments.

Jason Dean Hall (Grand Theft Auto) will adapt the book for television, with the plot revolving around a pharmaceutical salesman who sells his supplies at hospitals and believes he is suffering from various illnesses... the symptoms of which end up being real, rather than imagined, but are caused by other factors.

Murphy is attached to direct and executive produce the pilot for Hyper-condriac, which is expected to shoot next year.

The news comes swiftly on the heels of Murphy's sale of his drama pilot script Glee, which FOX picked up in July and has hopes to put on the air sometime in March.

Glee is about a high school Spanish teacher who becomes the adviser to the school's glee club, made up of a motley crew of eccentrics whom he hopes to mold into a formidable musical force.

I read the script for Glee about two weeks ago and have to say that I was less than impressed. I get that FOX wants to put this on the air at the same time that American Idol is on, hoping that the halo effect will continue over to this dull drama.

Murphy mined teenagedom to far better effect in his shortlived WB series Popular and here the characters are so stock that they seem made of cardboard. I also just don't see where this series is going and the plot seems better suited for a film than an ongoing series, especially given that some of the obstacles facing the glee club are already erased by the end of the pilot script. How very disappointing.

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NCIS (CBS); Celebrity Family Feud (NBC); Beauty & the Geek (CW); Wipeout (ABC); Kitchen Nightmares (FOX)

9 pm: Big Brother 10 (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC; 9-11 pm); Reaper (CW); I Survived a Japanese Game Show (ABC; 9-11 pm); House (FOX)

10 pm: Without a Trace (CBS)

What I'll Be Watching

8-10 pm: Britcoms on BBC America.

I don't know about you but by Tuesday night, I'm usually in need of some comedy in my life. Why not stick around on Tuesday nights for BBC America's new comedy lineup, consisting of classic episodes of Coupling, new comedy Not Going Out, and Absolutely Fabulous?

8 pm: Kitchen Nightmares.

'Cause I miss the softer side of Gordon Ramsay.

10 pm: Flipping Out on Bravo.

On the second season finale of Flipping Out ("Back in the Market"), Jeff refuses to be a "doormat" anymore and comes down hard on his crew whilst finding himself looking for a new place to live, with a deal on Commonwealth looking likely to close.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hmmm...based on your description, I have to say that "Hyper-chondriac" sounds much more interesting than "Glee," which seems more like a movie-of-the-week.

Popular posts from this blog

Katie Lee Packs Her Knives: Breaking News from Bravo's "Top Chef"

The android has left the building. Or the test kitchen, anyway. Top Chef 's robotic host Katie Lee Joel, the veritable "Uptown Girl" herself (pictured at left), will NOT be sticking around for a second course of Bravo's hit culinary competition. According to a well-placed insider, Joel will "not be returning" to the show. No reason for her departure was cited. Unfortunately, the perfect replacement for Joel, Top Chef judge and professional chef Tom Colicchio, will not be taking over as the reality series' host (damn!). Instead, the show's producers are currently scouring to find a replacement for Joel. Top Chef 's second season was announced by Bravo last month, but no return date has been set for the series' ten-episode sophomore season. Stay tuned as this story develops. UPDATE (6/27): Bravo has now confirmed the above story .

BuzzFeed: Meet The TV Successor To "Serial"

HBO's stranger-than-fiction true crime documentary The Jinx   — about real estate heir Robert Durst — brings the chills and thrills missing since Serial   wrapped up its first season. Serial   obsessives: HBO's latest documentary series is exactly what you've been waiting for.   The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst , like Sarah Koenig's beloved podcast, sifts through old documents, finds new leads from fresh interviews, and seeks to determine just what happened on a fateful day in which the most foul murder was committed. And, also like  Serial  before it,  The Jinx may also hold no ultimate answer to innocence or guilt. But that seems almost beside the point; such investigations often remain murky and unclear, and guilt is not so easy a thing to be judged. Instead, this upcoming six-part tantalizing murder mystery, from director Andrew Jarecki ( Capturing the Friedmans ), is a gripping true crime story that unfolds with all of the speed of a page-turner; it

BuzzFeed: "The Good Wife Is The Best Show On Television Right Now"

The CBS legal drama, now in its sixth season, continually shakes up its narrative foundations and proves itself fearless in the process. Spoilers ahead, if you’re not up to date on the show. At BuzzFeed, you can read my latest feature, " The Good Wife Is The Best Show On Television Right Now," in which I praise CBS' The Good Wife and, well, hail it as the best show currently on television. (Yes, you read that right.) There is no need to be delicate here: If you’re not watching The Good Wife, you are missing out on the best show on television. I won’t qualify that statement in the least — I’m not talking about the best show currently airing on broadcast television or outside of cable or on premium or however you want to sandbox this remarkable show. No, the legal drama is the best thing currently airing on any channel on television. That The Good Wife is this perfect in its sixth season is reason to truly celebrate. Few shows embrace complexity and risk-taking in t