Single white entertaining

Tonight I went to a taping of the pilot for the newest Fred Savage sitcom, Single White Millionaire.

I'm not a sitcom person, really, especially sitcoms with a laugh track. In fact the last sitcom I watched that had a laugh track was Friends, but tonight they were willing to pay me $15 to sit and be entertained so I figured, what the hell.

Two years ago I went to the WB lot to watch another Fred Savage sitcom, Crumbs, film an episode. This was the same soundstage and the set looked exactly the same.

Thank goodness, this was funnier. I hope the show makes it on the air because there were a few times when I did a throw-up-your-head-and-guffaw kind of laugh. It still had some formulaic sitcom elements, but all in all it was way funnier than any multi-camera shows currently on the air. At least, that's how it felt in the audience.

The last time I saw a taping I'd never been on a set. Now that I've produced and directed Game Night I had a different perspective on what I was watching. I liked watching the way the jokes changed. For instance, in one line Fred's character Rick says he's tired of being a "spinster." That got crickets from the audience. On the next take they changed it to "old maid" which received uproarious laughter.

On the way out I overheard a guy ask his date what "spinster" means. I didn't realize that was an unfamiliar word but I guess it was.

Barney the cat was my favorite part of the show. Rick has a beautiful gray fancy cat that according to Fred was perfectly fine until the audience showed up. He absolutely refused to sit still despite the desperate pleas from his trainer.

That resulted in a mistake for the script, I think, and now I begin to wonder how often this kind of thing happens. There was a scene where Rick was supposed to talk to his cat about the hockey games that were coming on that night, but in take after take the cat took off as soon as he yelled out a celebratory line. So Fred suggested taking the cat out of the scene and having him yell "Oh, baby!" instead of yelling the cat's name.

The problem with that is instead of talking to the cat he was then talking to himself, which is a much weaker decision for the story. But what else can you do when the cat won't sit still for the camera?

Another thing that fascinated me was the Prop Master because 1) He was fucking hot and I'd gladly let him be my next bad decision and 2) He was totally obsessed with props. I'm a sucker for a man who loves his job and properly fills out a T-shirt. When every single person who wasn't him was watching the scene play out on stage, he was staring intently at his prop table or running around adjusting details or writing things down or taking pictures of his setup. The actual story going on around him was only a mild concern. The important thing was that he had the spare cat toy ready when the first one broke. I want him to be my prop guy one day.

He could also be handy in my efforts to sleep my way to the top. So far I'm still at PA. Prop Master would be a step up on the sexy food chain.

Just kidding. Maybe.

Anyway, I hope CBS picks up Single White Millionaire because overall it's pretty good which is a real compliment coming from someone who doesn't watch sitcoms. If it airs, watch it. And listen for my loud guffaw. And check out those hot, hot props.