"Jeremiah" to Beat Comedians to Punchline
By H.G. Miller
In what may become an industry-wide phenomenon, Showtime Networks unveiled
"Jeremiah"
(website)
this week, a television show that they believe is too
preposterous to be parodied by comedians on other networks.
“Jeremiah” stars Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner as odd-couple survivors in
a
post-apocalyptic earth.
“When I heard that Showtime had a new sci-fi show coming out, I thought
'great,'” satirist Leonard Goldman said. “Then, I heard that it was going to
star Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner. I mean, what am I supposed to do with
that? It's funny enough already. You can't make fun of something that is that
much of a joke to begin with. Luke Perry!”
Goldman proceeded to throw his arms in the air and go back to a "Six Feet Under"
parody he was working on.
“Death. Funerals. It's so serious. That I can make fun of,” he said.
Show creator Michael Straczynski said he was proud to beat the comedians to the
punch.
“When I saw the chance to pair Luke and Malcolm together, I knew there was a
good chance of creating something the comedians couldn't touch,” he said. “Then
we just had to come up with a genre. Sci-fi is risky, because there are so many
old Star Trek sketches out there that people can just re-write with our
characters. So, I had to dig deeper.”
Straczynkski said the solution came to him one night while watching Perry's
much-hyped feature film, "Eight Seconds."
“It's the stubble,” he said with a smile. "'Beverly Hills 90210" (Perry's old
television show) was made fun of so much, and then I realized he was
clean-shaven most of the time. He's got this funky cowboy stubble in 'Eight
Seconds.' He looks ridiculous. So ridiculous it isn't even worth making fun of
it.”
From that point on, all Showtime really had to do was put some ratty dreadlocks
on Warner and the stage was set for a show well below ridicule.
“I really think this will become a trend for the other networks,” Daniel
Simpson, junior vice-president of marketing for Showtime, said. “Rather than
spend every weekend wondering what the cast of Mad TV or Saturday Night Live is
going to do to parody your show, just put a program out there that is so
utterly inane to begin with, nobody will touch it.”
Other networks have tried similar approaches in the past with mixed results.
ABC's short-lived Jason Alexander vehicle, “Bob Patterson,” received little
notice from the comedic community.
“The problem is, they made a show so bad, nobody watched it, and then it got
cancelled,” Simpson said. “Then, you lose the advertising money.”
Straczynkski does not expect the same problems for “Jeremiah.”
“What's so great about it being a sci-fi show,” he said, “is that those geeks
will watch anything.”