Could author Jennifer Weiner bring us the next Ally McBeal? (Only, as she notes on her blog, with “no starving cast members.”) If her devoted following has anything to do with it, she might.
The Best Friends Forever author has taken to her popular blog to encourage fans to petition ABC to pick up her pilot. And right about now, I’d bet Weiner is now dancing like a McBeal baby: Over 1,000 folks — and counting — have signed it since 9 a.m.
So what have they signed up for? On Friday, Weiner informed her followers that she was working on jumpstarting a series called Jane and Dick, which is “about a smart, funny female attorney who’s turned her father’s law firm into a version of career Utopia — an all-female, kid-friendly law firm where the formerly mommy-tracked lawyers can have it all…Into this paradise comes the man she’s secretly loved since she was an awkward, insecure fourteen-year-old — her beautiful big sister’s old boyfriend Dick. Now a cutthroat litigator with an active social life, Dick’s been hired by Jane’s Dad to bring a little balance into the firm.” Weiner even boasts a co-writer, Michael Reisz, who has written for Boston Legal.
To me, this series sounds like a lock going into pilot season. (The Deep End got picked up, right?) And Weiner’s plenty smart to use grassroots support to back her pilot — even if her name alone would seem enough to guarantee success. After all, this is the same woman who has penned best-seller after best-seller, right?
Does this seem like something you’d want to watch, Shelf Lifers?
Yes I would definitely watch it. I love her books and have read everyone.
uh zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
You lost me a “law firm.” I’m all for a solid plot like this but seriously, is there no other profession out there? Every new show is either about doctors, cops or lawyers.
This sounds awful. Another lawyer show, with the cliche of the “mommy track”, and a man has to come in to apparently be the only one who gets any work done. Sigh.
Mommies and kids in a law firm…yawn!
Sounds boring.
This sounds ridiculous and completely demeaning to women. If she’s so smart, why does her daddy still make decisions for her? Count me out.
I’d give it a shot
So this is what we’re left with? Vapid reality programming or circle jerks for all the breeders.
I agree. Sounds boring.
i’d give it a shot just because jennifer weiner’s name is behind it, but i agree that the concept feels a little tired
Agreed. I like Jennifer Weiner, but this sounds like dozens of shows that have come before it. It’s like TV land thinks the only professions are cops, lawyers, nurses, doctors, and teachers.
what shows are about teachers?
I’m with Hrfe…teachers? If you’re thinking ‘Glee’, that’s one show and it’s mostly about the kids.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Sounds aggressively unoriginal and lame.
Jennifer Weiner is lovely,but another lawyer show? Really? And I’ve learned not to invest in a ABC dramedy…they usually get cancelled (i.e. Eastwick, Samantha Who?, Eli Stone). So no thanks!!
They should make her book “Good Night Nobody” into a movie or TV show. Much better storyline.
How about a show taking place on Wall Street, the magazine industry, network news, advertising agency, research lab… anything but a law firm. That killed it for me right there.
I get your point but:
network news — Sports Night, Back to You; advertising — Mad Men, Trust Me; Research Lab — Better Off Ted…
And all of those but one failed
. So blame the viewers as much as the networks.
Ooo I meant to add magazine industry — Just Shoot Me, Suddenly Susan, Ugly Betty
Those seem to fair better.
Weiner used to work at the Philadelphia Inquirer, I believe….why couldn’t she use her background to write about reporters at a big city daily newspaper? Seems like a natural fit to me, plus a more original topic than a law firm (again).
Jon: magazine industry (Ugly Betty); network news (that Grammer/Heaton sitcom); advertising (Mad Men); research lab (hmmm…you may be on to something there!)
Because anything about the magazine industry would be about unemployed people?