CTerry1985

I'm a big fan of Scrubs. I find its brand of surreal humour mixed with real heart is, in my opinion, one of the better, more original things on modern TV, so when I heard about 'Nobody's Watching' I ran off to see it. Basically in April of 2005 Bill Lawrence, creator type fella of Scrubs, teamed up with two writers from family guy and created this here pilot. The pilot was rejected by the WB ,however in June of 2006 the pilot was leaked onto youtube, and on the basis of the positive reaction NBC has commissioned it as a series.

First the basic concept. Nobody's Watching follows two fellas who have been best friends since they were six, uptight Derrick and free-wheeling fatherless Will. They send in a video to network execs the country over bemoaning the lack of quality of recent sitcoms. As such they are invited by two WB execs slick-as-an-oil-spill Jeff and quiet Roy to create a sitcom of their own, with a catch. They are being filmed while they create it. They are part of a (fake) reality TV show. This is taken to the point of having them live on a sitcom set, with a bedroom set, an office set, a lounge set, and most jarringly, a live studio audience. They quickly hire an assistant, motivated and pushy Jill, and after a short while hire clichéd blonde bombshell with a heart, Mandy. Of course there's a catch. Wily Jeff is up to no good to boost the ratings of the reality show.

The first show this reminded me of was Scrubs. This is perhaps hardly surprising considering the main brain behind both is Bill Lawrence. Firstly Roy is played by Scrub's semi-recurring character Dr. Zeltzer, and Roy is obviously designed exactly for the same actor, Roy is practically a clone of Zeltzer. Not that is a bad thing, Zeltzer (and Roy) are both very amusing, especially when paired off, as in this case, with an arrogant moral vacuum. The relationship between Will and Derrick also reminded me of Scrubs, two best friends who are that close is something Bill Lawrence has wrote and handled very well in Scrubs, especially when one is far more ready to express his emotions than the other.

The second show this reminded me of was the Office, with Nobody's Watching filmed in a same mockumentary style with characters who acknowledge, speak to, and look at the camera based on the premise of a reality show, but Nobody's Watching is somewhat out of the box even in these relatively new realms. It is day one and the show is already self-referential and postmodern with characters who actually acknowledge their own studio audience. The show pulls in a slew of sitcom references, and a spat of cameos (I count four in the pilot) adding in the pop culture references so beloved by Scrubs and Family Guy alike. At the same time the show manages to be both a tribute and a mockery of the traditional sitcom format, in the same way that Futurama both praises and mocks Science-Fiction.

All in all I liked Nobody's Watching, with a couple of caveats. Firstly the studio audience seemed to encroach on the show somewhat at some points. In the same way as early Scrubs was originally chock a block of cartoonish sound effects I hope that they will be dialled down a bit too, on repeated viewings I noticed them less and less. Secondly I found that the characters were perhaps not quirky enough, in that while Scrubs characters each come with a slew of running gags these characters only have wisecracks. That said these things take time to develop and the Scrubs characters were pretty bland at first as well. They need to be allowed to develop.

We Brits being the unlucky fellas we are only just got the 1st season of Lost. Unlike our American buddies across the pond we've been without Lost for quite some time, but on Wednesday it hit our screens. Few Brits probably failed to notice Lost. Channel 4, on which the show is airing, has demonstrated an ability of marketing beyond which I've never seen. Marketing for Lost was a feat in itself. As well as the mandatory blanket television coverage, there were newspaper ads, and I even had to explain to my sister what it was after she saw it advertised in the cinema (she'd thought it was some kind of movie) I have to say I don't normally go in for hype, but I was anticipating Lost. I'm of a belief that seems to be somewhat lacking in many circles, that television is going through a sort of renaissance, in particular American television. Recently we have been treated to the joys of Six Feet Under, the Sopranos, Nip/Tuck, Scrubs, and more. The US television market is positively heaving with creative, well written television. Lost seemed noteworthy, not least because it comes from the writer of Alias. I was never a huge Alias fan (my sister is) in my hectic life I never seem to have the time to get into a show like Alias, by the time I was interested in it, it was several seasons in, and with a serialised show like Alias you really need to watch from the start. Here was my redemption from Alias.

Channel 4 aired the first two episodes of Lost on Wednesday, followed by the third on E4 (its sister channel) later that night. I must say, I am genuinely impressed. I had heard that Lost's first episode was the most expensive pilot ever made. I am not surprised. The show looks amazing. The first sequence greets us with all the glory of the aftermath of the plane crash which has stranded 48 people on an island. An incredible display of pyrotechnics happens as a man stands in front of a jet engine and then WOOSH is shot right up into it, causing it to explode. Later on Our Heroes(TM) search for the cockpit, where they think they can get the transceiver and call for help. The set for the cockpit itself is incredibly impressive.

Lost is a show that does not waste itself on background details either. There are 48 passengers and while each and every one obviously can't be a star there is a genuine feeling that each and every one has a story to tell. The characters are fully fleshed out from the get go. Flawed, well rounded individuals, as is the mark of post-millennium American TV. Personally I think my favourite will turn out to be Sayid, an ex-member of the Iraqi Republican Guard. There's a wonderful duality to this character, and it will be interesting to see what becomes of him.

But the Swiss Family Robinson this ain't, while Lost does get down to the business of the aftereffects of the crash there is a Big Bad Menace(TM) on this particular island, who apparently can move trees, pull men out of cockpits and throw them across large distances. There's also a polar bear, which has apparently decided to take a summer holiday to a nice warm climate in the South Pacific. Lost is mysterious, you get the feeling that this is going to be like the X-Files. Every mystery unveiled will unleash new mysteries, digging deeper and deeper. However the X-Files had a vital flaw. The X-Files never provided any real payoff. Even at the finale the X-Files was still mysterious, much not explained. I found this somewhat... irritating. It was almost as if mystery was being held for the purposes of mystery rather than as a part of some grand master plan. Alias does have a bit of a grand master plan feel to it, as does Lost, even when you're only 3 episodes in. Teasers of future plot lines dot the landscape tantalising yet difficult to figure out.

There is a dark side however. I mentioned a renaissance in TV earlier, but those shows that have come from the US and shown real promise, Scrubs, Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, hell even Buffy, have all had one thing in common. None of them are 100% grounded in reality. Well no show is 100% grounded in reality. Reality is boring and needs to be made exciting by a team of scriptwriters, but there's a certain unworldly appeal to all of them. This is escapism, great escapism, but escapism nonetheless. Lost is just another show, disconnected from real life in a sea of disconnected shows.