That is, kind of. Maybe not quite in the way that you’re thinking.
Parenthood’s doors are closed. There will be no reprieve, in case you were wishing and hoping. It’s done.
Which means the cast, whom we all agree are incredibly talented, get to go on to do other things. Lauren Graham is a co-writer and producer on Kate on Later, which will focus on a woman who is given the chance to break into late-night hosting – but has to contend with all the sexist garbage that still exists in that world, which the show pitch refers to as “one of the last remaining glass ceilings”.
Three things I like here:
1) Graham front and centre. Parenthood and all its wacky particulars was a treat we’re all happy to have, but sometimes you felt like you were grasping around for any real interactions with the characters, who seemed just out of reach. This will be a chance to get back to a place where she can do more than just seem supportive and a little confounded by the choices of people who love her.
2) There’s room for some TEETH. This is from Liz Tucillo who’s worked on Sex And The City among other projects, and Graham who can be a lot more blue than Parenthood would let on (there are still a lot of people who believe that she did her best work in Bad Santa). True, it’s being developed for NBC and not, like, Showtime, but there’s still a little room for it to be a show that actually makes some of the points it’s trying to make. Like that it’s almost 2015 and the idea that there’s still not a glimmer or a whisper of a woman on late night talk TV is preposterous. Really? Really there are no women between the ages of 20 and death who could do a good job at chatting to some people on network TV? Is it the desk thing – we don’t want to see them behind a desk?
3) Graham can write. Remember when I read her novel, Someday, Someday Maybe? That was a good book and a really good book for a first time author. Writers are writers and actors are actors and sometimes I get fussy at the idea that someone thinks because they’ve seen it once that they can do it all but I think Graham might be the real deal here and I think she’d be great at actually telling actors what they need to hear to get that patented Graham brand of “no really, despite my every quirk, you’re not looking at me acting at all”.
Here’s what I don’t like about this:
So far, it’s just a development deal. There are so many ways this could promise to come together and then not follow through, up to and including the network deciding it’s just a little too real to talk about on actual television. Or that “nobody would watch” a comedy like this. Or that they decide they have another show on about a funny woman and there’s not room for two.
That’s not me trying to be cynical, actually, just tempering expectations. There are a lot of people who get really excited about Lauren Graham, and it’s an addiction I can get behind. I just don’t want anyone to have their heart broken. Proceed accordingly.
