Aziz Ansari cast on Office spin-off; is he still on Scrubs?
Aziz Ansari seems to be the hottest name around Hollywood casting circles. According to Variety, the stand-up comedian, who’s also one-third of the MTV’s acclaimed sketch team Human Giant, has been cast in the upcoming Office spin-off. He’s also signed a one-year talent hold deal with Universal Media Studios.
What’s interesting about this news is that Ansari was also tapped to play one of the new interns on the eighth season of Scrubs, which is produced by and will now air on ABC. What I’m guessing is that, since Scrubs will finish shooting in August, this deal will start after his deal with the veteran medical comedy ends. If there happens to be a ninth season of the show, as Bill Lawrence told me might happen, I’d imagine he’d come back after his Universal deal ends or they’ll just replace him with someone else.
Either way, the folks behind the Office spin-off are off to a good start. Ansari is a funny stand-up and does a great job on Human Giant, where he’s played funny office drones to perfection a few times (anyone who’s seen the “Shutterbugs” sketches knows that he works well in an office). He should play well with whoever Greg Daniels and Mike Schur put him together with.
On other Office spin-off fronts, the Variety article mentions that Daniels and Schur have hired a writing staff, but are still unsure how the show is going to be introduced. It’s unlikely a character from the original show will be spun off into his/her own show; more likely, either the new characters will be introduced during an episode arc of the original show or the show will be a completely new program with The Office’s comic sensibility.
Oh, and Universal also signed Rashida Jones to a talent deal, according to the article. The only thing they’d say about that is that “a return to The Office is not out of the question.” Given some of the clinkers Ms. Jones has been in lately, she shouldn’t rule out bringing Karen back.
[via Pop Candy]
Rumor Patrol: Rashida Jones in Office Spinoff?
Consider this only a rumor for the time being. However, word has been rippling through the TV biz today that Rashida Jones (aka Karen Filippelli, presently of Utica, New York) may star in the upcoming NBC spinoff of The Office.
Sounds pretty amazing to this Office (and Rashida) fan, so I did a little digging, and here’s where this stands: While one inside source (who has always been reliable) says “it’s true” that Rashida will be a part of the new series, another source inside Rashida’s camp says, “As far as I know, she has not been approached.” Hmmm…
Meanwhile, a rep for Universal (which produces The Office) tells me: “Universal Media Studios has a talent holding deal with Rashida. It is premature to speculate about any potential projects she could be involved with.”
So where does that leave us? Right back where we started, with this being—so far—just a fascinating, plausible and wholly unconfirmed rumor. (Hmph.) Still, I know many of you fellow fans are jonesing for a little Office fodder right about now, so I thought I’d share.
And since you asked (What? You didn’t?), I’m definitely rooting for Rashida/Karen to join in on the spinoff fun. And if we can have Phyllis drop by for a makeover from time to time? Well, it’d be so good it almost hurts.
(That’s what she said.)
What say you?
Josh Duhamel and Friends Celebrate 100 Episodes
Josh Duhamel and Friends Celebrate 100 Episodes
He’s e engaged to one of the hottest singers out there, and his show, NBC’s Las Vegas, has just celebrated its 100th episode. Translation: Josh Duhamel is on top of the world.
Josh was joined by Molly Sims and the rest of the Las Vegas cast at the Palms Casino and Resort, where Mayor Goodman presented the Keys to the City to the cast and creator of the show as a congratulatory gesture.
Duhamel looked smokin’ in his t-shirt and jeans combo topped off with a jacket and some seriously cool hair. Meanwhile Miss Sims brought her fashion A-game in a black and silver mini-dress and a pair of sexy knee-high boots.
Las Vegas creator Gary Scott Thomas told press that the key to his show’s success is in the tension between the humor and drama. “We’re really a true dramedy. A lot of shows say they’re dramedies but they aren’t. Because even when the worst thing possible is happening, the other story line will be hysterically funny. The idea from the beginning has been that, much like Las Vegas, no matter what happens, the fun always goes on.”
And Universal Media Studios president Katherine Pope says the show has, “a very tricky tone: sexy and funny and soapy and serious. The goal for the show always was ‘fun’ and ‘wish-fulfillment,’ but I think what Gary has done over the years is reinforce the familial aspect—that these people really do care about each other.”
She continued, “As much as the show is about sexy, beautiful people working in a sexy, beautiful place, it really is more about the fact that they always support each other. And that’s kind of the place where we’d all like to work.”
Passions is dead…for real this time
Usually when you talk about death on soap operas, you have to know that like science fiction, death doesn’t mean the end of the story. After all, many characters have come back from the dead thanks to mistaken identity, bizarre abductions, switched coffins, et. al. But when I tell you now that the NBC soap opera Passions is dead, I really mean it. Really.
There is no chance that Passions is coming back to NBC. The soap was yanked from the daytime lineup last year, but in a deal with DirecTV, Passions has remained in production. The satellite provider has been showing episodes of the bizarrely-plotted show for months. However, in a recent development, DirecTV has decided to pull the plug. Universal Media Studios, which produces the one-hours, has been trying to find a new place on the dial for Passions without any luck.
There was a wrap party for the cast and crew last week, and there was some scuttlebutt that Passions would survive as an Internet soap, but that’s a pipe dream. It costs too much to be sustained on the net. Then came this nail in the coffin: on Monday, UMS and Premiere Props announced a two-day blowout sale this weekend of props and costumes from the show.
It’s not really surprising that Passions has bit the dust. NBC has been systematically destroying the soap opera genre since it canceled Santa Barbara — an Emmy-winning, classy romantic drama that starred A Martinez and Marcy Walker — in 1993, then did the same to Another World in 1999. Another World had been on the air for 34 years and was a beloved daytime drama with a loyal, huge following. Tepid alternatives on the network, like the youth-oriented Sunset Beach (1997-99) were never destined to survive, and Passions was a long-shot at best. It was a latter-day Dark Shadows, a twisted comedy-horror soap that was too outlandish to last. Some viewers embraced the goofiness, like evil spells, witches, elves, etc., but most soap fans simply tuned out.
And now that it’s gone for good and all, NBC has just one soap opera left on the air, Days of Our Lives. If it survives the decade, I’ll be shocked. My feeling is that Jeff Zucker believes the future of daytime is all about cheap, unscripted entertainment and syndicated fare. Or maybe he’ll just opt for Today all day — it takes up four hours of the daypart now. Perhaps he can get Kathie Lee, who just signed to co-host the fourth hour of Today, to stay on all afternoon. Yeah, that’s the ticket. That’s entertainment.