The third day of PaleyFest Fall TV Previews continued with NBC, who had some very strong shows including The Playboy Club and the BEST SHOW I HAVE SEEN SO FAR: Up All Night.  However, we’re not here to wax eloquent on the amazing hilarity of Will Arnett and Christina Applegate, we’re here to talk about NBC’s multicamera live audience sitcom, Whitney, written and starring comedian Whitney Cummings whom most viewers might recognize from her frequent turns on Chelsea Lately.

I asked Chris D’Elia, who plays Whitney’s wealthy boyfriend, what he thought about the stories the show was relaying:

CD: “Right now, I feel like its important to get these stories out because a lot of couples are finding themselves in that kind of no man’s land. They’re not married ,they’re not single what are they?  Boyfriend, girlfriend, but it still counts for something and I think it’s important to take that very seriously.”

Zoe Lister Jones is the resident bubbly optimistic girl on set amidst Whitney’s more sardonic character and Rhea Seehorn’s depressed divorcee character, her take on the show’s portrayal of relationships:

ZLJ: “I think that relationships just keep evolving and I think that the sort of like climate of modern relationships is pretty complicated now as opposed to even 5 or 10 years ago, because of technology and because of I think feminism probably and more women are career driven, marriage doesn’t have to be a priority necessarily, or children, this show really draws upon that, this mew age of what a relationship is, and what it has to be defined by, all of us represent different areas of what a modern relationship can be. Every angle that Whitney takes on, it is new and totally relatable.

At I we spoke to Whitney Cummings herself, and she talked a bit about being a first time show creator and her roles in both 2 Broke Girls as well as Whitney.

WC: “I’m not showrunning 2 Broke Girls, and thank God, because I would so run that into the ground and no one is better than Michael [Patrick King] at what he does.  They begged me to get out of there because I’ll run that into the ground, and now I’m on Whitney and they’re begging me to get off that. [laughs] I’m trying to fire myself every day.  You know how like on Roseanne when they replaced Becky half way through with Sarah Chalke? And they tried to pretend that didn’t happen? We’re gonna do that. Lizzy Caplan will be playing the role of Whitney any day now.”

How do you handle it all?

WC: “I have so many people helping me, I have ten writers, I have a show runner, producers…”

How many are women?

WC: “Three, two are writers, and one is an executive producer.”

Have you read recently about the declining numbers of women writers in television?

WC: “I don’t know, I guess I’m confused when people say that, I guess I don’t see that. I know the numbers might say that.  I don’t think its because they’re not qualified, I think it’s because they don’t want to do it because it’s a shitty gig.   It’s the same reason women don’t play football, because we’re not stupid enough to play a sport that you have to put on a helmet to get in there, it’s a bad idea. I think a lot of women are qualified to higher level writing jobs but they’re kind of like “This is torture, I’m going to do something that’s easier and more fun.”  I think it’s the same reason that there’s less female comedians, it’s just a really grueling life and they are not masochistic, they’re smarter.”

Huh, well, okay!

The Whitney Panel was the best one so far out of the three days of PaleyFest, the jokes were flying fast with Whitney Cummings always willing to be the first to make fun of herself, and the cast was obviously well at ease with one another.

REVIEW:

The pilot episode was screened and it’s hard to tell if the show will do well or not.  I’ve gotten so used to watching single-camera sitcoms that don’t have a laugh track that the multi-camera format and the live studio audience was difficult to adjust to.  The premise revolves around a couple (Whitney Cummings and Chris D’Elia) who are happily unmarried, and their various friends who are single (Dan O’Brien), divorced (Rhea Seehorn), dating (Maulik Pancholy and Zoe Lister Jones), etc. The show ostensibly deals with relationships and community but the pilot wasn’t particularly memorable though I did laugh a few times.  The show has been getting some terrible reviews even though NBC is throwing a ton of support behind it, plastering Whitney’s face all over billboards and bus stops. The comedienne is known for her frank and outspoken ways and it’ll be interesting to see how well the alternative can be filtered into the mainstream over the season.  She’s got some remarkable assistance in the way of the cast who all performed admirably if not slightly overplaying, but that’s to be expected in a pilot episode. No one knows where to put their hands, they’re still working through issues of timing and character exploration.  We shall see how Whitney fares in an overly abundant wave of new shows and faces.

Tags: Chris D'Elia, Dan O'Brien, Maulik Pancholy, nbc, Rhea Seehorn, whitney, whitney cummings, Zoe Lister Jones