No means maybe
March 27, 2007 3:24 PM   Subscribe

Three Strikes is a TV pilot from the writers of Frasier, Larry Sanders and King of the Hill and executive produced by Jon Stewart for Comedy Central. It was turned down by the network but like Nobody's Watching the makers have turned to YouTube to revive its chances [Parts 1, 2, 3]. [via TVtattle]
posted by meech (24 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Registration required? Bad form.
posted by Roman Graves at 3:30 PM on March 27, 2007


I'd watch this.
posted by nola at 3:36 PM on March 27, 2007


After watching the first clip, I was convinced the show sucks.
After watching the second clip, I changed my mind. Two words: Dr. Platinum.
After watching the third clip, I reverted back to this show sucks, since they basically bit an entire 30 Rock episode, but in a much less-funny way.

I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.
posted by phaedon at 3:57 PM on March 27, 2007


Executive Produced by funny person is never as good as you expect.
posted by smackfu at 4:17 PM on March 27, 2007


The Colbert Report was much better than I expected. I must admit, my expectations were pretty low.
posted by Quonab at 4:31 PM on March 27, 2007


Ok, a 5 second scene in the church where the translator is improvising something about the crab entering the savior and leaving the savior, and then the site of the team mascot sitting down in the back row -- still in costume -- I'd watch this. I'd tell other people to watch this.
posted by thanotopsis at 4:40 PM on March 27, 2007


Bob Costas says "it's just sickening."

Then after a cheesy title open, we cut to some guy making the white line for a baseball diamond, and I'm thinking to myself, yes. this is sickening. That's as far as I got. Do the producers of this pilot honestly think that what cable television needs is a sitcom about baseball? Was that opening sequence where the pitcher ate sandpaper to hide it from the umpire supposed to be funny? Does someone need to be battered senselessly with a baseball bat, doused in nacho cheese and left under the bleachers?

I'd ask for my money back, but it was YouTube. So... I still think I should get some compensation out of this deal. I had to look at Bob Costas for twenty seconds. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go wash out my eyeballs with hydrogen peroxide.

Don't try this at home kids.

*puts hydrogen peroxide in eyeballs*

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

*runs in circles screaming*
posted by ZachsMind at 4:57 PM on March 27, 2007


Another failed pilot on youtube: If you lived here, you'd be home by now
posted by destro at 4:58 PM on March 27, 2007


I'm in the 'thought it was great' crowd for 3 Strikes. Enjoyed it.
posted by alteredcarbon at 4:59 PM on March 27, 2007


Utterly OK. Can see why it wasn't picked up. I can't really tell why CC picked up some of their other shows, though...

And then renewed them. (Drawn Together, Mind of Mencia, ugh, ugh, ugh)
posted by defenestration at 5:07 PM on March 27, 2007


I am interested in the socio-technological implications of these kind of stories. Clearly, we have had available to us the means of putting video on the web for a long time, and hosting fees for moderate size clips are relatively trivial. And if not trivial, they are certainly low enough that if I had a pet project that had been passed over that I wanted to promote I think I could certainly afford them out-of-pocket.

So what is it about youtube exactly that enables this great new paradigm of "people on the internet can see all this great content that would have otherwise been left on the cutting room floor"? Is it the semi-anonymity of youtube? The free hosting? The one-click upload process? The network effect of having a critical mass of youtube users? I'm not kidding, I realy want to know what we have now in 2007 that we didn't, say, five years ago, that makes this a reality now and not then?
posted by Rhomboid at 5:40 PM on March 27, 2007


I'm going to go out on a limb here and postulate that the "the Wave" mascot idea was stolen from the guy who plays Spongebob Squarepants on Hollywood Boulevard. This guy has won me over through his subtle humor. Of course I may be mistaking mental retardation for subtle humor here (as some superheroes who perform outside of Mann's Theatre tend to lose it after a while - by the way, i'd like to give a shout-out to black Chucky), but it's pretty hard to tell what's going on behind the big felt box, and frankly, most of these guys scare me. Something about seeing Spiderman's ballsac bulge through a pair of tight red pajama bottoms seems just totally fucked up to me.

Anyway, back to my point. On this stretch of the boulevard there is a huge virgin megastore, and in front there a bunch of rappers selling their demo cd's - and unlike this guy, they take themselves very seriously. usually they are decked out, they carry around cd players with headphones and ask walkers-by to listen, and they act pretty tough. you know, they play out the hole gun-toting, drug-dealing, and-making-it-all-look-so-good stereotype to a tee. i was walking by one day and these guys were being particularly aggressive, and then i noticed the spongebob guy a couple of feet behind them doing his pillsbury doughboy/tickle-me-elmo voice thing going "*hee hee* *hug me*" and then walking up behind the rappers during their pitch and then running away like a little girl and it was just about the funniest thing i've ever seen. and the rappers were pissed. imagine 106 & park - or a bet uncut music segment - being invaded by care bears. i mean its the weirdest thing. as of late, nobody talks about all this unchecked alpha male fantasy/aggresion in hip-hop as if it were a bad thing. maybe all these guys need is a little love. it's the blind leading the blind. and spongebob is king.
posted by phaedon at 6:10 PM on March 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


This is like one of those supergroups. Audioslave and Velvet Revolver both sucked fat dick, unfortunately.
posted by Count at 6:12 PM on March 27, 2007


I was prepared to hate this, but I didn't. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get me some Champagne.
posted by ColdChef at 6:41 PM on March 27, 2007


How Comedy Central cannot find a half hour of the 23 hours of shit on its schedule a day is beyond me.
posted by birdherder at 6:54 PM on March 27, 2007


Do the producers of this pilot honestly think that what cable television needs is a sitcom about baseball?

If there's a niche for Reno cops, there's probably still a niche for baseball.
posted by Cyrano at 6:57 PM on March 27, 2007


I thought it was pretty funny. But I like me some low-brau.
posted by dobie at 8:08 PM on March 27, 2007


In the first five seconds they lost me ("oh, a baseball comedy. tremendous.") but the outcast angle did draw me in.

The LOLXTIANOWNERZ vibe ended up feeling kind of mean spirited, not really funny. The mascot hijinks reminded me of the good Broken Lizard bits spread across their various flawed masterpieces.

I see why Comedy Central passed, though. Seems more like something that HBO would pick up for ten episodes in a bid to retain their target demo then shitcan when they again realized that target demo spends their time exclusively at Maxim Online and trolling for MILFs on Match.com.
posted by abulafa at 8:34 PM on March 27, 2007


i thought this was great. definitely a great chaser after trolling for milfs on match.com.

i think the guy who swears a lot is a character actor/comedian that many, many years ago did a bunch of spots for MTV. in a few of them he was doing a frank sinatra impersonation. somehow i've always thought this guy is very funny, its good to see that he's still around.
posted by joeblough at 9:12 PM on March 27, 2007


It's not really all that bad. The editing's a bit loose, and it could use a slightly higher gag-to-minute ratio, but with a little work this show could have been something. But it strikes me as a bit Major League 4: Back to the Minors Again. I can see why it wouldn't get picked up by a channel that loves showing the original so often.

I'm not kidding, I really want to know what we have now in 2007 that we didn't, say, five years ago, that makes this a reality now and not then?"

Cheap and pervasive high-speed internet access.
posted by thecaddy at 9:36 PM on March 27, 2007


I thought it was decent, but no barn-burner. But a lot of sitcom success lies in unpredictable things like actor chemistry and breakout characters.

(Also, my impression somehow was that this wasn't really the pilot, that like sometimes happens (Star Trek:TOS, Firefly) the network forced them to turn a regular episode into a pilot.)

Anyway, I'd love it if YouTube just became full of sitcom pilots, just because part of the deal with sitcoms is that they're utterly predictable with stock characters. A different pilot every time would be less banal.
posted by dhartung at 9:40 PM on March 27, 2007


I thought it was pretty great. I was a bit skeptical at first with the lame introduction, and thinking to myself a sitcom of baseball is the last thing we need, but after watching it all and seeing the ridiculous characters and situations (blind kids shooting guns at fish, mentally handicapped mascot that mistook yogart for beer, Mr. Platinum), I really think it could be a great show. Plus comedy about rejects are always hilarious (what easier way to feel better about yourself).

The style of comedy does remind me of Reno 911, but somehow it manages to stay new, IMHO.
posted by vodkadin at 12:33 AM on March 28, 2007


Phil Hendrie!
posted by jeffkay at 3:25 AM on March 28, 2007


the writers of Frasier, Larry Sanders and King of the Hill

Wait, the same people wrote for all three of those shows?

There were some all right bits to it: The Wave going to church in costume, Dr Platinum, The Wave running up to the boat with what appears to be a potted plant and yelling out "Sex Boat!" in his awesome voice... but overall it was just a little bit lacking. Not much worse than many pilots I've seen, but it would definitely need some improvement.
posted by antifuse at 5:20 AM on March 28, 2007


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