Josh Schwartz to explore D.C. politics through the eyes of self-absorbed twentysomethings

By Sean O'Neal | August 30, 2010 | 7:23pm

Aux Features TV

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s new Fake Empire production company (which, yes, borrows its moniker from The National song) has just landed its first major development deal at ABC, where it will craft a show about twentysomethings living, laughing, and loving among the Beltway set in Washington, D.C. As Variety points out, given Schwartz and Savage's past work, the show could well be called The O.C. In D.C.—but that actually seems too frivolous for a show about “young politicos [who] find that the ideals that brought them to D.C. don’t always match with the realities of living in the nation’s capital,” to be scripted by Remember Me writer Will Fetters.

With that much self-seriousness in one place, we’re guessing it’ll be called something more like We The People—especially since Dick Wolf already used the similar, similarly catchy D.C. as the title for his very similar show about twenty-something interns, living, laughing, loving, and learning how to compromise their lofty ideals. Can this series succeed where Mark-Paul Gosselaar (and also The CW’s also very similar aborted pilot Body Politic—another title Schwartz can’t have) failed miserably, or are we doomed to never have a show about the lives and loves of young would-be politicians?