In a poignant expression of longing for a simpler time, before things like brand integration and female executives, NBC is trying something new. Only it’s not new at all—it’s the oldest TV-making method there is. Following bids to revive the live musical and the variety show, NBC is planning to bring back the weekly live sitcom, a format once necessitated by the constraints of broadcast technology, but now little more than an “Ah hell, why not?” for executives looking to fill time in between weight-loss reality shows.
Called Hospitality, the show will take place in a hotel in midtown Manhattan; no other plot details have been released—probably because the script hasn’t been written yet—but we can only assume a bumbling bellhop will be involved somehow. Christopher Moynihan, an actor and writer who’s worked on such disparate fare as Man Up, According To Jim, and a couple of Christopher Guest movies, has been tapped to write the script.
And yes, there will be live commercials.