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Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

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#1

Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:14pm

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=televisionNews&
storyID=2007-02-05T081407Z_01_N02267621_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-PILOTS-DC.XML
&WTmodLoc=EntNewsTV_C2_televisionNews-1
(copy & paste to see, I guess)

Butz to play "Chicken" for Fox
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz has signed on to star in Fox's comedy pilot "Playing Chicken," in which he'll portray a loudmouthed conservative.
"Chicken" revolves around Jake (Butz) and his brother Tim, an intellectual lefty, who are forced to live together after an accident leaves Jake wheelchair-bound."

Hopefully this Fox comedy will be a little more Arrested Development and a little less War At Home & 'Til Death. But from the description, my hopes aren't high. Still, Butz on television omgz!!! I wonder whatever happened to that CBS deal?

(edited because the stretched out page was pissing me off)
broadwayunderstudies.com - most underrated performers on broadway

Updated On: 2/5/07 at 12:14 PM

#2

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:19pm

I guess his wheelchair-bound performance of Love Is My Legs landed him this role... if only Sherie was involved instead of playing freaking Ursula...
It's the music and I'm its hapless victim
#3

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:22pm

Norbert is great for slapstick comedy so this could work really well. i, too, don't have high hopes for this show. oh well...
#4

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:24pm

Sounds pretty horrible, but we'll have to see it first. Fox is either hit or miss with comedies. Arrested Development/ Family Guy/Simpsons...or War at Home, ugh.
#5

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:24pm

Wow, does this sound awful.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
#6

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:28pm

Just because they are shooting a pilot doesn't mean it will ever air.
PEACE.
#7

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:32pm

Nope, but Fox's development doesn't look great. Returning next year will probably be AI, House, Bones, 24, Prison Break, and those awful sunday comedies. It has a lot of holes to fill.
This will probably go the way of Happy Hour.
broadwayunderstudies.com - most underrated performers on broadway
#8

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:35pm

Love Norbert, but a wheelchair-bound conservative?
I would love to be in the room when these inspired ideas strike.

"Hey, you know we should do an ideoligcal version of the Odd Couple. Oooh, and we can make the conservative one handicapped!!"

Greenlight!
....but the world goes 'round
#9

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:40pm

I find it interesting that Fox is producing this show. The description sounds as if it is poking fun at conservatives.
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
#10

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:41pm

Fox is not FoxNews.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
#11

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 12:42pm

Haha, yeah, because Family Guy and the Simpsons never do that. :) It's the same company, but Fox News is generally much more conservative than Fox Network.
broadwayunderstudies.com - most underrated performers on broadway
#12

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 1:42pm

Did anyone see Never Been Thawed? I saw trailers for it a couple of years ago and it looked pretty funny... anyway, that's the writers' (Sean Anders and John Morris) only credit.

The producers have done some stinkers, though (Happy Hour, Twenty Good Years...).

Sigh.
broadwayunderstudies.com - most underrated performers on broadway
#16

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 3:09pm

True. I didn't really make a seperation b/t Fox and Fox News.
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
#19

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 3:17pm

This does sound pretty bad...but who knows? Maybe it'll surprise us (although it seems highly unlikely). Oh well, I'll probably be watching the first few episodes, at least.
#20

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 4:32pm

The really fustrating thing is that having commited to this he can't take any other gigs ( esp pilots) unless/until this one definately doesn't get picked up. If it get a greenlight I'll watch it for Norb but agree that the descrition doesn't inspire much.
#22

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 5:23pm

Rath, actors do not appreciate when people put down their roles - they feel insulted, even if the intention is good. I've heard this from actors in this situation.

Probably 90% of pilots never make it to air in the first place, so it's a bit odd that they're making such a big deal about just the casting news, Tony winner or not.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
#23

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 5:33pm

Eh. Maybe Norbie will make it good.
One time, Patti LuPone punched me in the face...


It was awesome. - theaterkid1015
#24

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 5:34pm

orangeskittles, I thought that as well. So many pilots get made, so why are they making such a big deal about this one? I remember that for his last pilot, Reuters had something about it as well. Maybe there's a Butz fan employed?

Either way, if the pilot makes it, we'll see how it turns out. If it doesn't, well, I hope he comes back to Broadway. But if he wants to pursue the screen, so be it. Though, I know a lot of theatre fans- including myself- who will be upset, but oh well, it's his career.
#25

re: Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

Posted: 2/5/07 at 5:37pm

I thought a pilot was never made last time - he just had a deal with CBS. If a pilot was made, was a synopsis ever released?
broadwayunderstudies.com - most underrated performers on broadway

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