Butz to play 'Chicken' for Fox

[shesamarshmallow]

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)

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

[parislover87]

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...

[folkyboy]

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...

[RentBoy86]

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.

[Rathnait62]

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

Wow, does this sound awful.

[SueleenGay]

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

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

[shesamarshmallow]

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.

[tazber]

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!

[singtopher]

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.

[Rathnait62]

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

Fox is not FoxNews.

[shesamarshmallow]

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.

[shesamarshmallow]

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.

[MimiLovesRoger]

Posted: 2/5/07 at 1:59pm

That's so cool! I can't wait.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 2/5/07 at 2:03pm

Remember "The Loop" from last year? No? Right.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 2/5/07 at 3:04pm

Playbill Article:
Tony Winner Norbert Leo Butz Lands New Fox Pilot "Playing Chicken"

[singtopher]

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

True. I didn't really make a seperation b/t Fox and Fox News.

[alliez92092]

Posted: 2/5/07 at 3:11pm

Eh. I'll watch it for Norbert.

Wait, Sherie's definitely been cast in Little Mermaid?

[gumbo2]

Posted: 2/5/07 at 3:14pm

Yep, there were some threads about it last week.

[Rachel2789]

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.

[sabrelady]

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.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 2/5/07 at 4:35pm

"'...we can make the conservative one handicapped!!'"

Isn't that redundant?

[orangeskittles]

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.

[Raviolisun]

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

Eh. Maybe Norbie will make it good.

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

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.

[shesamarshmallow]

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?