Superior Donuts is a TV sitcom

Posted: 2/2/17 at 9:51am

http://nypost.com/2017/01/31/cbs-serves-up-funny-fresh-superior-donuts/

[regnad kcin]

Posted: 2/2/17 at 12:10pm

Hank Steuver in the Washington Post did not think too highly of this. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/superior-donuts-doesnt-come-close-to-filling-the-diversity-hole-in-cbss-schedule/2017/01/31/70de67d4-e70e-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?utm_term=.91cc416cc5e7

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 2/2/17 at 3:21pm

It's interesting to compare the sitcom to the play on Broadway in 2009 -- which I called sitcom-like!

 

Superior Donuts Review: A Play Like A Sitcom



(Interesting to note that the store owner next door to the donut shop was Russian in the play. He's now Iraqi.)

 

[Sunshine!]

Posted: 2/2/17 at 3:23pm

I don't think you know what interesting means. 

[willep]

Posted: 2/2/17 at 3:34pm

As Inigo Montoya would say, you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 2/2/17 at 3:34pm

It's interesting that you say that. :)

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 2/2/17 at 9:38pm

Seems like kindof a harsh reception for NewYorkTheater just pointing out something. BWW has no chill lately... 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/3/17 at 2:20am

I laughed some ...will give it another chance.  

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 2/3/17 at 9:00am

Thank you Mr. Nowack.

 

I watched last night, curious.   The attempts at topical jokes largely didn't work for me. At one point Franco tells the woman cop he must trust her because he is turning his back on a Chicago cop. This might seem pointed and cutting-edge on paper, but it was delivered sitcom-light, complete with laugh track, and the result was fangless and tasteless. It felt as if it were trivializing something serious.

I saw no mention of Tracy Letts in the credits. It's unlikely he has anything to do with the sitcom

[thommg]

Posted: 2/3/17 at 11:02am

Never saw the play so I don't know how the sitcom holds p against it. I laughed out loud a few times, enjoyed the actors and would watch this again. First episodes are hard because they have to give you the exposition and context of the show yet play like a show we know. This show did the exposition in a rather formulaic manner but managed to set up a few things that could pay off down the line. if you look at the first episodes of many popular sitcoms, you'll find that the characters were reshaped as they went along, i.e, Karen in Will & Grace, Rose & Blanche in The Golden Girls. I liked the relationship between Judd Hirsch and Jermaine Fowler so I'm in to see where this will go. 

[wonkit]

Posted: 2/3/17 at 3:34pm

Saw the play. Not sit-com material. I also doubt Tracy Letts is involved - except to let them use the name and characters for a totally different message and medium.

[AngelBaby]

Posted: 2/3/17 at 4:40pm

Are there any other examples of a stage play being adapted for television. 

The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park are two that come to mind, but they were also adapted to film before they made the jump to the small screen. I was thinking more of stage plays that made the leap directly to the small screen. 

I can't think any off the top of my head. 

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 2/3/17 at 11:18pm

A little Internet searching produced a dozen, most of them way in the past, including 

The Front Page

The Hot L Baltimore ("short-lived sitcom produced by Norman Lear in 1975"

You Can’t Take It With You (just 3 episodes)

Bus Stop (1961-62)

Mister Roberts

Dracula

[Mekroth]

Posted: 2/4/17 at 1:58am

It's British but the show Chewing Gum started as a play.

[Wee Thomas2]

Posted: 2/4/17 at 9:49am

we loved the play and were prepared to hate the sitcom, but it wasn't terrible.

 

And the Iraqi guy (Maz Jobrani from the Colbert Report and elsewhere) isn't a neighboring shop owner, he's trying to buy up the buildings in the neighborhood, including Superior Donuts, as the neighborhood gentrifies.

[AngelBaby]

Posted: 2/4/17 at 7:22pm

NewYorkTheater said: "A little Internet searching produced a dozen, most of them way in the past, including 

The Front Page

The Hot L Baltimore ("short-lived sitcom produced by Norman Lear in 1975"

You Can’t Take It With You (just 3 episodes)

Bus Stop (1961-62)

Mister Roberts

Dracula

 

The Front Page, You Can't Take It With You,  Bus Stop, Mister Roberts and Dracula were all films before being adapted into television shows. I wanted to know if there were other plays that were adapted into television shows without being preceded by a film adaptation. 

 

[Menken Fan]

Posted: 2/5/17 at 1:57pm

I have a recording of the 1991 TV pilot for The Nerd, based on the 1987 Larry Shue play.  It starred Robert Joy from the original play and from the most recent Sideshow revival.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 2/6/17 at 8:09am

Wee Thomas 2:

Here is a description of the character from the L.A. Times review:

"Fawz (Maz Jobrani), an Iraqi immigrant and wannabe real estate tycoon who runs the dry-cleaning place next door."

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 2/6/17 at 7:41pm

I wonder if the Brian D'Arcy James scrapped pilot will ever see the light of day.

[Wee Thomas2]

Posted: 2/7/17 at 9:05am

Correct, NYT.  Wanna be real estate tycoon more sums up the character than shop owner next door