Netflix isn’t the only new media company upping their game and diving into the original content game, as Amazon Studios has also put half-a-dozen TV pilots in motion. One comedy pilot in particular sounds like it could be a killer: The Onion Presents: The News will be a scripted, narrative show about the behind-the-scenes goings on at the Onion News Network.
So their take on The Newsroom basically?
It’s hard to tell exactly what tone this will go for, but I assume they’ll play the Onion News Network straight. The story is said to revolve around inter-office politics as the aged lead anchor struggles against a younger rival (not unlike Anchorman). The beautiful thing is that Jeffrey Tambor has been cast as that aged lead anchor. As his years on the Larry Sanders show demonstrate, putting Tambor in a TV production/office context is a recipe for intensely funny things to happen. Seriously, if you only know the man from Arrested Development (on which he is also brilliant), go dive into The Larry Sanders show on Instant Watch right away.
The perfect match of casting and material can make a project go from “oh, that’s cool” to something we all need in our lives right away, and this is just such an example. It is a good thing we have some Tambor action coming up with the return of Arrested Development to hold us over…
