Next fall’s comedy pilots are holding up a mirror to the unraveling economy, with plot lines including a group of friends getting fired on the same day and a Wall Street executive losing his job and being forced to deal with his small-town family, the Hollywood Reporter says. The push comes from networks looking for recession-friendly ideas for their comedies, leading to comedies that are taking nontraditional angles and looking beyond office settings, the trade paper says.
—Aimee Picchi