The networks may not be ready for a female late-night talk host, but at least one of them, NBC, appears to be ready for a sitcom about one. Deadline.com reports that NBC is developing “Kate on Later,” to star drama veteran and current “Parenthood” star Lauren Graham.
The new show “touches on the recent changeover in late-night that again failed to produce a female host of a network late-night show,” the story reports. “Co-written by Graham and Liz Tuccillo (‘He’s Just Not That Into You’), ‘Kate On Later’ is executive produced by daytime talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres.”
NBC has reportedly given a script commitment to the project, a single-camera comedy from Warner Bros. TV and A Very Good Production, DeGeneres’ banner.
In addition to starring, Graham is a co-executive producer on the project. DeGeneres, Tuccillo and A Very Good Production’s Jeff Kleeman are executive producers.
“Parenthood” is set to wrap its run on NBC after its current 13-episode sixth season concludes.
Lauren Graham
That’s just like NBC… they won’t put an actual female host in charge of a real late night show because they fear the ratings would be low. So what do they do? They put a fake late night show premise on with a female host. Huh?? They completely contradict themselves. I for one think that late night talk shows are ready for a female host. The primary demo for late night shows are guys 18 – 25/35. All that you need is a female host that is gorgeous that doesn’t do just “female-centric” comedy… more broad humor (no pun intended)… it would blow away the ratings for Fallon, Kimmel, etc. Even in a “sitcom” environment, Lauren Graham is NOT the right lead to hang you hat on with this project. NBC… who do you have running the network over there? Call me. You need help.