Friday, October 25, 2013

Sarah Silverman posts her failed NBC pilot on YouTube

Comedian Sarah Silverman posted her failed 2012 pilot for an NBC sitcom on her YouTube channel earlier this week, leaving her fans to ponder what might have been if the quirky series had been picked up by the network.

Susan 313 is about a pop singer who had one big hit in the '90s and returns to live in her old apartment, which she kept but hadn't even visited for 10 years, following a breakup with her music producer boyfriend. (That turns out to be Jeff Goldblum – watch for his cameo near the end.)


The quirky, tonally uneven show features Silverman interrupting the narrative periodically to have a therapy group chime in with comical observations about the story, as well as her character's foibles and neuroses.

And there's lots to comment on: over the course of nearly 24 minutes, Susan reconnects with a good friend she hadn't contacted in 10 years; she has casual sex with a neighbour who lets her use his bathroom; she meets another neighbour, a friendly lesbian single mom who's more damaged than she is, and she doffs her clothes to ride naked in an elevator with a younger man who loved her one album from 15 years ago.

Silverman is a unique talent who has found it hard to land acting roles in any sustained way. It's too bad this laugh-track-free dramedy wasn't given the opportunity to find its legs, or an audience, because it's much more interesting than most of sitcoms out there at the moment.

No comments: