Congratulations to Lauren Graham for landing a fat seven-figure development deal at NBC. And congrats, too, to the network for providing a new home to the under-appreciated Gilmore Girls star, who said of her acceptance into the Peacock fold, "Having spent so many years representing the frog on The WB, I amespecially comforted to be part of the only other network with ananimal mascot."
But now that they have Graham, what will NBC do with her? The hit-starved network needs to come up with something for her to do, other than play a new mutant on Heroes who stops bad guys with her disarming wit and encyclopedic store of pop-cultural references. They need ideas for new comedy or drama shows to showcase Graham, ideas like the ones you’re about to submit below.
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I hope NBC takes its time developing something really fantastic for her. She deserves it. I saw her on Conan a few weeks ago and she is one of the most genuinely funny actors I’ve ever seen on there.
I could see her as a quick-witted lawyer – maybe family law. If anyone could make divorce or custody battles funny, it would be Lauren.
Is there any way to get Aaron Sorkin or some other West Wing writers, directors, and producers involved? Match made in heaven, I say – she even made those couple of scenes she had in Studio 60 funny.
i could probably tell you what i don’t want to see her doing more than what i do want to see her doing. please please please – don’t put her on a doctor, lawyer, single girl looking for love show. that being said, how about she plays a mother who is forced to go back to work and school after her husband loses her job. now he takes over the job of watching the kids, and she does something she’s never done before – think about her own personal career goals.
I love Lauren and I would love to see her and Matthew Perry in a show together since they are longtime friends. And I second the no more Doctor/lawyer shows or single girl looking for love. Gag.
I hate to typecast her, but another Gilmore-esque role would be great. Not Lorelai per say, but something that definitely plays her wonderful ability to exchange quick wit and dialogue. AND I AGREE WITH NINEDAVES! Oh my gawd…putting her on a one of those types of shows would just be a tragic waste of extremely well-seasoned talent. I wish her well, and look forward to seeing what they come up with. I’m on board for anything that stars THE MOST CRIMINALLY OVERLOOKED, UNDERAPPRECIATED ACTRESS in the history of the Television Academy.
I like the idea of a workplace comedy, a-la Cheers…but not the usual fare. Something like Newhart…running a Hotel! hey-o!
Pair her with Matthew Perry (their interaction on “Studio 60″ was the one strong point of that show) in some fast paced witty everyday life one hour long dramadey. Strong writing, strong characters.
Since I can’t seem to come up with anything original at the moment, I’ll borrow a little bit of everyone’s ideas. Pair her with Matthew Perry in an hour-long dramedy written by Aaron Sorkin in which the two main characters are college professors (Patricia Heaton’s original idea for her sitcom with Kelsey Grammar) at a small, liberal arts college. Or, to go another way, keep her with Perry (and Sorkin writing) and have them run a minor league sports franchise, with Perry as the coach and Graham as the owner/GM. I know it sounds random and might not work, but at least it’d be different than the typical workplace show.
I would love to see Lauren playing a reporter in the 1940s. Like Rosalind Russell in “His Girl Friday” or old-school Lois Lane, minus the guy in the cape.
Put her in a really good sitcom! Where have all the good sticoms gone!
Okay, a really good dramedy would work as well – I must say, I’m liking the quick-witted lawyer idea that was posted earlier. A quick-witted executive wouldn’t be bad, either.
How about a show about a small town woman who works in a bed and breakfast and has a teenage daughter that she had in her teens…and along the way we can meet the eccentric members of this sleepy little town. Oh wait…already did that. I think she needs a semi-lead role. Like a dramedy about a family with three different kids: the high powered attorney, the gay son/daughter doctor, and the bohemian daughter who lives in a small NYC apartment. The parents lose all of their money in a gambling spree, and force the kids to come home to take care of their broke parents. She has a live-in boyfriend, but she doesn’t beleive in marriage.
Pair her with Rob Thomas for a dramedy in which she owns and tends a working class bar and plays den mother to a host of odd regulars and a pack of siblings who can’t quite get their stuff together; or match her with Greg Berlanti in a wacky family dramedy not kicked off by the death of a parent; OR reteam her with Amy Sherman-Palladino once again for a sitcom about a writer returning to the states after years of living abroad and trying to reconnect with her old life.
how about she plays an actress in Hollywood who’s insanely talented yet constantly overlooked at award time yet manages to keep her sensibility and wit. Oh, wait…
Pair her with me in a show about…well, what it’s about wouldn’t really matter.
Re: networks with animal mascots… What about Fox? Isn’t their mascot an elephant? Or is that just the “official” Republican Party?
how about a single cam about a woman who runs a late night sketch comedy show where they write nothing but sketches about a boring paper company?
oh wait, i mean, just put her in ANYTHING between 30 rock and the office.
She should not play: a cop, lawyer, or a doctor. Those professions are off limits. I like the Rosalind Russel type reporter idea. her significant other is her intellectual equal that she bounces ideas off of at night.
A single-camera workplace comedy -no steady love interest, just random hook-ups
I hope NBC doesn’t mess this up . . . god knows Lauren was misused in a huge number of sitcoms before GG came along (the one exception: NewsRadio).
I think she should pair up with the producers who did “My So-Called Life” and “Once and Again.” Those guys always do a good job.
i got an idea!!! she should star in an hour long dramdy about a rich and successful woman living in nyc, and shes living the life, dating and having a great social scene in nyc. along the way, she meets a great guy and she has these 2 great best friends and a great job working for mtv. a few mishaps happens along her journey looking for mr. right or something and the show should be called ” the big apple”
How did u manage to find a bad pic of Lauren? She looks like a blowup doll.
She should play a life coach who goes around helping “losers” gain confidence and achieve their goals by manipulating situations (like if Hitch were more about achieving your dreams as opposed to getting the girl…and if it were funny). She’d be part therapist, part con woman, part drill sargeant. And, of course, her own personal life would be a delectable mess when her fiance dies in a freak X-Games accident.
I may go register this with the WGA…
Cast Graham as the owner of an agency who people hire to break up with their significant others for them. Cast Kristen Bell, Matthew Perry, and James Franco as her employees. Her sister runs a match-making service and her parents have been happily married for 40 years. She has commitment issues, not because of some deep seated psychological issues, but because of all the horrible things she sees in the course of her work of what happens when people end relationships. Give her a great apartment, good wardrobe, and the ability to talk sense into people. And some sort of opening monologue along the lines of “We pay people to find us dates, when not pay someone to end them.”
Retooled Mary Tyler Moore show, but by Aaron Sorkin. Lauren Graham can carry off anything fast and verbal, and she’s got the effortless beauty and charm of Moore.
goodforlauren im totally digging ur idea. All u need is Rob Thomas and its a hit. Or it will be a cult hit loved by the critics and canceled in 2 seasons.
While I love LG, I don’t think she’s enough to lead a hit-worthy series. She should build a great team of stars around her with her being the lead. I’m thinking her, Margaret Cho, Lisa Kudrow, and Stanley Tucci in a 1-hour dramedy about a group of 40 somethings who get replaced by 20 somethings at a NYC ad agency (or an LA talent agency, it doesn’t matter) and find they all can’t afford their former lifestyles, so they move in together in the poor section of town and try to start their own business. Throw in a past romance subplot between LG and Tucci, and hilarity (and drama) ensues.
You could pretty much have her just reading the phone book, and I’d still watch it. And it’d still be better than the last two seasons of Gilmore Girls.
A lot of these sound like sitcoms or dramedies akin to Pepper Dennis. How about her playing Psyche (a therapist, of course) married to a guy named Cupid (a matchmaker, natch)? It could be like Xena/Hercules in that it has all the Greek gods and goddesses as caricatures of themselves.
krishnaa, it’s interesting that you mention “Pepper Dennis,” because when Rebecca Romijn had dark hair in X-Men 3, I thought she looked a lot like Lauren. Lauren acts circles around Rebecca, though!
dala, I don’t know if it was intentional, but your idea sounds just like “Sex and the City.” No offense, but the last thing I want to see Lauren in is a show about her “looking for Mr. Right.”