Honesty in Hollywood is a rare commodity, so when producers confess their television show is not very good, you've got to give credit where credit's due.According to Variety, the team responsible for Fox's poorly-reviewed new comedy Do Not Disturb sent a letter to select TV critics (uh, where's mine guys?) acknowledging the poor quality of the premiere episode.
But they try to defend themselves by giving those critics a DVD of the second episode, which they claim is the actual pilot and should have aired first.
"We here at Do Not Disturb agree that by airing the 'Work Sex' episode -- before airing the actual pilot -- we created much confusion and we deserve all the criticism, the bad puns (i.e. 'an early checkout from the fall season,' 'Do Not Make in the First Place,' etc.) and, yes, even the accusation that it very well could be the final nail in the multicamera sitcom's coffin," they wrote. The letter goes on to apologize "for being the perpetrators of such bad television."
Good for them for having a sense of humor about it all. But that still won't get me to watch Do Not Disturb.
Do Not Disturb' Photos
Executive Producers John Wirth, Josh Friedman and James Middleton arrive at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Molly Stanton arrive at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Jesse Tyler Ferguson arrives at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Mark Valley arrives at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Molly Stanton arrives at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Molly Stanton arrives at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Molly Stanton arrives at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Niecy Nash and Jerry O
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Niecy Nash and Jerry O
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Niecy Nash and Jerry O
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-23-2008 @ 3:23PM
nickmagoo said...
so let's see...the pilot's great, but the next show sucks?
Reply
9-23-2008 @ 4:10PM
Richard Leach said...
I watched both episodes and they suck equally. I really don't know how the hell I sat through both of them. It was kind of like a train wreck that I just couldn't stop looking at.
Reply
9-23-2008 @ 3:31PM
JJ Forde said...
Was the pilot the birdcage episode or has it net aired yet and if it hasn't when so i can see if it is actually any better.
Reply
9-23-2008 @ 3:44PM
Oreo said...
I have seen both episodes that have aired and they both suck.
Fox really should have kept Back to You.
Reply
9-24-2008 @ 9:30AM
richard said...
I loved Jerry O'Connell in Carpoolers so much last season that I was willing to give him a chance in this Fox show.
All that goodwill has been burned.
Reply
9-23-2008 @ 7:14PM
Eddie said...
I actually kinda liked this show on a generally weak* Wednesday night.
*: assumes you share in my opinion that if I wanted to watch "reality" for entertainment I would just sell my TV and cancel the satellite
Reply
9-23-2008 @ 7:34PM
Backing Logan on this one said...
Since no one has done the obvious yet:
Where's my apology for multiple seasons of "According to Jim"? No, I don't watch it, but I own a television, so they should still apologize to me.
Reply
9-23-2008 @ 8:19PM
StillBash said...
So good to know you can produce crap like "Do not disturb" and "Worst Week" for so much less money than "Back to you" and end up with a product that is so completely unwatchable you'd rather watch mold grow.
I'm just glad Kelsey Grammer already got another project that will most likely be even better than "Back to You" because I already saw the UK original. Can hardly wait for it.
Reply
9-23-2008 @ 11:15PM
Oreo said...
Wow!!!
You said something useful and not your normal trash!
9-23-2008 @ 11:54PM
Phish said...
i have watched both episodes, and i must say, it is some of the worst television in history.
seriously, it was so bad that it hurt, real physical pain.
you know your show is in trouble when viewers start pulling out tufts of hair from various bodily locations, just to see if they are still alive.
Reply
9-24-2008 @ 10:02AM
yaksplat said...
Jerry O'Connell = good
Do Not Disturb = bad
Reply
9-24-2008 @ 1:29PM
MERVE-THE-PERVE said...
Is it really any cheaper for these nets to keep cancelling 1st year shows and replacing them with even crappier 1st year shows that they have to throw a lot of money into to even get them started. I would rather see them bring Back To You back and have them make some changes than give us this crappy show and the next 5 or 6 crappy shows that will follow this one. All the start-up money from these shows could have easily allowed BTY to have a good 5 or 6 year run while building an audience and turning a profit for them through dvds and syndication.
Reply