TVSquad

With the much-anticipated premiere of Community finally bowing tonight, I figured it was a good time to pull out the interview I did with Joel McHale when I encountered him at the NBC party during the TCA press tour. I didn't talk to McHale about his current NBC show, however; I talked to him about his previous NBC show.

Fans of the British sitcom The IT Crowd may remember that an American pilot was shot and the show was announced for NBC's midseason schedule a couple of years back, with McHale playing Roy and Richard Ayoade bringing his breakout role of Moss over from the original. Only, the pilot never saw the light of day, and a series was never picked up.

I asked McHale about what caused the show to be dropped and if he has any regrets over the show's flame-out. Then, as a person standing in front of the host of The Soup would tend to do, I asked him about what in the reality TV landscape gets him charged up. Interview is after the jump.

Fox seems to think so. It has struck a deal with Mike Fleiss, the producer of The Bachelor, to produce a new dating show in which everyone will be more "average" looking. The show will be called More To Love.

They claim it's an attempt to break the industry assumption that viewers only want to watch highly attractive people. It seems more like another attempt by reality television to use a certain type of people in exchange for some air time on a major network. But that's just me.

My big concern is that Fox is essentially taking advantage of the obesity problem in the United States. While I like the concept behind such shows as The Biggest Loser, this has the potential of being a case of freaks on display. On the other hand, if the people behave normally, it could give a good message to the public that being overweight, while not healthy, does not automatically make a person unattractive.