Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Back on the box with a bang
Robin Williams plays the lead in a new TV comedy about an eccentric advertising executive who runs a business with his daughter
TWilliams and Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar playing a father and daughter in a family business, takes place in the world of advertising.
Returning to TV for the first time since Mork & Mindy went off the air in 1982, Williams will play an eccentric advertising executive who employs unorthodox methods to win and keep clients.
Gellar plays the strait- laced daughter who battles to keep him from going too far.
Williams said his character took chances, and he hoped audiences would be drawn to his successes and failures as well as the relationship with his daughter.
“You have to establish a character that people buy into,” Williams told reporters at a Television Critics Association meeting in Beverly Hills.
“I think people will buy into not just my character but the relationship with everybody else. He has good ideas and bad ones.”
Producer David Kelley, known for television hits like The Practice and Ally McBeal, said Williams stuck to the script but also was given the freedom to add his own take.
“He says my words perfectly,” Kelley said.
“Then he uses his. He manages HE STAR of 1970s sitcom Mork & Mindy, Robin Williams, will be on display in his new comedy The Crazy Ones, which premieres on M-Net, tomorrow at 6pm, though the actor says the series will deliver a character that audiences can relate to. The Crazy Ones, which finds
Buffy the Vampire inside the box, then we give him a few takes where he gets to take out of it.”
“People forget that Robin is a Juilliard- trained, Oscar- winning actor,” said executive producer and pilot director Jason Winer.
“His number one goal is to make his scene partner look good.”
Co-stars Gellar and James Wolk echoed Winer, saying that Williams was more concerned with them participating in the alternate takes than himself.
And the trio’s many unused moments will be used in weekly outtakes that will air after the episodes – as they do in the pilot.
The star also emphasised that off-the-wall comedy would take a backseat to creating a likeable group of people.
After playing the wildly comic space alien Mork, Williams built a successful career in movies, performing in comedies, dramas, big Hollywood flicks and low-budget art house films. He won an Oscar in 1998 for his role in Good Will Hunting and has been nominated three other times.
The Crazy Ones will include reallife companies as clients, such as McDonald’s, which is featured in the first episode. The hamburger chain did not pay for the appearance and did not give approval to the script, Winer said.
“McDonald’s sort of organically made its way into the series,” said Winer, who added that the chain was a client of advertising exec and Kelley’s inspiration, John Montgomery.
“Using a brand is exciting because it makes the world seem more authentic. So far, no money has exchanged hands. McDonald’s did not pay anything for a role in the pilot, nor did they have approval for how they were portrayed.”
Gellar, who says she landed the role after “stalking” both Williams and Kelly, said acting alongside Williams offered her a new challenge.
“It’s like when my three-year-old says something really inappropriate, and it’s really funny but I can’t laugh,” she said.
“That’s kind of like working with Robin.” – Reuters, THR