Bravo Announces Debut of Situation: Comedy Reality Competition Series  6/1/05

BRAVO ANNOUNCES DEBUT OF 'SITUATION: COMEDY', NEW REALITY-COMPETITION SERIES FROM SEAN HAYES AND TODD MILLINER WITH TWO-HOUR PREMIERE ON TUESDAY, JULY 26

Series Takes Viewers Through the Process of Finding the 'Next Great Sitcom'

BURBANK - June 1, 2005 - Emmy Award winner Sean Hayes (NBC's "Will & Grace") and producing partner Todd Milliner will premiere their new reality-competition series "Situation: Comedy" on Bravo with a two-hour debut on Tuesday, July 26 (8-10 p.m. ET/PT) featuring one-hour consecutive episodes at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Bravo's new series will allow viewers to go behind the scenes of national television as neophyte writers will earn the opportunity to produce and sell a sitcom - but the eavesdropping audience will give the final thumbs-up by choosing the winning entry that will be broadcast on Bravo.

"The death of the sitcom has received significant attention in the media, and it's no secret that viewers have now turned their interests to reality based programming, said Lauren Zalaznick, President, Bravo. "What Situation: Comedy does is provide a sneak peek into the funny and not so funny moments and challenges behind making a sitcom pilot that will keep viewers laughing."

The producers of "Situation: Comedy" have scoured the country looking for the hottest undiscovered writing talent at colleges, in comedy theater groups and even writing classes. Each candidate submitted an original sitcom script. Producers have received over 10,000 scripts.

After producers and experienced show-runners Stan Zimmerman ("Gilmore Girls") and Maxine Lapiduss ("Roseanne") narrowed the field to five semi-finalists, the lucky five writers were flown to Los Angeles, where they were thrown into the deep end of the creative pitching pool. They then submitted their ideas to NBC network executives who green-lighted two of the scripts to go into production as 15-minute presentations - shot by two very recognizable directors, Fred Savage ("The Wonder Years") and Amanda Bearse ("Married with Children").

The final two "wannabe" writers (or writing teams) were thrust immediately into the high-energy, high-stress world of television production. Viewers will be with them as they meet their staffs and find that they have to share many of their key staffers.

In addition, audiences will watch the entire process through casting, set design, rewrites, rehearsals, taping and post-production. In the end, they will see each completed presentation and can vote online for the sitcom they believe should get a shot for broadcast on television. The winner will receive a cash prize of $25,000 and exclusive representation for one year with a major Hollywood talent agency to further help launch a successful writing career in film or television.

"Situation: Comedy" was developed by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner. Multiple Emmy-winners Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner are executive producers together with Hayes and Milliner. "Situation: Comedy" is a HazyMills production in association with Shapiro/Grodner Productions.