Free Agents starts where most romantic comedies end — in bed.
In the opening moments of the new NBC sitcom — based on the British series of the same name — co-workers Alex (Hank Azaria), recently divorced, and Helen (Kathryn Hahn), whose fiancé died, are struggling with postcoital etiquette after their one-night stand, which, to hear the stars tell it, lets you know right off the bat that this is not your average love story.
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In fact, they call it an "anti-romantic comedy." Oh, don't worry, there'll be flirting, dates and hook-ups, but at its core, Free Agents will not have you swooning over "aww"-worthy moments. Here's why:
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NBC has ordered four more comedies, including projects from Chelsea Handler, Hank Azaria and Amanda Peet. In addition, the network has picked up Chuck for a fifth and final season, and has canceled The Event, Law & Order: Los Angeles and Outsourced.
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Based on Handler's best-selling book, Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea (which TVGuide.com had spotlighted as one of its 11 Promising Pilots) centers on an outspoken, sexually aggressive young woman (Laura Prepon) who works in a bar, where she drinks away its profits, avoids her eccentric father (Lenny Clarke) and goes ...
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Geez, who had Stiffler pegged as the career feature-film star? But I get ahead of myself. The latest pilot-casting news from Variety and the Reporter:• CBS could soon be home to three American Pie stars. Jason Biggs is a Wall Street whiz who dies in a Blackberry-related car accident and, since Hades is full, is forced to endure "Hell on earth" (aka a life devoid of his fancy career, apartment and such) in I'm in Hell. Chris Klein, meanwhile, is the series lead's best buddy in The Captain, which has also added comic Al Madrigal as a janitor.• Ricki Lake is the mom in The Middle, ABC's comedy about a lower-middle-class family in the Midwest.• Michael McKean is a low-level congressman's chief of staff in ABC's The Thick of It.• Penn Badgley (John Tucker Must Die) has joined the CW's Gossip Girls.read more