Undateable is already doing the unthinkable by going live every week on the East Coast, and now they decided to take it even further. NBC announced that not only will they go live at 8p ET every Friday night; they will also do a live show for the West Coast. That’s right, they will do two live shows every week, which hasn’t been done since, heck I don’t know when, if ever.
Why are they doing this? I am assuming that the cast and crew really enjoy what they are doing and want to keep this sitcom on the air. Actually a few weeks ago, Ron Funches, who plays Shelly, told me just that when I asked him how he reacted when they found out they would be doing the whole 3rd season live. He said, “We were just very excited that we were going to be able to come back. It was always up in the air, so just knowing we were going to come back, come back in the fall with a bunch of support, is nice.” Then he added, “If we have to do it live, if we have to do it underwater, then we’ll do it that way.” As of now, there are no plans to do the show underwater. But how cool would that be?
One thing they are doing is they are interacting with the fans on social media and promoting the show even on their days off. Funches explained why they are interacting with their fans by Tweeting, using Periscope and even a real phone (313-525-2014), “We’ll be just doing anything we can to keep this show alive and in people’s minds.” Then he added, “That is what it has been all about. The only we survive, is that we have a lot of fans online that get the word out. We are not going to run away from that now. We are fully invested in it. That’s how we are alive, fans are like we like this show.”
For the most part, Undateable is Funches first big role and he is loving his time on the set. He described it as, “It is a lot of fun, especially if it is always something you wanted to do your whole life. You are like, oh man, this is cool. Because sometimes you are like this is for real and then you look up and, oh no, this is real fake.” One thing he can’t fake is his friendship with everyone there. He told us he loves that he gets paid to come in and chat with his friends.
We are happy, he’s getting paid to make us laugh with his signature giggle every week. His giggle is just one of the many reasons to tune in, but there are so many others. What other show would do Summer Nights like that? What show would go live not once, but twice every week? What show would give us new ways to have fun with friends like Slow Motion Celebration? There’s just so much to enjoy and the risks they are taking by going live every week shows how far they are willing to go to get us to watch. Because actors don’t like us to see them mess up, and already this season we have seen all but one of them screw up. Don’t worry Brent Morin is making up for that one person who hasn’t. Poor Brent!
So tune in tonight to see if this is the week that Bianca Kajlich will finally break. More importantly tune in for a show that will make you laugh and laugh and laugh some more. I promise you will it enjoy so much, you will want to have a Slow Motion Celebration when it is done and so much more!
