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Television Thu Jul 22 2010
What is Going On?
I seriously don't get it. Why would WTTW, home of documentaries, British dramas and mystery series, independent movies, and other seemingly sophisticated programming create something that is so unnecessary and resembles what we can get on commercial TV?
I'm talking about "The Chicago Stand-Up Project". If we want to see the struggles of comedy, why not show us comedians trying to make it, instead of random Chicagoans who are not funny, even though they've been coached? I saw last week's episode with meteorologist Amy Freeze (not funny) and Olympian Shani Davis (a little funny), and I thought I was no longer in the nation's third largest media market.
Newsflash: there's a lot of good comedy in Chicago, and a lot of emerging comedians here, so show us them, not personalities whose placement doesn't make sense. Maybe it's really a promotional vehicle for Zanies and everyone involved with the show. It's amateur and doesn't give us any insight into how comedy is created, and it's not even entertaining.
If you want to see the second installment of this baffling production, then watch tomorrow night (Friday) at 8:30 pm. They'll probably rerun it during the weekend, just like they did last week. Which was enough for me.