NBC Cancels Dane Cook's "Next Caller" Before It Airs

[JamesG]

NBC’s "Next Caller" Not Going Forward
By NELLIE ANDREEVA
Friday October 12, 2012


EXCLUSIVE: NBC has pulled the plug on midseason comedy series "Next Caller". The network in May had given the Dane Cook-starring project a six-episode order. After filming four of them, I hear network brass had decided that creatively the series was not going in the direction they had hoped for.

Production on the series, produced by Lionsgate TV and Universal TV, has stopped, and the produced episodes won’t air.





Created and executive produced by Stephen Falk, "Next Caller" stars Cook as a foul-mouthed satellite radio DJ forced to share the mic with a chipper NPR feminist (Collette Wolfe).

Jeffrey Tambor, Joy Osmanski and Wolé Parks co-star.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/10/next...ed-nbc-series/

[TMC]

http://splitsider.com/2013/06/dane-c...of-the-hustle/

I have a secret. A dark, terrible secret that I have trouble even admitting to myself: I don’t hate Dane Cook. I know I should. Practically ever since Dane Cook arrived on the national stage over a decade ago, his critics have been extremely vocal. He has been accused of being a joke thief, a douche, and plain old not funny.

However, despite all of these accusations, Cook is arguably the most successful standup comic working today. Numerous film roles, stadium gigs, and a double platinum comedy album (a feat not accomplished since Steve Martin’s A Wild and Crazy Guy in 1978) are just a few of the stand out accomplishments Cook has accrued throughout his career. And yet, naysayers within the comedy community constantly hound the man. Like a lot of comedians that have been covered in this series, Dane Cook’s career often seems like the twist ending of a Twilight Zone episode: he is incredibly successful, yet no one seems to like him.

Ironically, Cook’s most vocal critics have arisen from the Internet, a relatively new technology during the 1990s and early 2000s that Dane Cook, as a struggling standup comic, exploited expertly to become the comedy sensation that he is today. It was through MySpace that Cook was able to brand himself while working as a touring standup comic and cultivate a strong following among college kids throughout the US. Certainly, Cook has proved that he has quite a bit of entrepreneurial acumen, but is he funny?

[catlover79]

Wow. Did NBC even air any promos for this show?

[robyrob]

its no secret; Dane Cook isn't funny - he's a douche-bag. Douche-bags find him funny, or pretend to like him because they think he's hip or cool or something.

Whatever, i think NBC dodged a bullet by pulling the plug on this before it aired.

[EmoJoe]

Originally Posted by catlover79

Wow. Did NBC even air any promos for this show?

Nope, they basically pretended it never happened. I have to wonder what went wrong for NBC to bail on it so hard.

[catlover79]

Hmmm. I remember back in 1997, Scott Baio was going to star in a Fox sitcom that was cancelled before a single episode aired. I don't even remember the name of the show.

[Retro4Life]

All I can say about this news is

[UMFaninMD]

Originally Posted by robyrob

its no secret; Dane Cook isn't funny - he's a douche-bag. Douche-bags find him funny, or pretend to like him because they think he's hip or cool or something.

Whatever, i think NBC dodged a bullet by pulling the plug on this before it aired.

Agreed. He and his brand of "comedy" is more painful than getting a root canal.