AMC Renews "Comic Book Men" for 4th Season, Developing 2 More Kevin Smith Shows

[JamesG]

AMC Renews "Comic Book Men", Develops Two More Kevin Smith Shows
Mar 26, 2014
by Michael Schneider


AMC's view on Kevin Smith isn't askew. The cable network has renewed Smith's unscripted series "Comic Book Men" for a fourth season and also has two new projects from the writer/director/podcaster in development.

"Comic Book Men", which airs Sundays at Midnight/11c, has been a solid performer for AMC, averaging 1 million viewers overall and a solid 722,000 viewers in the key adults 18-49 demo.



"Kevin has more energy than almost any one else I've ever met," Joel Stillerman, AMC's executive vice president of programming, production and digital content, says.

"He seems to be in perpetual motion. And has this genuine need to entertain. He has an organic view of that word. I think he thinks making movies, TV shows, podcasts, books, pilots, for him it all falls under this broad category of entertaining people. We found him to be a great collaborator."



Smith compares working with AMC to "having he attention of the prettiest girl in school. It's like finding the most supportive friends on the planet. They can do no wrong. They're bold and glorious. Every week their audience grows. They've got something special. To be with the coolest kids in the room and they've got your back, it makes you feel relevant."







A companion series to "Comic Book Men" starring one of the show's regulars, Robert Bruce, is in development.

The new show would follow Bruce and his fellow experts as they travel around the country looking for rare geek collectibles at real estate sales, auction houses and flea markets.

Original Media will produce the show, with Smith and Charlie Corwin as executive producers.







AMC has also ordered a pilot for the late-night series "Hollywood Babble-On". The TV show would be based on the popular live show and podcast of the same name hosted by Smith and Ralph Garman (Joe Schmo Show).

Joel Stillerman says "Hollywood Babble-On" would likely air weekly, although in success he sees the possibility of doing the show nightly. "When Kevin and Ralph are deconstructing pop culture, it's different from the way a lot of other people handle it," Stillerman says. "We're now figuring out what the TV version will look like."



The idea for "Hollywood Babble-On" originally came from Garman, who produces an hourly snark-filled take on entertainment headlines for The Kevin and Bean Show on KROQ-FM Los Angeles.

Smith, a frequent guest on Kevin and Bean, grew friendly with Garman over the years and the two eventually launched "Hollywood Babble-On" as a combo live stage show and podcast. They now perform "Hollywood Babble-On" most Friday nights at the Improv comedy stage in Los Angeles, and have also taken the show on the road to several cities.



Garman and Smith have developed TV versions of "Hollywood Babble-On" in the past, including a potential syndicated project. This time, the show is being developed at AMC by Eliot Goldberg, the network's senior vice president of unscripted programming.

Earlier in his career, Goldberg was a producer on "Joe Schmo", where he became acquainted with Garman.

"A group of AMC execs came out to watch the show and fell in love with the format," Smith says. "Ralph had a vision for it. Suddenly it's starting to take root. It's such a fun thing to see because this is Ralph's baby."



"Hollywood Babble-On" will be produced by Wilshire Studios (The Soup) and executive produced by Smith, Garman and Gary Auerbach.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/AMC-Rene...n-1079698.aspx

[MacLeaper]

Yay! Glad to hear it. I love watching "Comic Book Men" when I happen to catch it. And this is one of the few reality shows I would list among favorites. Most of the time, I don't care for reality shows (particularly the "Jersey Shore" type variety and/or the "Survivor" style shows that are essentially game shows to some degree- though actual game shows I do generally enjoy.)
But with this show- it's fun to watch all the comic books and related items that come through the store and to see the camaraderie between the guys on the show and the humorous conversations they have and everything.
(It helps if you're a comic book fan- for me, it's like hanging out at the local comic book shop, which I like to do every now and then- this is exactly the kind of stuff you hear being discussed- and it's cool and fun! [Not that comic books can't and don't discuss weightier topics too though.]
I would say about the same for other shows in this category that I like as well- namely, "Pawn Stars", "American Pickers" and "Toy Hunter". (Though that last one is less about the camaraderie and more about just seeing all the cool toys from various years.) With "Pawn Stars" and "American Pickers", I actually do learn a bit of history along the way and I love history. I also love the camaraderie on these shows as well.

A companion series to "Comic Book Men" starring one of the show's regulars, Robert Bruce, is in development.

The new show would follow Bruce and his fellow experts as they travel around the country looking for rare geek collectibles at real estate sales, auction houses and flea markets.

Original Media will produce the show, with Smith and Charlie Corwin as executive producers.

I would definitely be interested in seeing that, since I also enjoy hitting up various avenues for collectibles, whether it's a real estate sale or flea market or yard sale, etc. (Haven't really done auctions though outside of online ones like Ebay.)