Help me out please…

[TVLegend]

I’m considering writing a fictional sitcom that follows and is about an average, dysfunctional but yet devoted, caring, and close knit family of eight: (two parents, six children: three boys and three girls) as they endure numerous arguments, bickering, fights, situations, and adventures. I haven’t come up with a name for the show yet. The father, who is characterized as strict, frugal, levelheaded, fiercely ill tempered, grumpy, humble, occasionally insulting, and sometimes slobby is a regular at a well known local bar/hotel/night club, which happens to be his favorite hangout. The mother is a housewife who is characterized as humorously cheeky, apprehensive, worrisome, embarrassing, bossy, irrepressible, naive, and hypocritical, who can be at times a show off. The grandparents (the father’s mother and father) and one of the father’s best friends are frequent recurring characters.

Here are my questions:

What should the name of the show be?

What should be the kid’s characteristics?

How old should the kids be? (Maybe one or two should be in middle school and the oldest one should be finishing high school.)

What should be the kids’s names?

How old should the parents be?

What should the parents’s names?

How old should the grandparents be?

What should be the grandparents’s characteristics?

What should be the grandparents’s names?

What should be the name of the fictional town the show is set in?

What should the father’s job be?

What should the name of the father’s job be?

Who should be the mayor of the town the show is set in? (What should be his name, what are his characteristics, and what is his background like?)

What should be one of the father’s best friends’s name?

What should be one of the father’s best friends’s characteristics?

What should be the name of the father’s favorite hangout?

[TVLegend]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

Title: just an opinion, of course, but I think titles attract more interest if they refer to specific people or places, instead of to concepts (for instance "Bustin' Loose").

Good point!

[GentlemanJim]

I think the father's first name should be Eldebuell, and he should be 12 years older than his wife. And be possessed by jealousy whenever any man says more than three words to his wife, in any setting.

They should have 3 kids, the oldest of which being a daughter who is just old enough to recognize the jealousy bit when there is a rift because of it. And the daughter thinks this is quaintly funny. Parroting against her own boy friends the behavior she observes her mother use that often leads to those jealous episodes,

The mother loves her husband, yet is tormented by the jealousy, and often goes to great lengths to insulate her every day dealings, just to avoid giving rise to the jealousy. Which makes the husband all the more suspicious.

[TVLegend]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

I think the father's first name should be Eldebuell, and he should be 12 years older than his wife. And be possessed by jealousy whenever any man says more than three words to his wife, in any setting.

They should have 3 kids, the oldest of which being a daughter who is just old enough to recognize the jealousy bit when there is a rift because of it. And the daughter thinks this is quaintly funny. Parroting against her own boy friends the behavior she observes her mother use that often leads to those jealous episodes,

The mother loves her husband, yet is tormented by the jealousy, and often goes to great lengths to insulate her every day dealings, just to avoid giving rise to the jealousy. Which makes the husband all the more suspicious.

Good idea, except I would change a couple of things. I want a different first name than Eldebuell, it doesn’t suit and it doesn’t seem right for a strict, frugal, levelheaded, fiercely ill tempered, grumpy, humble, occasionally insulting, and sometimes slobby father who is a family man and the breadwinner of the family and is a regular at a well known local bar/hotel/night club. Eldebuell will be his middle name though. He is also occasionally lascivious and flirtatious towards his wife. Actually, rather than him being 12 years older than his wife, I think they should be closer in age. How about him being 4 or 5 years older than his wife? I like the father being jealous of a man even if he’s just introducing himself to his wife idea even though it won’t happen in every episode, just frequently throughout the seasons. I think they should have 6 kids (three sons, three daughters) to provide more entertainment and comedic and family situations, it wouldn’t be as fun with two parents and only 3 kids, just my opinion. And I think the oldest kid should be a son in his last year of high school who sometimes can recognize the jealousy but doesn’t think it’s funny at all while the second oldest, a daughter, who is in her first year of high school thinks it’s quaintly funny. I don’t want to give her a boyfriend quite yet but maybe in the sixth or seventh episode she’ll develop a first true crush. And I think the third or fourth oldest might be another son who is into heavy metal/rock garage band practice with his three friends, who his parents don’t appreciate or approve of. The grandparents visit the house occasionally, mostly for breakfast and dinner, especially the grandmother, who is critical of her daughter-in-law, whom she just flat out treats like crap. She is also overprotective of her son and thinks that no woman is good enough for her son.

[opus]

Originally Posted by TVLegend

I’m considering writing a fictional sitcom that follows and is about an average, dysfunctional but yet devoted, caring, and close knit family of eight: (two parents, six children: three boys and three girls) as they endure numerous arguments, bickering, fights, situations, and adventures. I haven’t come up with a name for the show yet. The father, who is characterized as strict, frugal, levelheaded, fiercely ill tempered, grumpy, humble, occasionally insulting, and sometimes slobby is a regular at a well known local bar/hotel/night club, which happens to be his favorite hangout. The mother is a housewife who is characterized as humorously cheeky, apprehensive, worrisome, embarrassing, bossy, irrepressible, naive, and hypocritical, who can be at times a show off. The grandparents (the father’s mother and father) and one of the father’s best friends are frequent recurring characters.

Here are my questions:

What should the name of the show be?

What should be the kid’s characteristics?

How old should the kids be? (Maybe one or two should be in middle school and the oldest one should be finishing high school.)

What should be the kids’s names?

How old should the parents be?

What should the parents’s names?

How old should the grandparents be?

What should be the grandparents’s characteristics?

What should be the grandparents’s names?

What should be the name of the fictional town the show is set in?

What should the father’s job be?

What should the name of the father’s job be?

Who should be the mayor of the town the show is set in? (What should be his name, what are his characteristics, and what is his background like?)

What should be one of the father’s best friends’s name?

What should be one of the father’s best friends’s characteristics?

What should be the name of the father’s favorite hangout?

Isn’t the main part of being a writer that YOU come with the all the ideas and concepts and that it’s YOUR vision? I know you can do it

Any plans to post the finished script here?

[TVLegend]

Originally Posted by opus

Isn’t the main part of being a writer that YOU come with the all the ideas and concepts and that it’s YOUR vision? I know you can do it

Any plans to post the finished script here?

I just wanted to see your reaction to my question and I need your help. And I guess it’s just writer block but I can’t come up with answers to the questions I asked yet.

I might post the script here when I finish, I’m thinking about it. I don’t have any plans on going far with the show. It’s just something fictionalized that I was imagining on a network.

[opus]

Originally Posted by TVLegend

I just wanted to see your reaction to my question and I need your help. And I guess it’s just writer block but I can’t come up with answers to the questions I asked yet.

I might post the script here when I finish, I’m thinking about it. I don’t have any plans on going far with the show. It’s just something fictionalized that I was imagining on a network.

Seems like you’re headed in the right direction. If it gets overwhelming just put it aside for a bit till you recharge.

Oh, and if you toss a “Valerie” in there I’ll definitely read it

[Charley Knox]

1. Cut the # of kids down to 3 max.
2. What does the father and mother do for a living?
3. What is the family's race?

[TVLegend]

Originally Posted by opus

Seems like you’re headed in the right direction. If it gets overwhelming just put it aside for a bit till you recharge.

Oh, and if you toss a “Valerie” in there I’ll definitely read it

Thanks opus

I might toss a so called “Valerie” in there. Actually, I was thinking Valerie Bertinelli herself fit the description visually of one of the guest characters I’ve come up with so far. I haven’t come up with a name for her yet either, though, but she would play one of the mayor’s pitiful, vulnerable, depressed, gloomy sisters, who recently came to town after a recent divorce and soon after seeks comfort in one of the father’s best friends, much to the mayor’s dismay and disapproval.

[TVLegend]

Originally Posted by Charley Knox

1. Cut the # of kids down to 3 max.
2. What does the father and mother do for a living?
3. What is the family's race?

1. Sorry, I know you and GentlemenJim wanted me to cut the number of kids down to 3 max, but I prefer 6. I know it’s a lot of kids, but that way it will be more interesting and will set up more comedic and family situations.

2. I’m undecided on what the father does for a living. The only things that come to mind is a hardware salesman, manager of a dry cleaning store, safety inspector at a toy factory, a construction worker, and a locksmith and half of those don’t exactly suit an upper middle class family. Dry cleaning store manager does sound acceptable though. The mother is a housewife.

3. The family is white.

[Charley Knox]

Originally Posted by TVLegend

1. Sorry, I know you and GentlemenJim wanted me to cut the number of kids down to 3 max, but I prefer 6. I know it’s a lot of kids, but that way it will be more interesting and will set up more comedic and family situations.

2. I’m undecided on what the father does for a living. The only things that come to mind is a hardware salesman, manager of a dry cleaning store, safety inspector at a toy factory, a construction worker, and a locksmith and half of those don’t exactly suit an upper middle class family. Dry cleaning store manager does sound acceptable though. The mother is a housewife.

3. The family is white.

You can let the father have a soul sucking career in upper corporate management. That way he makes a 6 figure salary and can maybe afford 6 kids. And because of hatred for his demanding job and troubles at home, this could be used as his motivation to hang out at the bar and fantasize about being a famous writer and womanizer like Hemingway.

[TVLegend]

Originally Posted by Charley Knox

You can let the father have a soul sucking career in upper corporate management. That way he makes a 6 figure salary and can maybe afford 6 kids. And because of hatred for his demanding job and troubles at home, this could be used as his motivation to hang out at the bar and fantasize about being a famous writer and womanizer like Hemingway.

That sounds interesting and intriguing! The father can be the upper management of the dry cleaning store which will make a good salary to support the family. And I like the hatred for his demanding jobs and trouble at home and him fantasizing part especially.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by TVLegend

Good idea, except I would change a couple of things. I want a different first name than Eldebuell, it doesn’t suit and it doesn’t seem right for a strict, frugal, levelheaded, fiercely ill tempered, grumpy, humble, occasionally insulting, and sometimes slobby father who is a family man and the breadwinner of the family and is a regular at a well known local bar/hotel/night club. Eldebuell will be his middle name though. He is also occasionally lascivious and flirtatious towards his wife. Actually, rather than him being 12 years older than his wife, I think they should be closer in age. How about him being 4 or 5 years older than his wife? I like the father being jealous of a man even if he’s just introducing himself to his wife idea even though it won’t happen in every episode, just frequently throughout the seasons. I think they should have 6 kids (three sons, three daughters) to provide more entertainment and comedic and family situations, it wouldn’t be as fun with two parents and only 3 kids, just my opinion. And I think the oldest kid should be a son in his last year of high school who sometimes can recognize the jealousy but doesn’t think it’s funny at all while the second oldest, a daughter, who is in her first year of high school thinks it’s quaintly funny. I don’t want to give her a boyfriend quite yet but maybe in the sixth or seventh episode she’ll develop a first true crush. And I think the third or fourth oldest might be another son who is into heavy metal/rock garage band practice with his three friends, who his parents don’t appreciate or approve of. The grandparents visit the house occasionally, mostly for breakfast and dinner, especially the grandmother, who is critical of her daughter-in-law, whom she just flat out treats like crap. She is also overprotective of her son and thinks that no woman is good enough for her son.

Well, if you really weren't interested in suggestions, you should have said so!

LOL, it sounds like you pretty much already know what you want to do...enjoy.

[TVLegend]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

Well, if you really weren't interested in suggestions, you should have said so!

LOL, it sounds like you pretty much already know what you want to do...enjoy.

I am, but sometimes I don’t agree with some parts of suggestions or just some suggestions in general.