That's Entertainment

Rebecca Neal notes that Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are developing a pilot for Fox about Internal Revenue Service employees that casts them as underdogs, and has hired a writer who has done work for The Office to write it. I have decidedly mixed feelings about this.

First, it's fantastic that two very successful Hollywood figures are seriously pursuing a show about federal employees that isn't about law enforcement officers or the military. Not that those categories of federal workers don't deserve attention, but in a world where we're about to have an NCIS spin-off, I think we can agree that the market is maybe a little over-saturated. Bones is one of the only shows that portrays federal scientists, and so any diversity in the portrayals is a net positive. I'm not necessarily sure about the choice of the IRS as the agency, if only because it's an agency that a lot of people already know exists, so it doesn't broaden public understanding of the kind of things government does. But given misconceptions about tax collection and the use of taxes, it could be useful for debunking falsehoods and humanizing the agency.

Second, I'm a tad worried about the choice of writers. The impulse to treat federal employees as deserving underdogs is a good one. But I'm concerned that the writers behind The Office and the producers behind Arrested Development won't be able to resist making them look deluded, even if their intentions are good. That has always been my concern with Parks & Recreation: that even if the folks involved are goodhearted, they look like like fools precisely because they care passionately about the process of governing.

We won't be able to tell until we get to see that pilot. But even if the project is a failure, I think the fact it's being taken seriously and attempted is a good thing.