The Big Bang Theory creator Chuck Lorre could take his cell phone and record a video as he's in an automatic car wash, and there's some network out there that would order it to series. Such is the ratings power that the man commands. We probably won't be getting any hard ratings numbers for his newest project, the weed-laced comedy Disjointed, which is headed to Netflix and its millions of consumers. Two points for the punny title, Chuck.
That's right, Chuck Lorre is going to load the bowl with subject matter that wouldn't feel very much at home in the CBS landscape that the producer's biggest hits have aired on. The multi-camera Disjointed, which landed a 20-episode first season, will focus on a woman who has devoted part of her life to spreading the good word about marijuana legalization, eventually finding her dreams coming true when she gets to run her own weed dispensary in Los Angeles. She won't be alone in her new job, either, which will be helped along by her 20-something son, three employees dubbed "budtenders" and a troubled security guard. Viewers can expect everyone to be as lit up as the California sun, so expect some hazy cinematography.
And who will be playing the central pot-promoting mom?
Emmy Award- and Academy Award-winning actress Kathy Bates, that's who. Having tackled the past three seasons of American Horror Story, Bates continues to prove why she's such an excellent asset on both the big and small screens. This should be an intriguing spot for her, as "Netflix weed comedy" isn't the first thing one would envision her starring in.
The hope is that Disjointed will offer up a genuinely amusing type of weed humor that isn't just aiming for lowest common denominator jokes. Chuck Lorre's co-creator and co-writer on the comedy is David Javerbaum, a former writer for The Daily Show, Late Show with David Letterman and Late Late Show with James Corden, along with several awards telecasts. He brings major potential for sharp with, even on a broad spectrum. And Netflix proved it can deliver a different kind of multi-camera comedy with Ashton Kutcher and Sam Elliott's The Ranch, which shoots for any and all reactions it can get, earning laughs and emotional pause quite often.
There's two things I want from Disjointed right off the top. I want to know that Snoop Dogg is making a cameo in this show, so that I don't have to live in wonder. And I want the studio audience to be stoned as well, so that the laughter sounds really distinct.
Weed-centered shows are becoming all the more noticeable on TV each year, with Broad City and...that one show, whatever it's called...as the silliest examples of the sticky sub-genre. So I'm anxious to see what the Netflix version will look like. And while we wait for the buzz to take hold, check out everything else hitting the streaming service with our premiere schedule.
