CBS capped off the TCA winter press tour today, and representing America’s most watched network was CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler. Admittedly nervous up on stage, she praised two breakout series introduced on the network in the fall: Michael Patrick King’s 2 Broke Girls and Jonathan Nolan’s Person of Interest. Tassler (and later at his own panel King) defended the ballsy comedy 2 Broke Girls by calling it an “equal opportunity offender.” If you watch the show, you are well aware that the characters use the word “vagina” quite often. Tassler doesn’t mind, and believes you shouldn’t either. “Vagina’s not indecent,” she said. “The note we give is we actually want to use it more. So that’s how that goes. As a woman in my job, I have no problem hearing it, saying it; it’s part of my physical body.” Later King argued, “The show is sophisticated and naughty and I think everyone likes a good naughty joke. I feel no need to pull away from the brand of 2 Broke Girls, which is basically ballsy, in-your-face and hopefully funny.” He described the show as “classy-dirty,” “high low-brow” and “fun and sophisticated and naughty — and I think everybody likes a good naughty joke.” The 2 Broke Girls panel heated up quickly as critics started flinging King questions about the way stereotypes are used in the show, specifically with the Asian character Han (the owner of the diner). “I like Han,” King said. “I like his character. I like the fact he’s an immigrant. I like that he’s trying to fit into America. I like the fact in the last three episodes we haven’t made an Asian joke, we’ve only made short jokes…Would you say the ‘blonde rich bitch’ is a stereotype? Would you say that the tough‑ass, dark, sarcastic‑mouthed waitress is a stereotype? I like all of them.” Soon after he shouted, “I’m gay! I’m putting in gay stereotypes every week. I don’t find any of it offensive, any of it. I find it comic to take everybody down.” Critic: “Does being a part of one traditionally disenfranchised group give you carte blanche to make fun of other traditionally disenfranchised groups?” King: “No. You could rephrase that. I would say being a comedy writer gives you permission to be an outsider and poke fun at what people think about other people.”
So yeah, the 2 Broke Girls panel was a heated debate between the series creator and the TCA critics. Later things cooled down and King concluded: “People pull away from something if it’s not in good taste, and people lean into something if it’s OK. And week after week, more and more people are leaning in to 2 Broke Girls. There’s something there that they feel OK about.” Also touched upon…the actual goings-on in the show! “One of the important realities of 2 Broke Girls is the word broke,” said King. “And we try to deal [realistically] with how much money moves through their life. I don’t foresee a way the girls could raise $350,000 in a season [and open a bakery]. I don’t foresee them leaving the diner. I like them in the diner.”
Moving on to Person of Interest. Didn’t that last episode before the holiday hiatus feel like a season finale? There’s a reason for that: the producers were planning on Carter to join Finch and Reese towards the latter end of the first season. Tassler explained: “We felt that the Carter [Taraji P. Henson] character was somewhat marginalized. We felt that the Carrter character was too peripheral, [so] we asked [producers] if they were open to bringing [her] into the superhero cave. It was a plan that they had in place, but more for the end of the season. We asked them if they were open to moving that up. We felt it was a key ingredient to [help] the show grow and expand.” So there you go.
What else? A clean-shaved Ashton Kutcher is interested in returning to the revamped Two and a Half Men for (at least) another season; negotiations are currently underway to renew his contract…How I Met Your Mother is having an exceptionally great year and the producers plan to continue it until they run out of good ideas (“We totally might want to go beyond Season 8,” said co-creator Carter Bays)…Tassler wants CSI and all the spinoff series on the air for as long as possible (“I’d love to see the CSIs run forever,” she said. “Nothing runs forever. How you handle it, the most important thing is how you respect your audience, how you respect your cast, and being incredibly sensitive to how you wrap up any show when it ends a successful run. But we are in those talking stages now (about how to end the CSIs).”…On Rob Schneider’s new sitcom Rob: “Well, we haven’t traditionally been the beneficiaries of great reviews,” Tassler admitted. It’s not Downton Abbey, but it’s great. Rob is fantastic. We’ll just need to see.”…Tassler on The Good Wife‘s move to Sunday nights: “The show feels like a better fit on Sunday night. More importantly, the audience that doeswatch the show on Sunday is more upscale, more female and very engaged.”…Midseason drama NYC 22 (formally The 2-2) is set to premiere this spring.
And with all that said, the four big networks have concluded their panels at 2012 TCA winter press tour. They reconvene once more this year in the summer. ‘Til then!