Sneak Peek at ABC's "It Takes a Village" with Cheyenne Jackson and Christopher Sieber

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on April 5, 2010

Cheyenne Jackson, Christopher Sieber

With shows such as Brothers & Sisters, Modern Family and the soon to be dearly missed Ugly Betty already part of its line-up, ABC has been the most gay-friendly network on television for quite some time. And that record of gay-inclusiveness is only set to increase if the network picks up the new comedy pilot It Takes a Village.

Written by Casey Johnson and David Windsor (Greek), ITAV stars Leah Remini (The King of Queens) and Christopher Sieber (It's All Relative) as two exes trying to raise their 15-year-old son while also navigating their post-divorce romantic relationships. And in the case of Sieber's character Howard, that relationship is with his new boyfriend Scott played by Cheyenne Jackson.

ABC has recently found a great deal of success with their return to the sitcom format including The Middle, Cougar Town, and, of course, Modern Family. So what might It Takes A Village look like? Would it be more like MF, a traditional family sitcom about untraditional families? Or might it be skew more toward NBC's satirical comedies such as The Office or the off-the-wall 30 Rock.

ABC's current Wednesay night lineup

AfterElton.com obtained sides from the pilot to try and get those answers, as well as to see what kind of gay men Howard and Scott might be.

For those not familiar with "sides," these are portions of a script — in this case from the pilot — used by actors auditioning for different roles. It's important to keep in mind a great deal can change about a script, especially one that is still just a pilot, at this stage. Based on network feedback, there can be rewrites, reshoots and even casting changes. Nonetheless, it’s unusual for things to change too much and the sides give some indication of what the show might look like should the network pick it up.

While the sides AfterElton.com obtained from the pilot have a darker edge than a show such as The Middle, and involves a more unconventional and complicated family situation than Modern Family, this sitcom appears as if it would fit in nicely with ABC’s current Wednesday comedy lineup which also includes Cougar Town and has an opening after the failure of Kelsey Grammer's Hank.

As for the set-up of ITAV, the pilot takes place on the day that Howard tells his ex-wife Karen and their son George that Howard and boyfriend Scott are moving in together after only dating for a few months. To further complicate matters, Howard purchased a house on the same block where Karen, George and Carl live.

As currently written, the pilot feels somewhat broad and the writing less sharp than that found in Modern Family. For the most part the characters are somewhat stock. Karen comes across as slightly neurotic, a woman not entirely over the fact that her marriage to a gay man – who was as much her best friend as husband – is over.

Meanwhile, Howard is a rather stereotypical gay man who got married and had a child before coming to terms with his sexuality. And now that he’s out, he wonders how his wife couldn’t have known the truth, something that comes out while they fight for possession of their mattress in the middle of their street.