NBC gives comedy from ‘The Office’s’ Craig Robinson six-episode run
Great news for all of you who loved Craig Robinson on “The Office”: You are going to be seeing quite a bit more of him in the future.
A year after the project was originally developed over at NBC, the network has now given a green light to the show “Mr. Robinson,” which in some ways sounds almost like a hybrid of “The School of Rock” coupled with this season of “Community.” Robinson stars as a musician who decides to get a job teaching music at a music school, and ends up testing some of the limits that are in place there as he tries to make an impact on his students’ lives. The show has a commitment for six episodes, which could make it perfect to either air at the end of this season in April / May, or at some point in the 2014-15 season if there is a show that gets canceled at some point.
This is a great opportunity for Robinson to star in his own vehicle, and it marks the second show to be toplined at the moment by a former “Office” cast member. Fox already has new episodes of “The Mindy Project” that they are airing every Tuesday, and the show has mostly drawn a pretty good reception from critics. There have been some other projects that were at least considered for other actors; Rainn Wilson turned down some offers in the spring of last year before a pilot didn’t catch on, and Brian Baumgartner and Angela Kinsey each tried to star in shows that did not make it very far into the process.
Robinson has ventured away from “The Office” before for NBC, as he previously hosted a revival of “Last Comic Standing.” Ironically, the show is being revived again this year, but there are not a lot of details available about it at this time.