America’s Got Talent’s Simon Cowell producing NBC somedy pilot

Simon Cowell may be best known as a judge and executive producer on America’s Got Talent these days, but he’s also in the scripted space.

According to a new report coming in right now via Variety, Simon is working on a new NBC prospective comedy series entitled A&R that, to the surprise of no one, is about the music industry. Simon’s intimately familiar with this world and worked in it long before American Idol, and we therefore figure that he is going to be a source of valuable insight on the show itself. He is producing the show alongside writer Josh Lieb, Scott Bernstein and Peter Samson. It’s a chance for him to show that his Syco production company can do other things, which could prove rather valuable in the event that someday there is more of a demand for more scripted content and the competition genre falls apart. (There are some signs already of this happening, though America’s Got Talent does appear to be spared — at least for now.)

Per the aforementioned site this is the story of what happens when “a young, hip music label, along with its young, hip boss, is thrown into disarray when the owner brings back a hard-partying, middle-aged “mastodon” from the industry’s past to help guide them into the future.” Basically, it’s a show about culture clash, something that has worked in so many other workplace comedies over the years. 30 Rock and The Office in some ways did this for many years, as did Parks and Recreation when it was on NBC.

Ultimately, the real selling point for this story one way or another is the cast that the network is able to secure. If they get the right performers who are able to play into the comedy of this super-specific profession, they may be able to turn this show into a hit. You also have to market to people beyond just AGT fans; some may watch because it has Simon’s name attached to it, but at the same time there may also be some who are turned away because of that, thinking that this is just a show mirroring reality TV in some shape or form.

Regardless of what you think about the concept or about Simon, this is going to be one of the NBC projects to watch as we get more into the development season. We should know a little bit more about it by the time we roll around to the spring.

Do you have any interest in a Simon Cowell scripted show?

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