Will NBC’s aggressive ‘1600 Penn’ strategy pay off?

At this point, NBC has really put quite a bit of effort into trying to promote its new comedy “1600 Penn,” in between having some of the actors on talk shows, getting the show to screen in the White House (which is of course the setting), and giving it a time slot after the highest-rated new comedy in “The Office.”

However, is any of this actually going to work? That is really the question that many people have to be understandably asking at this very moment, especially we are currently in the middle of a TV season where comedies go to die. Unless you are on CBS or your name is “Modern Family,” odds are that you are being a disappointment. “Go On” and “The New Normal” flatlined without “The Voice” as a lead-in, and such once-touted shows as “Happy Endings,” “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23,” “New Girl,” and the final season of “30 Rock” have all been ratings letdowns.

NBC did a smart thing in giving “1600 Penn” some post-“Voice” sampling of its own before the holidays, but there was a problem that came out of it: the pilot for this show just isn’t very funny. However, we do know with confidence that the show does get better from here, and by the time you reach the third episode, our sources say that you will actually be laughing more than during most shows on TV right now. Comedies often take a few episodes to get right, but with so many options on TV right now, many viewers are not really willing to give the same sort of chances that they even were to such things as “Parks and Recreation” and “30 Rock” (who each got off to rough starts) years ago.

Our advice? Give “1600 Penn” a few more weeks before resigning, since this may still be something that you want to add to to your TV cabinet long-term.

If you want to go back and read our review of the “1600 Penn” pilot, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: NBC