Is NBC’s ‘Cursed’ Living Up to Title?

Television producers are accustomed to laboring on a project for months, giving birth to a new series only to be told by critics--and in so many words viewers--that their baby is ugly.

Occasionally, however, the network broadcasting the show--in essence, the folks actually responsible for delivering the bundle--appears to stamp the word “loser” on a program before the critics and public are given the chance to weigh in.

Such behind-the-scenes turmoil and last-minute revisions have surrounded “Cursed,” which is all the more remarkable considering the new NBC show secured the much coveted time slot immediately after “Friends,” where it is scheduled to make its debut on Thursday night.

While favorable scheduling is usually seen as the ultimate reward, in this case the program’s creators, Mitchel Katlin and Nat Bernstein, maintain that time period itself turned out to be a curse--fostering anxiety among network officials as to whether the series’ offbeat sensibility would connect with the audience.

“Cursed” stars Steven Weber, best known for “Wings,” as an ad executive whose pals include Chris Elliott (“Get a Life!”) and Wendell Pierce (“The Gregory Hines Show”). In the original pilot, Weber--still recovering from a breakup with his girlfriend (Amy Pietz of “Caroline in the City”)--goes on a date that ends badly and the woman places a curse on him, prompting a run of extraordinarily bad luck.

During a recent conference call, NBC Entertainment President Garth Ancier called the series as it stood “a little too silly for our taste” and observed that the scripts coming in were “somewhat disappointing.” So disappointing as to prompt the network to oust Katlin and Bernstein, drafting Adam Chase--a former writer on “Friends”--to reconstitute the show on what amounts to the dead run.

At one point, when Katlin and Bernstein were still on board, even the basic premise was dropped and the title changed to “The Steven Weber Show.” The new creative team junked part of the prototype while retaining some sequences. With producers working frantically to meet the premiere date, the new first episode isn’t scheduled to reach TV critics until today.

Not only were Katlin and Bernstein forced out, but Ancier indicated NBC might have scrapped the show entirely had such a step not been taken.

Reading NBC’s comments regarding “Cursed” has been vexing to the producers, whose credits include “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and creating two short-lived sitcoms in 1997, “The Gregory Hines Show” and the Tim Curry vehicle “Over the Top.”

“We wanted to go for something that was bizarre and different, and succeed or fail on its own merits,” Bernstein said. “[NBC] got nervous because of the time slot.”

NBC is clearly desperate to introduce a new comedy hit, having spent years throwing one sitcom after another onto its Thursday “Must-See TV” roster, trying to find a worthy companion to “Friends.” Those efforts have yielded a long list of casualties, including “Jesse,” “The Single Guy,” “Veronica’s Closet,” “Suddenly Susan” and “Fired Up.”

According to Katlin, despite positive initial response to aspects of the pilot, the network almost immediately seemed more comfortable taking the talented ensemble cast and “turning it into ‘More Friends.’ . . . From the get-go, it seemed they didn’t know if they wanted the show or not.”

Given NBC’s track record with such similar-looking programs, he added: “How many years are they going to try to create the same show and fail?”

“Cursed” is far from the only high-profile series this year to experience a preseason overhaul. Others include NBC’s “The Michael Richards Show,” which premiered Tuesday, and Fox’s “Normal, Ohio,” starring John Goodman, which arrives next week.

Industry sources see the tendency to “retool” shows after ordering them as an inevitable result of programs being bought based on talent or production auspices, as opposed to delivering the most compelling prototype. In the case of Richards, for example, NBC made a significant commitment to the former “Seinfeld” co-star before a script was in hand, heightening pressure to schedule the show despite misgivings about the pilot.

Another factor is more network control over the creative process in general, with many of their series coming from a sister studio, meaning a single executive has oversight of both the network and production company.

Beyond the high stakes for NBC, “Cursed” is extremely important to Artists Television Group, the new production enterprise under the aegis of former super-agent Michael Ovitz. ATG made a splash last spring by selling five prime-time programs for this fall, but its two other sitcoms, ABC’s “Madigan Men” and the WB’s “Grosse Pointe,” are already struggling in the ratings, and a proposed Fox series from “Jurassic Park” writer Michael Crichton has been indefinitely delayed. Another ATG drama for Fox, “The $treet,” premieres next week.