News / TV

NBC Playground will air sitcom pilots for “Imaginary Friend” and “Sunset PPL” in late-night after Late Night

Imaginary Friend and Sunset PPL will each get their pilot episodes on broadcast network TV next week. In late night. After Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Remember how NBC introduced the NBC Playground (after first calling it the Comedy Playground without realizing that already was a thing) and promised to find “the next groundbreaking comedy idea” and bring it to the TV?

Well, better late than never — not to be confused with the currently-airing celebreality series on NBC of that same name — the actual Peacock Network will air the pilots of the two winners selected way back last August. Come this September.

Imaginary Friend will air at 1:30 a.m. (Eastern/Pacific) on Friday, Sept. 2, 2016; Sunset PPL will air at that same time slot the following overnight.

Both pilots vied for season pickups this past winter but didn’t make the cut. But as NBC Playground winners, they’ll still at least get one full broadcast on the TV for you to view, and if you like it enough, perhaps tell your fancy friends who have fancier friends who can pull those Comcast strings and make more episodes happen. Or not. I can’t tell you what to do.

I can tell you more details, plus show you the initial pilot presentations that got them crowned comedy kings and queens of the NBC Playground.

Imaginary Friend, a single-cam created and written by Kassia Miller, stars Megan Neuringer as “an intelligent yet unmotivated woman who discovers an unexpected way of dealing with her disappointing life,” thanks to her imaginary friend (played by Alex Newell). Kalia Prescott also co-stars. Pilot episode directed by Paul Briganti. Executive-produced by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner. From Universal TV and Hazy Mills studios.

Premiering at 1:30 a.m. ET/PT, Sept. 2, 2016.

Sunset PPL, a single-cam created and written by Aaron Colom and Adriano Valentini, focuses on “a group of millennial friends struggle with their own made-up rules for personal and professional success.” Starring Julianna Guill, Cass Bugge and Brandon Kyle Goodman. From Universal TV.

Premiering at 1:30 a.m. ET/PT, Sept. 3, 2016.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

View all posts by Sean L. McCarthy →

One thought on “NBC Playground will air sitcom pilots for “Imaginary Friend” and “Sunset PPL” in late-night after Late Night

  1. My name is Ryan moreira and I have a TV script to sell it’s called Duck slough it’s about mob running a restaurant if you like give me a call my number is 7273015906 thank you.

Comments are closed.