NBC最新喜剧背后的女人

“I usually respond as a viewer to things that have a basis in reality,” says Liz Feldman (COM’99), a comedy veteran who previously wrote and produced for the CBS comedy 破产姐妹. 林赛·伯恩斯摄

去年，编剧莉兹·费尔德曼（Liz Feldman）在宣传一部新电视剧时，把那句老话牢记在心：写你知道的东西。 Feldman (COM’99) loosely based her new half-hour NBC sitcom 大快乐 on her friendship with her best friend at BU, Jason Allen (COM’99), and their plan, hatched while they were still in school, to someday start a family.

In 大快乐, a lesbian woman named Lizzy (played by 邻家女孩’s 以利沙卡斯伯特) sets out to have a baby with her best friend, Luke, who is straight—and male. 就在他们得知自己怀孕的同一天，他遇到了一个狂野的英国女人普律当丝（Prudence），并娶了她。普律当丝需要签证才能留在美国。

“I usually respond as a viewer to things that have a basis in reality,” says Feldman, a comedy veteran who previously wrote and produced for the CBS comedy 破产姐妹. “Take 30岩石—it’s inspired by Tina Fey’s life in a man’s world. 要想在网络上播出一部剧，有很多事情要做，你希望它具有大众吸引力，让人产生共鸣。 与此同时，你必须跟着你的直觉走。 很长一段时间以来，情景喜剧中都没有女同性恋角色。”

费尔德曼的真实故事与每周二晚上播出的故事略有不同。 She did standup in high school and was hired by Nickelodeon as a writer and performer on its variety show 所有的 her senior year. She had promised her mom she would go to Vassar after graduating, but her plans changed after she visited a friend at BU, and on a whim, auditioned for the School of Theatre’s improv troupe SPONtaneous COMbustion. 她成功了，但有一个问题：要和这个团体一起表演，你必须是波士顿大学的学生。 于是费尔德曼报名了。

那个时候，她说，“作为一个同性恋者，我已经出柜了，感觉很舒服，但我无法接受要孩子的事情。” 在与艾伦成为朋友后（两人后来在WTBU电视台主持了一个古怪的广播节目），她回忆说，有一天她“和杰森谈论家庭和孩子，我问他是否愿意做我孩子的父亲，作为一个37岁的人，现在看着这件事，似乎很奇怪。” 他说是的。 我想我们都同意彼此相爱，我们感觉就像一家人。”

毕业后，两人一起搬到了洛杉矶，但十年后，当艾伦向现在是他妻子的女人求婚时，他们的共同抚养计划破裂了。 他们都承认他们的计划考虑得不够周到，但友谊经久不衰。 In fact, Allen is one of the writers on 大快乐.

In June 2013, Feldman, who had written for television shows like Jeff Foxworthy’s 蓝领电视, 艾伦 DeGeneres’ daytime talk show 艾伦, and 破产姐妹, pitched the idea of a semiautobiographical show to DeGeneres’ production company, A Very Good Production. 大快乐 并在圣帕特里克节首播，DeGeneres是该剧的执行制片人之一，Feldman是该剧的运营人。  A 《华尔街日报》 审查 describes the comedy as “brightly written, and tender at heart.” 虽然这部剧目前的收视率很高，但Feldman还在等待NBC是否会续订下一季。

The show did something a bit different last week when it was bumped from its normal spot for a special two-hour episode of 的声音。 Feldman and her writing team scrambled to write an extra scene in episode three, where Lizzy flirts with a woman who turns out to be a nurse at her gynecologist’s office. 在这部喜剧通常播出的半小时里，主演们在推特上用角色的声音发布了这个额外的场景。 好莱坞记者 称赞 the show’s use of 推特, noting that with cast members live-tweeting each episode, 大快乐’s account had increased 55 percent since its premiere.

Feldman says a defining moment in her life occurred in 1997, when the 艾伦 character on DeGeneres’ sitcom 艾伦 came out as a lesbian. 费尔德曼回忆说，当时“电视上没有著名的女同性恋； 没有人可以作为我的榜样。 她的出现改变了我的生活。”

In the video above, watch the trailer for 大快乐, a new sitcom from COM alum Liz Feldman.

Before 大快乐 premiered, Feldman had written 四个飞行员 for shows whose lead character was a lesbian, but none got picked up. 她说，最终能够创作一部由女同性恋角色主演的电视剧，证明了观众想在电视上看到他们能产生共鸣的角色。 She cites other freshman comedies, like 初来乍到 (about an Asian American family) and Black-ish (an African American family), as more evidence that audiences want to see themselves on the small screen. 她说：“在电视上看到一个版本的自己是一种难以置信的认可。” “我把电视看作一面镜子，电视为社会所接受的东西铺平了道路。 我认为人们对一成不变的东西感到厌倦。 我希望这是一个正确的时刻，可以与那些以前从未在他们所观看的节目中感受到代表性的观众建立联系。”

大快乐 将于美国东部时间晚上9:30在NBC电视台播出。