"AMC, on the other hand, this year alone passed on 'Boss,' starring Kelsey Grammer with Gus Van Sant attached to direct the pilot (the project went to Starz). It turned down a J. J. Abrams pitch for a noir show one insider compares to Sin City. A high-profile pass Stillerman won’t name (it was Kevin Spacey’s 'House of Cards') 'was a very solid piece of material, needed a little work. But they wanted us to commit straight to series. And we were going to be deliberate developers. And a very good piece of talent walked out the door, because someone else was willing to order six or eight episodes right away.' [...]

In my regular perch at Maclean's magazine, I'm known as "that guy who loves multi-camera sitcoms." Or would be, if I were known. But this certainly is not a great time to be a supporter of the sitcom shot with four cameras in front of an audience. All the Emmy nominees for best comedy are single-camera these days; among shows shot with an audience, the only one with some acclaim is The Big Bang Theory, which does some things extremely well and other things very frustratingly. There's a very real chance that the multi-camera format will be given up as old-fashioned, even though single-camera sitcoms are actually older [...]