Day 15: The AfterWork Special

It’s kind of a long story, but here goes… Before there was VH1’s I Hate My 30s, there was a pilot presentation called The AfterWork Special.

Okay, it wasn’t that long of a story. Let’s do the more detailed version.

When VH1 first approached Drama 3/4 about developing a TV show inspired by A.S.S. (Another Showcase Showdown), the team came very close to creating a workplace comedy set in a casting office (the bookends of this concept being Anakin Auditions, and eventually, Chestnut Casting… but we digress). After a competing pilot was greenlit at the network, it was suggested we do something in the “Afterschool Special” teen morality play genre (Brice Beckham had been in one of those, but we double digress). And so, The AfterWork Special was born, Brice and David’s comedic take on throwback, family-friendly dramas full of specific life lessons, but for adults. It became known around VH1 as the pilot presentation that wouldn’t die, until it finally went to series as I Hate My 30’s (more on that later, because triple digression).

Since our glossier, more contemporary sitcom was vastly different in style and pace, we couldn’t really air the original AfterWork Special as a standalone pilot. But Viacom hates wasting money, so the existing presentation was cut up, sandwiched between new I Hate My 30’s scenes and repurposed into a flashback episode. Keep an eye out for CAMEOS FROM THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR, with ’80s icon Tiffany and the late, great Jani Lane of Warrant.

Now, for the first time anywhere other than a network exec’s DVD player… The AfterWork Special.


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