ABC Gets 'The Call' From '24' Team

Zap2It.com | November 13, 2006

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Real-time comedy will follow L.A. paramedics

LOS ANGELES -- The producers of "24" are applying their skill at telling real-time stories to the comedy world in a project set up at ABC.

The "24" team -- creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran and executive producer Howard Gordon -- are teaming up with "Kitchen Confidential" creator David Hemingson for a show titled "The Call." ABC outbid FOX for the show by offering a six-episode commitment, the showbiz trade papers report.

"The Call" will follow two L.A. paramedics and best friends, with each episode being told in real time -- roughly 22 minutes for a sitcom. Unlike "24," though, each episode will be self-contained, meaning viewers won't have to keep abreast of plot developments from week to week.

Hemingson, who currently works on FOX's "American Dad," will write the script and executive produce with Cochran, Gordon and Surnow, who initially came up with the idea for the show. Hemingson tells the trades he's aiming for the gallows humor of "M*A*S*H" in depicting the way the two leads deal with their high-stress jobs.

ABC already has one real-time comedy on its roster: "Big Day," a serialized look at a couple's (Josh Cooke, Marla Sokoloff) Murphy's Law-prone wedding day, is scheduled to premiere Tuesday, Nov. 28. The network also originally had planned for its short-lived "Jake in Progress" to be a real-time show before scrapping the idea.