Recent events have given me an intriguing idea for a TV comedy series. Imagine, if you will, that ambitious celestial beings get the opportunity to work for Lucifer — the big honcho Himself.
But it isn’t easy for a fallen Angel to keep old Beelzebub happy. You’ve got to be Evil. Not merely evil with a small “e” — that won’t cut it in the Satanic administrative order.
Of course it’s ok to be incompetent and corrupt. That’s where a lot of the comedy comes in.
In fact, our audience quickly learns that in the Devil’s court, double-dealing, nepotism, shameless self-promotion, sexual shenanigans and outrageous vices in general are not only tolerated, but celebrated. If you weren’t all of those things, why the hell would you be serving the Dark Lord in the first place?
But a failure to be willing to be truly Evil will get you tossed out of the Underworld faster than you can say “news cycle”.
One great thing about this idea for a TV comedy is the opportunity for various spin-off shows. After all, we all know by now that American audiences have a soft spot in their hearts for deeply flawed characters.
So for the Seraphs who get kicked out of Hell, for those poor unfortunate souls who have failed to demonstrate sufficiently pure Evilness, we can create an alternate goal: Now they are trying to get back to the Other Place.
But that turns out to be much more difficult. Which is awesome, because it means these spinoff shows can keep going for years.
Fortunately, all we’ll need is a seven year run to make it into syndication.