We’ve been known to critique TV shows from time to time here at The A.V. Club, but let’s be clear about one thing: Making TV shows is very, very, very hard. It must be, or else it would be completely absurd for TBS to pick up a pilot about Shaquille O’Neal and Ken Jeong working together on various odd jobs. Surely someone out there would’ve had a better idea for a TV show if it were easy to do, because this one—tentatively titled Unqualified—just seems totally arbitrary. Shaq is a big guy who was good at basketball, Jeong is a shorter guy who was a doctor and then became a funny actor, so clearly the only possible TV show that anyone could come up with for the two of them involves forcing them to operate a train, work as dental hygienists, or strip down as nude models.
Anyway, TBS announced this new project in a press release, explaining that Jeong and Shaq had a really good time together on Drop The Mic and so now—obviously—they’re going to use their famous combination of “talent and hustle” to try things like “patrolling malls as rent-a-cops, substitute teaching kindergarten, train conducting, and performing as party clowns.” Of course! It all makes perfect sense.
For anyone looking to find a justification for this seemingly random TV show idea, the press release actually has one buried way at the bottom. As it turns out, Unqualified comes from Abso Lutely Productions and includes Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim among its executive producers. Somehow, the idea really does make more sense now.