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Update: In our haste to be vicious—and because Variety is written in an argot slightly more understandable than Esperanto—we misstated Tina Fey's relationship to the sitcom pilot from Paula Pell: She is not executive producing it. Fey is exec. producing a different NBC sitcom about a variety show (again, from the school of "write what'cha know"). We regret the error, but the below quotes are still an interesting insight into... something. And we still think the show might be like The Biggest Loser, only funnier.

From the "write what'cha know" department comes this Variety report about an NBC sitcom pilot to be executive produced by Tina Fey:

NBC has picked up an untitled laffer from "SNL" scribe Paula Pell. Cast-contingent sitcom follows an obese woman who turns thin and struggles in her relationships with her still-large family and friends.


Could be good. Like The Biggest Loser, only funnier.

Here's Virginia Heffernan on Fey from The New Yorker, November 3, 2003:

Fey goes out with the cast after the show, but she is self-conscious at parties and careful not to embarrass herself. She s meticulous about her diet, too. She lost thirty pounds in the year before she went on camera for Weekend Update, and she now works out with a trainer and counts the point value of each meal according to the Weight Watchers system.

And, just for good measure, here's Fey from The Believer, also from November 2003:

BLVR: In your high school yearbook, you predicted that in ten years you would be "very, very fat." Was that the budding irony of a young comic, or a cynical teenage girl expecting only the worst from her life?

TF: I was just trying to cover my bases. If I did turn out to be a pudgy loser, I'd be able to say, "See, I told you." Nobody likes to be caught by surprise.


Bruck finds 'Ring' leader [Variety]
ANCHOR WOMAN [The New Yorker]
Tina Fey [The Believer]