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Franklin Avenue links to a Variety story on L.A. Times Opinion columnist Joel Stein scoring a second TV pilot with ABC. He'll be co-executive producer, which causes the blog (written by Variety TV editor Michael Schneider) to wonder:
What will happen to Stein's column if the show is picked up? It's just a once-a-week gig, so I suppose he could continue... but would that be just too much conflict of interest? Would you want a entertainment columnist who is working closely with divisions of News Corp. and Disney?
The premise of the new project, "Joint Custody," is a recent college grad discovers that his parents have divorced and he must take care of his eccentric family. It's from 20th Century Fox TV. Last year's not-picked-up pilot was based on Stein's own life as the youngest-ever columnist at Time.