Robin Williams Is TV's Next Brilliant Ad Agency Chief

Dan Wieden. David Ogilvy. Phil Dusenberry. Mork from Ork?


Count CBS among those TV networks drawn to the premise of a show set in the world of advertising. The Tiffany network has ordered a pilot called "The Crazy Ones," a half-hour comedy from David E. Kelley about a father (Robin Williams) and his daughter who run an ad agency. It's true, a pilot is just a test, and the proposed show may never make it to the screen, but the very fact that CBS -- home to many of the nation's most watched TV programs -- is interested only underscores the ongoing fascination TV outlets have with shows about the ad world.

Is this a nod to the success of AMC's much-lionized drama "Mad Men"? A squint at that network's reality show "The Pitch"? Or is it simply the latest example of TV's decades-old focus on the industry that feeds it? We've seen ad-industry antics on the boob tube before, ranging from Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari as cross-dressing ad execs on ABC's "Bosom Buddies" to the fabled ad firm of McMann and Tate in "Bewitched."

Some ad shows, of course, simply don't get off the ground. Time Warner's TNT attempted to launch "Trust Me," about a creative/art team at an ad firm and starring Eric McCormack from "Will & Grace," didn't last long.

We suspect "The Crazy Ones" will nod to advertising, perhaps about as much as "Just Shoot Me," set at the fictional fashion magazine Blush, reflected publishing. But this is CBS, home to "The Big Bang Theory" and "2 Broke Girls," so you might expect to see more of the network's trademark raunchy humor than anything else.