Rick McMann Creates New Denver Sitcom Poking Fun at “How Divided We Are”

Once upon a time in TV Land, the road to sitcom success was maintained by a bare handful of gatekeepers – executives at major networks such as ABC, CBS and NBC, who had the power to decide what viewers could see and when. But the rise of streaming, the evolution of social media and the splintering of the entertainment industry in general have opened a plethora of new avenues for folks interested in making America laugh.

And Rick McMann is ready to hit the highway.

McMann is the creator, writer, director and producer of the pilot for Livin’ in Black & White, which he sees as a comedy that speaks to our current moment in history. The program was shot entirely in the Denver area and features Colorado talent both in front of and behind the camera. Beginning on October 1, it will be accessible on YouTube, a venue McMann chose because he could control both the costs and the content.

“I wanted to make this my love letter to Denver,” McMann says. “So I wanted a local cast and crew. And I also wanted to prove we could do this right here in our backyard on a smaller budget and still get our pilot out there to the world – and YouTube has 2.8 billion users.”

Over the past twenty-plus years, McMann has slugged it out in the television and independent film trenches. His IMDB page lists a smattering of credits for the likes of 2008’s Four 1 Liberation Front, 2009’s Olivia Rox! and 2012’s Seventy Times Seven. But he’s learned the hard way that projects don’t always come together – and it can take a very long time for those that do to see the light of day.

Take Breaking News, which he describes as “a satire news series. I play the lead anchor, who was kicked off a network because of his antics. He’s kind of an old-school, traditional-politics kind of guy who went off the rails, and the other reporters on the show try to reel him back in. We’ve gotten a lot of awesome feedback about how we did it, because the show pokes fun at both sides of the political aisle.”

The problem is, Breaking News was developed in 2022 and has been stuck in limbo ever since. “That’s the unfortunate reality of this business: Some of the things you get involved with won’t even get released or completed,” he points out.

Breaking News may avoid this curse; McMann hears the six-episode offering may surface on Amazon Prime as soon as November 15, although a launch date has yet to be finalized. Still, when it came to Livin’ in Black & White, McMann wasn’t interested in waiting nearly that long. “I wanted to prove that I could write and direct and cast and do the pre-production and post-production on my own sitcom in a very short period of time, which is exactly what we did. From the time we wrote the pilot episode to casting, rehearsing, shooting and editing, we completed it in about five months.”

As for the program’s subject matter, McMann explains that “it’s all about unity and upending stereotypes. There’s TK, a black man, a successful music producer in Cherry Hills. He’s originally from the inner city, but he’s a Republican – and he offers a room at his home, rent-free, to Travis, also known as Big Hoss, a white man who grew up in the country who’s a Democrat. So it’s the successful black man who’s giving a helping hand to a white man who’s down on his luck.”

People are tired of being preached at, McMann notes. “We wanted to create a show that pokes fun at both sides while saying something real about how divided we are, and how much more fun life is when we actually talk to each other.”

He adds: “The comedy helps us talk about divisive issues, whether they’re race or politics or socioeconomics. We hit on all of them, and even though we can see how silly it all can be at times, we talk about how this divisiveness can go to extremes. The whole point is how we can meet in the middle.”

The cast is led by TK Russell as TK and Nick Steitz as Travis/Big Hoss, and among the other characters is Lil Pax, portrayed by local rap artist Paxton “Lil Pax” Dwyer, who penned an original song that serves as TK’s theme music. A country ditty that serves the same purpose for Travis/Big Hoss is included as well, and McMann appears in the supporting part of Bobby, TK’s label partner.

While only the pilot has been recorded, McMann stresses that he has assembled (television-production term) a “bible” that lays out another nine guffaw-laden episodes. The idea is that a financier of some sort will be impressed enough by the pilot to pay for McMann and company to develop a full season of Livin’ in Black & White that can then be sold for airing on a high-profile platform, be it broadcast, streaming, online or who knows where.

Should the money providers tell McMann they love the concept but want to move Livin’ in Black & White out of Denver, he admits that he’ll listen. But he’d love it if he could make his television dreams come true in the Mile High City.

“I’ve met so many people here who want more opportunities,” he says, “and when you don’t live in New York or Los Angeles, you don’t get as many opportunities.”

Livin’ in Black & White will be available to stream on October 1. Find it on the YouTube channel @LBWSitcom.