Chasing fame like ‘Nobodies’

It’s common for a struggling actor to sit in a movie or a play and watch the cast thinking, “Why isn’t that me?” It can be even more frustrating when the working actors are close friends or even former colleagues.

That, in a nutshell, is the premise of “Nobodies,” a promising new sitcom premiering Wednesday night on TV Land.

Among other things, the show is a valentine to the Groundlings, the West Coast improv company that launched Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell, among many others, to TV stardom and beyond.

But what of all those other performers who once shared the stage with those superstars? That’s a question that started to take shape for “Nobodies” series creators Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf and Rachel Ramras as they watched the 2012 Oscars telecast.

The list of nominees at those ceremonies read almost like a Groundlings reunion. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash won an Academy Award that night for their screenplay for “The Descendants,” while Wiig and Annie Mumolo scored a nod for writing “Bridesmaids,” the comedy that also earned McCarthy a nomination as best supporting actress.

“It seemed like almost every single one of our friends from the Groundlings was at the Academy Awards in gowns and tuxedos and we – weren’t. It just struck us how ‘the same’ we are and how very different,” recalls Ramras.

In the world of the show, Ramras, Davidson and Dorf are desperately trying to get a greenlight for their movie script “Mr. First Lady,” but no one seems interested unless McCarthy signs to play the first female president of the United States.

“Throughout the season you’ll see us still working on getting ‘Mr. First Lady’ made and still working on getting Melissa involved,” Ramras says. “It’s a lot of ‘two steps forward, three steps back.’ In other parts, you’ll get to know more about our characters and relationships.”

McCarthy, who’s an executive producer on the show along with husband and frequent collaborator Ben Falcone, says both she and her hubby play “horrible versions of ourselves” on the show.

“But it’s so fun, because everybody up there, we’ve been friends for 20 years. We’ve known each other forever,” she says during a Television Critics Association (TCA) press session last January.

Still, much like their characters on the show, the three creators had to go to McCarthy and Falcone and ask them to take part in their sitcom. It was just as awkward as it seems on screen.

“Honestly, it’s awful,” Davidson says. “You go out to lunch with someone and you know in the back of your mind that you’re going to be asking this big thing. Melissa and Ben are as sweet as they can be, but the having-to-ask part is still just terrible.”

TV Land is so sold on the show that they ordered a second season even before this one premieres.

With plenty of Groundlings alumni lined up to appear, and the long working relationship between Davidson, Ramras and Dorf, the creators aren’t too concerned they’ll run out of story ideas. They’re also not likely to get too cocky about their new success, says Dorf.

“I got the call that we had been picked up for Season 2 while I was in a Town Car taking me to TCA,” he says. “I walked into this hotel and – nobody cared. There was nobody there to tell me where to go and I had to stand in a line to check in. I was quickly brought back to Earth.”