Banking on star power

UPN hopes All of Us, created and executive produced by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, will give the network a boost as it tackles a host of problems.

LOS ANGELES - Ask why movie star Will Smith is executive producing a sitcom these days instead of starring in one, and you'll get a quick answer.

"They pay me too much money to make movies," a jovial Smith told reporters Tuesday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour. "My manager would poke one of my eyes out if I tried ... because we kind of have a thing that's going really well with the movies, you know. So I'm just going to ride it until it bucks me."

UPN is hoping Smith's good thing translates into big ratings for All of Us, a sitcom based on Will Smith's life that features a man caught between his new fiancee and his ex-wife, who is also the mother of his son.

In fact, Smith's movie actor wife Jada Pinkett Smith personally pitched the idea to TV networks, basing the concept on their relationship with Sheree Elizabeth Zampino - Will Smith's first wife and the mother of his son Willard "Trey" Smith III. (Because she hates the term "stepchild," Jada said she calls Trey her "bonus" child; the couple also have another son and daughter together.)

"Generally, the germ of the show will be an experience we had," said Will Smith, who joined his wife in insisting the show will only be "loosely" based on their real life experiences (perhaps to avoid any future legal entanglements).

Even with the show's superstar pedigree, Jada Smith said other networks reacted slowly to their proposal. UPN, which has been trying for years to move some of the audience from its popular black-centered Monday night sitcoms to Tuesday, moved quickest to close a deal - though executives insisted they didn't okay the series just to do business with the high-profile couple.

"I think we've all learned that star celebrity pitches, in and of themselves, aren't particularly a recipe for success," said Les Moonves, chairman of CBS, who also oversees corporate sister UPN. "A lot of them ... you know the next time you will see them will be at the press tour party (and) they won't be involved with the show. Ultimately, America doesn't care who's behind the camera if the show isn't good."

Still, UPN executives could barely contain their glee as the Smiths regaled a capacity crowd of reporters Tuesday while pumping up their series - clearly eager to prove their mettle as executive producers. (Though UPN executives played coy, the couple also admitted they've already mapped out guest roles for themselves.)

As it turns out, leading man Duane Martin has been friends with the power couple for years - he and wife Tisha Campbell (My Wife and Kids) introduced the two, in fact - and the group sticks together to support each other in both business and personal matters.

"We always said: "We're in Hollywood, we gotta do what the white people do: Give each other jobs,' " said Will Smith, drawing laughter and applause.

"Yeah, I was there when his ex-wife gave him his first set of stitches," countered Martin, who also owns Impact Sports, a sports management firm that represents professional athletes.

"We've been stable in this industry because we've had each other for so long," he added. "When you're out there dating and you're trying to be the beau of the month, you're just not focused. We get a lot done because I've got a great wife at home ... and Jada has Will. So we just make it happen."

Such star power may prove an important boost for UPN, which faces tremendous challenges in the fall, including: re-energizing its tired Star Trek franchise, Enterprise; safeguarding WWE Smackdown wrestling on an intensely competitive Thursday night; and dealing with The Mullets, a Tuesday comedy widely considered one of the the worst pilots advanced by any network.

(In typical TV fashion, the network will ignore the second anniversary of 9/11 to debut the series in a special episode airing after Smackdown on Sept. 11.)

"This is a big celebration of, like, everything mullet-y," said show co-creator Josh Weinstein of the series, which follows the adventures of two dense, working class, mullet-wearing, classic rock-listening, wrestling-loving brothers. Aging bombshell Loni Anderson is their mother; comic stiff John O'Hurley (Seinfeld's J. Peterman) is their upper crust stepdad.

"There's too many shows where there's ... witty, urbane put downs and stuff," Weinstein added. "Let's have a show that really goes for it and has fun."

Too much wit on television, eh? Only the network that gave us Smackdown and Chains of Love could come to that conclusion.

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