Call it "The Real (Little) World."
NBC alternative topper Jeff Gaspin has pacted with producer Mark Cronin's Mindless Entertainment to develop "Life Is Too Short," a half-hour reality comedy starring two-foot-eight thesp Verne Troyer ("Austin Powers") and his surrogate family.
"Osbournes"/"Simple Life"-like skein will follow Troyer, along with his manager Elena Fondacaro and veteran character actor Phil Fondacaro ("Willow," "Sabrina the Teenage Witch"), as they live and work in Hollywood. Trio, who are all little people, live together in a San Fernando Valley home that's been specially built to accommodate their size.
Cronin ("The Surreal Life") will exec produce, with Elena Fondacaro on board as producer. Duo co-created the skein, which has been given a pilot greenlight from NBC.
Mindless VP Laurie Muslow was key in making the initial connections that led to the show, Cronin said.
Gaspin said the project came from NBC's desire to find "alternative comedies that centered around likeable characters but that still had a fun and unique edge."
"When they pitched the show, I thought, That's a world we're not privy to. We don't have to deal with the things they do," Gaspin said. "It's our world and their world through their eyes. It's a fish out of water, but every day. You don't have to put them in false situations."
Cronin and NBC are aware that any show about little people has the potential to be controversial, since some may brand the skein exploitative before seeing it. Elena Fondacaro doesn't believe that will be an issue.
"We're not here to make a spectacle out of ourselves," she said of herself, her husband and Troyer. "In the course of anyone's lives, funny things happen along the way. And at the end of the day, if I educate one person about what it's like to walk in my shoes, that's great. That's huge."
What's more, "Life Is Too Short" will try to blend humor with heart, Cronin said.
"It has to work on all different levels," he said. "Their lives are full of outrageous situations. But they are also a real and very relatable family that truly cares and supports each other."
"This is going to be an empowering show," he added.
Troyer's fame also should deflect criticism. "The goal here is not to offend," Gaspin said. "The goal is to actually open people's eyes."
Cronin will have multiple story possibilities with his core cast.
Troyer, who's a bit of a playboy, will be seen living what Cronin calls "the movie star life." Ellen will serve as a matriarch who's also "a ferocious negotiator and agent," Cronin said, while Phil -- according to his wife -- is the patriarch who's "hard-headed, amazingly stubborn and very passionate about everything he does."
UTA-packaged project had been in the works before Fox's "The Simple Life" bowed, but Gaspin said the latter skein's smash success helped spur a greenlight.
"We were talking about it for months but once 'The Simple Life' hit, I threw in some extra money to close the deal," he said.
In addition to playing Mini-Me, Troyer's credits include "Harry Potter," "Boston Public" and, with Phil Fondacaro, the indie pic "Bit Players." (As reported by VARIETY)
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