History
The State was founded, as "The New Group", by Todd Holoubek at NYU in the late 1980s when he grew dissatisfied with the structure of other local comedy groups. Holoubek attracted film and acting talent by advertising this group as one where every member had "their own window". It was a free form idea wherein the group lacked central leadership and encouraged to act as a collective. Applicants came largely from the drama and film departments on campus. As they honed their talents, members were added and dropped until they eventually ended up with the cast that is familiar today. The State began performing locally and on campus where they garnered their reputation, followed by an off-broadway run of "Molt", produced by Jonathan K. Bendis and Steven Starr. MTV offered the group a collaboration with Jon Stewart on a show called You Wrote It, You Watch It, which was followed by a six-episode commitment to The State show.
After three seasons with MTV, The State began talks with ABC to air opposite Saturday Night Live, but the deal was eventually dropped. CBS then offered a series of specials with the promise that, should they be successful, the show would be picked up as a regular series. CBS initially wanted to develop the show in hopes that they would target a late-night younger audience, but controversy arose when Details magazine reported that The State's network executive allegedly made racist remarks about the late-night African American television audience; the executive was subsequently fired.
Despite rave reviews, the show was a ratings disaster due to an unsupportive network and lack of advertising. The CBS special marked the final new episode of The State to be aired.
Members of The State remained close and went on to contribute to other projects including Viva Variety, Reno 911!, Stella, the films Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten and the audio podcast RISK! About half the members went on to direct films and the entire cast remains active in Hollywood and/or New York.
Cast members regrouped for the first time in 14 years in January 2009 for two performances in San Francisco on January 24, 2009, followed with a Q&A at The Clay Theater where they screened Wet Hot American Summer. The following day they had a retrospective at Herbst Theater in San Francisco where they answered fans' questions and discussed the history of The State.
Read more about this topic: The State (TV series)
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