1600 Penn Preview: A Look At NBC's White House Comedy Starring Josh Gad

Among the comedies headed to NBC next season is 1600 Penn, a series that stars Josh Gad, Bill Pullman and Jenna Elfman, and follows the antics of the family living in the White House. The clips NBC released focus heavily on the bumbling shenanigans of Gad's character.

While Gad's character seems to be the Mike Donnelly (Black Sheep reference!) of the family, NBC's series description suggests that he may be the thing that keeps them all together. He's featured prominently in the clips further down, and as you'll see in this cast photo, he also steals the show there...

The Gilchrists are just the average American family dealing with all the everyday issues – like a grown kid who's forced to move back home, children who are smarter than their teachers and a stepmom (Jenna Elfman, "Dharma and Greg") desperately trying to win over the kids. They're loving, fun and a little crazy. In other words, just like everybody else. With one exception: they live in a very special house. The White House!

Whether it's entertaining foreign dignitaries, sneaking away for a night out, dealing with middle school crushes or putting out fires – figuratively and sometimes literally – there's never a dull moment in the Gilchrist White House. For example, the First Son (Josh Gad, star of Broadway sensation "The Book of Mormon") is one of the administration's biggest liabilities, but also the glue that holds this family together. The President (Bill Pullman, "Independence Day," "While You Were Sleeping") knows too well that the only thing harder than being Head of State is being head of the family. Also starring are Martha MacIsaac ("Superbad"), Andre Holland ("Friends with Benefits"), Amara Miller ("The Descendants") and Benjamin Stockham ("Sons of Tucson").

And here are the clips, both of which indicate that Gad's character, named only as "First Son" in the above description, makes bad decisions and has a thing for fire, which may prove to be a major problem…





I'm guessing we'll be getting to know the rest of the family as well, but a heavy focus on Gad's character wouldn't be a bad thing. Granted, I only have the soundtrack to go on, but he seemed like a real scene-stealer in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. It should be interesting to see how he does in a starring role on television.

It looks like we'll be waiting for midseason to see this one. NBC doesn't have it listed on the Fall schedule.