Alec Baldwin developing possible television show on buffoon Rob Ford

 

Hollywood's love affair with Toronto's 'buffoonish" mayor is set to go into overdrive, according to a report that suggests that none other than Alec Baldwin is set to develop and star in a television show inspired by Rob Ford.

And while it has always only been a matter of time before American entertainment executives figured out a way to cash in on Toronto’s great shame, considering the international attention Ford’s troubled history with drugs, booze and the law has garnered, this news comes at an inauspicious time for the city itself.


"With Ford just back from a stint in rehab, promising to turn over a new leaf before getting back to some of his old tricks, the mayor’s hijinks have lost their humour. While Hollywood executives and international news outlets remain fascinated by the Ford factor, locals have grown weary of the spectacleSince Ford’s return from rehab, the tenor has changed. Whereas his erratic behaviour was once met with eye rolls and a bemused “What has Fordy done now?” there is outrage in the streets."—Matthew Coutts


Protests have taken a more aggressive turn. Ford’s supporters and staffers have taken a more aggressive turn. The number of people willing to give the mayor another second chance dwindles as quickly as Ford abandons his efforts to make amends with the people he has crossed, offended and dismissed.
Worse of all, Ford’s two month absence from the city gave residents a vacation from the circus. And fewer people than ever want to return to an environment of intentional chaos, fury and negativity. They’d rather watch it on television.
According to an exclusive report from Deadline, Alec Baldwin is working on a television show with NBC Productions and "would play the central character, a Rob Ford-type Mayor of New York City."


Writes Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr.:"Ford is the buffoonish Toronto, Ontario mayor who has had his troubles with the crack pipe and behaves outlandishly on a fairly regular basis. That should be edgy stuff, since it is being fashioned as a one-hour cable series. Wells Tower is writing the pilot, and Baldwin will exec produce with Cary Brokaw."


The attention that the Ford story has garnered outside of Canada since it was first reported that he smoked crack cocaine is beyond doubt. A global media study released late last year found that Ford's series of scandals had raised Toronto's profile by one-third and tripled its negative exposure. Despite this, Ford and his brother have claimed the attention, any attention, is good for the city.

Doug Ford and Mayor Rob Ford react to the gallery at City Hall in Toronto November 18, 2013.

One quick aside: If the international attention that Ford has drawn is good for Toronto why isn't the television show based in Toronto? The answer is simple. The glee Americans get from the Ford saga comes in part because of the distance. It’s not happening to them, it’s happening to someone else. Bad things that happen to you are tragedy, bad things that happen to your neighbour is gossip. A fictionalized version of Rob Ford can be based in the U.S. because that separation is inherent.
It isn't clear whether the Rob Ford show will be a drama or comedy, though the one-hour time slot suggests it will more likely be the former. Perhaps along the lines of Boss, the short-lived drama in which Kelsey Grammer played the crooked, short-tempered mayor of Chicago, who happened to suffer from dementia.
Ford of course has been Toronto’s mayor since 2010, is now running for re-election, and has in recent years been caught acting terribly in a series of drunken public appearances. He has also confessed to extensive drug use of all kinds, been recorded making racist, sexist and homophobic comments about minority groups, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, the city's police chief and a mayoral rival.