Syracuse, NY -- There was no laugh track during Sunday's screening of the pilot for Upstate, a new television sitcom based in Syracuse.

But the show didn’t need one. The nearly 110 people in the Arthur Storch Theater at Syracuse Stage laughed throughout the show and gave it a hearty round of applause as the credits rolled at the end.

“It’s an authentic comedy -- something that's not on the air now,” said Tom Seeley, pilot writer who lives in Cazenovia and has written for several sitcoms, including “Newhart” and “Murphy Brown.”

“If you look at the typical sitcom on television, like Two Broke Girls or Two and a Half Men, they are funny in a certain way,” said Steve Kimatian, the shows executive producer and former vice president and general manager of WSYR-TV (Channel 9) and regional vice president of Northeast television for Clear Channel Communications.

“But we don’t think the characters are genuine and the situations aren’t really real,” he said. “This is a comedy that involves the characters everyday lives and the difficulties they face.”

The opening of "Upstate" shows some Syracuse landmarks, such as the National Grid building, Armory Square and the Palace Theater. But the final shot, boasting the title “Upstate,” shows a closed factory with the chained link fence door bolted shut.

The shows characters lose their jobs when their plant closes and they are trying to figure out where to go next. There’s hope of a local car factory putting on a third shift.

One laid-off character, who is married, has gone back to school to study respiratory therapy. But that isn’t going well and he attempts to step out with another woman he met at ShoppingTown Mall.

One obnoxious teen character boasts of getting a janitorial job at St. Joe’s hospital, working alongside the administrators and the surgeons.

“This is a comedy for the 99 percent,” Seeley said.

Bob Andrews, whose house was used for the exterior shots in "Upstate," loved the pilot.

“It has an interesting depth to it. It’s definitely not like anything on TV,” he said. “There’s a lot of Upstate everywhere a lot of relateability.”

John Frantz, owner of Sutton Realty, said the show has the right mix of lighthearted humor and serious focus.

“It’s funny and it’s sad, he said.

Seeley and Kimatian said they are leaving Monday for Miami for the National Association of Television Program Executives conference to discuss the pilot. They said the "Upstate" pilot most likely will be pitched to cable networks.

Watch "Upstate" yourself



The pilot of the new sitcom based in Syracuse will be shown at 8:30 p.m. Thursday on Channel 9-WSYR.

Before the pilot showing at 8 p.m., WSYR will present its half-hour “Making of the Show,” in which the station followed the actors and producers around during the filming in November and the pilot screening Sunday.

Contact Debra J. Groom at by sending an email to this address or call her at 470-3254 or 251-5586