Freddie Prinze, Jr: Sitcom Wunderkind

A reader sent along this passage from ABC's preview page for Fall sitcom Freddie (which, unfortunately, has no unfortunately timed connections to hurricanes, leaving its premiere date unaffected), noting the interesting assertion in the last sentence (emphasis ours):

Freddie is inspired by Freddie Prinze Jr.'s real life, growing up in a house filled with women (his mother and Puerto Rican grandmother). His life-long friend, Conrad Jackson, co-created this series with Prinze, along with executive producers Bruce Helford and Bruce Rasmussen. The friendship between Freddie and Chris in the show is loosely based on their lives. Prinze stars in the new sitcom, which he has co-created and will write, and for which he will also assume a role as the youngest executive producer in ABC's history.

This struck us as something of a head-scratcher, since once sitcom writers enter their mid-thirties, network execs start leaving brochures for retirement homes around their offices and start dropping hints about how much more fulfilling a career writing feature screenplays would be. Surely, at 29 years young (and keep in mind that info on actors' ages is generally as reliable as that for Cuban pitchers), the FPJ couldn't be ABC's Youngest EP Ever. It took us about ten seconds of research (and a vague recollection of a short-lived midseason show) to discover that he wasn't even their Youngest Executive Producer This Year:

Austin Winsberg is the 28-year-old creator/executive producer of "Jake in Progress."

We suppose that "youngest EP ever" line was ABC's way of making us forget how Prinze has squandered all of the promise on display in Summer Catch.

• Freddie [ABC.com]
• Jake in Progress [ABC MediaNet]
• Defamer Casting: Freddie Prinze Project Trolling For Hilarious Stereotypes [Defamer]
• Freddie Prinze, Jr. Vs. Dave Wirtschafter [Defamer]

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