We all knew this was going to be a make-or-break year for Groupon, but who could have predicted 2012 would yield a tell-all book chronicling the company's rise and a sitcom inspired by it -- and not jet packs, robot best friends, or meals in pills?
Hang on. I'll give you a moment to wrap your mind around all this.
Yes, there is going to be a sitcom coming this year on CBS inspired by Groupon. It's called Friend Me, and it was announced in Entertainment Weekly. I could regurgitate what EW reported, but really, the best way to grasp this is just by reading the logline. Also, for the record, this is a tad long for a logline:
Twenty-something best friends, Evan and Rob, move from their hometown of Bloomington, Indiana to Los Angeles to begin their exciting new lives working at Groupon. Evan is having trouble breaking his old slothful habits and rather than go out after work to explore LA and meet new people, prefers to play online poker with his buddies back home. Rob has different plans and is determined to drag Evan, kicking and screaming, along with him.
Think Andrew Mason will make a cameo? It seems right up his alley… and maybe that was Mason's long game all along, to use this company as a foot into Hollywood. Hey, they made a movie about Facebook, so, why not?
Less ludicrous is the book, Groupon's Biggest Deal Ever: The Inside Story of How One Insane Gamble, Tons of Unbelievable Hype, and Millions of Wild Deals Made Billions for One Ballsy Joker. Again, for the record, this is a tad long for a title. Anyway, the book was written by Time Out Chicago Editor Frank Sennett, and Amazon's synopsis states it's the "inside story of the meteoric rise of Groupon from startup to $30 billion online giant and the audacious genius behind it, founder Andrew Mason."
The book hits shelves June 5. My mind hit the floor about 15 minutes ago, when I first read about all this.
Groupon's stock is at $19.64.
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a columnist for EGM. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.
