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Alec Baldwin developing possible television comedy on Rob Ford, but Toronto has stopped laughing

Composite image of Alec Baldwin and 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 spectacle.

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 producer 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.

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 latter. 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.

He has refused to participate in a police investigation into his connection to the criminal underworld, is friends with a collection of unsavory types including a man who has been charged with drug trafficking and has a criminal history of assaulting women (although he has said he has stopped associating with them since leaving rehab). He has been thrown out of office for breaching council rules, and was reinstated on appeal. He's been taken to court numerous times and accused of using his power as mayor to the benefit of his family business.

He recently went to rehab and came back claiming everything offensive that he'd ever said was caused by his addiction. And a woman he befriended there, who was later charged with drunk driving in his SUV, says Ford affectionately called her his "country pumpkin," according to a new exclusive from the Toronto Sun.

So, yeah, there's plenty of material for an NBC television show (See also: Doug Ford).

But locally, something has changed in Toronto. Since 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.

To wit. Less than two weeks ago, Ford returned to the city amid promises that a leaf has been turned. Within moments, however, he was picking old fights, refusing to offer more than general apologies and showing some of the same behaviour he had dismissed as a side effect of his addiction.

A survey found that only a quarter of Toronto believed that he was serious about staying sober, and he dropped to third place in election polls. Protests and conflict followed. Peaceful protesters at city hall began reporting being bullied and harassed by Ford supporters, and an outraged resident confronted Ford on Canada Day. He happened to be shirtless and out for a jog, which spawned a movement of bare-chested protesters appearing at Ford’s public appearances and demanding his resignation.

A man hired to be Ford’s sobriety coach was caught on camera being chastised by police for kicking a demonstrator. The mayor’s campaign manager reported his car window being smashed and alleged it was the dirty campaign tactic of one of Ford’s competitors. City hall has again been divided and distracted by the antics of Ford and his brother.

American Ford coverage has declined since the peak turbulence, but it remains. The Associated Press covered his return, despite the wire service being among the outlets Ford’s camp barred from attending an invite-only press conference. NBC News posted a feature on its website explaining why Ford was being followed by a “Shirtless Horde” (a name the group has embraced). References in late-night talk show monologues also continue. Even foreign-language press continue to watch Ford, including this take from France on an anonymous Toronto Star report that Ford acted up in rehab.

Locally, the coverage has returned to pre-rehab heights. When an earthquake hits it is hard to ignore it. But even the tone of that has changed. Newspaper editorials almost unanimously ask Ford to resign for the good of his health and the good of the city. The (once) Ford-friendly Toronto Sun wrote that “on a political level, we do not believe he should be the mayor of Toronto.”

The Globe and Mail recently published an opinion piece suggesting the international attention paid to Canadian tennis phenom Eugenie Bouchard may finally be the antidote to the international smear Ford has caused Canada.

It should be noted that Baldwin and NBC Productions are not the first to realize the goldmine that is Ford's unbelievable and troubled history.

Blue Ice Productions, a Canadian company, has purchased the rights to make a television movie version of Crazy Town, Canadian journalist Robyn Doolittle's book chronicling the rises and falls of the Ford family and Rob's time in office.

And a musical titled Rob Ford the Musical: Birth of a Ford Nation has already started casting and will take to a Toronto stage in September. The show's producers have called Ford's saga "Shakespearian."

Both those projects date back to an earlier time in the Ford saga. Both come from a time when there was hope left – hope that Ford could become a changed man, hope that Toronto could find a peaceful resolution to its shame, that the divisions purposely pried open by Ford’s style of governing could heal over.

We now know there is no such resolution. Not until the October election, anyway. We know Ford can’t seek treatment, come back and be the man he had promised to be. He tried that and it has failed. Worse yet, we were given two months of reprieve from Ford while he was away. We learned that the city can be peaceful, productive and effective.

We learned what the rest of the continent already knew: It sucks to be the butt of the jokes and there is only one person to blame for making us into this one. And more Torontonians are more pissed off than ever that the cycle of shame has resumed.

You can’t blame Baldwin and NBC for jumping on the Ford saga as inspiration for a television series. Thankfully it will be set in New York City. Toronto already suffered through the real Rob Ford. It’s time for someone else to carry the burden.

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